Korean Mythology

The city to which Dangun moved his capital and the mountain into which he finally withdrew as a mountain god; its name is often read as 'land of morning,' its location still disputed.

The egg-born founder of Silla, found by the six village chiefs beside the Najeong well where a white horse knelt and then rose into heaven; crowned at thirteen with his queen Aryeong, born from a dragon at another well.

Cast into the water at birth for being a seventh daughter, she alone journeyed to the western sky for the water of life that revived her dying parents, and became the goddess who leads dead souls onward.

Three tokens given by the heavenly ruler Hwanin to his son Hwanung before his descent to Mount Taebaek; the text counts them but never describes them, and later tradition guesses at sword, mirror, and bell.

The ghost of a woman who died unmarried, white-robed with loose black hair, bound to the world by grievance; the wronged Arang of Miryang frightened magistrate after magistrate to death until one stayed to hear her.

Legendary founder of Gojoseon, son of the heavenly prince Hwanung and the bear-woman Ungnyeo; tradition dates his kingdom to 2333 BCE, and he ended his days as a mountain god.

A goblin spirit born from worn household objects; fond of wrestling, buckwheat jelly, and rice wine, it conjures gold with a strike of its club, punishes the greedy, and repays debts with absurd generosity.

The River Earl, water god of the Amnok (Yalu) region and father of Yuhwa, who tests Haemosu's divine claim in a contest of transformations and is claimed by Goguryeo's kings as the founder's maternal grandfather.

The Son of Heaven who descends in a five-dragon chariot, seduces Yuhwa, daughter of the River Earl, by the Amnok (Yalu) River, and becomes the father of Jumong, founder of Goguryeo.

A lion-like guardian beast that can tell right from wrong, whose stone statues guard Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul and were believed to protect it from fire.

A tiger takes a mother's rice cakes pass by pass, then eats her and comes for her children in her clothes; the siblings climb a heaven-sent rope to become sun and moon, while the tiger's fall stains the sorghum red.

The Lord of Heaven in the Dangun myth, who sees that his son Hwanung longs for the human world, looks down on Mount Taebaek as a place where he could 'widely benefit humanity', and sends him down with three heavenly seals.

The son of the Lord of Heaven who descends to Mount Taebaek with three thousand followers and the ministers of wind, rain, and clouds, founds the 'City of God' beneath the sacred altar tree, and fathers Dangun with the bear-woman Ungnyeo.

Born from an egg after sunlight pursued his mother Yuhwa, daughter of the river god; a master archer who fled Buyeo over a bridge of fish and turtles and founded Goguryeo in 37 BCE.

A fox that has lived a thousand years grows nine tails and takes the shape of a bride or lost woman to eat human livers; in other tales it endures long trials to become human, failing at the last moment.

The bamboo flute made from a stalk that was two by day and one by night, given to Silla by the sea dragon of King Munmu; when played it drove off enemies, cured sickness, brought rain in drought, and calmed the wind and waves.

The creator of the world in the Korean shamanic Song of Creation, who separates heaven and earth, props up the sky with copper pillars, makes stars from an extra sun and moon, and creates the first humans, before losing the world to the cheating Seokga.

The great dragon of the East Sea that King Munmu of Silla vowed to become after death to protect his kingdom, and who gave his son the bamboo for the flute Manpasikjeok.

The three-legged crow that lives in the sun, painted in a solar disk on the walls of Goguryeo tombs, usually paired with a toad or hare in the moon.

The grandmother goddess of conception, safe delivery, and small children, honored with rice and seaweed soup in the birthing room; the blue spot on a newborn's bottom is said to be her hurrying slap.

The rival of Mireuk in the Korean shamanic Song of Creation, who wins rule of the world by stealing the flower that blossomed on Mireuk's knee while they slept, bringing about the imperfect present age.

The giant grandmother of Jeju who piled up Hallasan with earth carried in her skirt; soil leaking through its holes became the island's hundreds of small volcanic cones, and her five hundred sons turned to stone.

A she-bear who shared a cave with a tiger; by enduring darkness on mugwort and twenty cloves of garlic she became human, prayed for a child, and bore Dangun to Hwanung.

The medicinal water of the Western Heaven and the flowers that restore bone, flesh, and breath, which Princess Bari brings back from the end of the world to revive her dead parents.

The daughter of Habaek, the River Earl, who is seduced and abandoned by Haemosu, banished by her parents, sheltered by King Geumwa of East Buyeo, and there lays the egg from which Jumong hatches; later worshipped by Goguryeo as a mother goddess.