The Bear(-woman) Fell for the Man
/Why don’t we pull back a little? We focused on beings found in Korean folklore and mythology in the past posts, so let’s switch things up a little. All mythologies have an origin, their own story of creation. Korea is no different.
Reading myths, Korea’s foundation and birth is all thanks to a couple of gods that cast their gaze to the Earth and a tenacious bear that wished to be more.
Hwanung Casts His Gaze to the Earth.
Teakbaeksan National Park from This is Korea tours
In the ancient times, Hwanin, known as the Heavenly Emperor, noticed his son, Hwanung, has cast his gaze towards the Earth, and expressed the desire to rule it. In some versions of the myth, Hwanin was the one to cast his gaze upon the Earth and tasked Hwanung to rule. Either way, with his father’s blessing, Hwanung descended onto Mt. Taebaek and sought to build his kingdom.
Though this number can vary depending on the myth, he was accompanied by three thousand devotees and built Sinsi, the holy city where he ruled. Aside from the three thousand followers, the Wind God, Rainfall God, and Cloud God came with Hwanung.
Along with them, Hwanung also had the Three Seals of Heaven (Cheonbuin)—which is said to be a divine mirror, divine sword and a divine rattle or drum—as proof of his rule.
Hwanung, the Bear and Humanity
While Hwanung began overseeing the numerous affairs of the human world—from grains to life to diseases to mediating between good and evil—two animals caught his attention.
A bear and a tiger prayed to him with the desire to become human and Hwanung instructed them to stay inside a cave for 100 days, with only mugwort and 20 cloves of garlic as food (in some versions, instead of divine mugwort, they had to eat garlic and wormwood) to earn in their humanity.
Partway through, the tiger grew impatient and left the cave. This left the bear alone, but through perseverance, the bear emerged from the cave as a human woman. She took on the name Ungnyeo meaning Bear-Woman.
Ungnyeo is happy with her new life as a human, but eventually as a result of loneliness, she prays to Hwanung and asks for a child since she had no one. Hwanung having heard her prayers and feeling pity, turned himself to a mortal man and married her. Together they had a son Dangun who eventually established Gojoseon that became the Korean peninsula.
Dangun and Gojoseon
Dangun became known as the first mortal prince of the land. He later established his own kingdom, Gojoseon or the Ancient kingdom Joseon.
Dangun set up capital at Pyeongyang Fortress. The capital moved several times before finding its way back to Pyeongyang Fortress. Dangun continued to rule for approximately a thousand and five hundred years before the Zhou dynasty, a Chinese dynasty, came into the picture and appointed Jizi to govern Joseon. Dangun moved to different states, Jangdanggyeong then to Asadal, before he went to the mountains nearby Asadal and ascended into godhood as a Sansin or Mountain God at the age of 1,908 years.
Historical Notes
Some suggest that the myth of Dangun actually parallelizes the actual founding of Korea. Hwanung and Ungnyeo’s union representing the union between foreigners—Hwanung, God and Sky—that settled the land that Korea now stands, and one of the Indigenous tribes in proto-Korea—Ungnyeo, bear, woman, and Earth— to unify their people under a marriage alliance, although some say the Bear Tribe Ungnyeo represented was still subjugated by the former.
Some Irony
Tiger Family, The Cleveland Museum of Art
Funnily enough, despite referred to as the Dangun Myth, most of the focus of the myth is on Hwanin and Hwanung. The myth does acknowledge Dangun as the founder of Korea. So, while in folklore Dangun can be attributed to the creation of Korea, the creation of Dangun is the focus of the myth itself instead of a detailed account of his life and rule.
Furthermore, it was mentioned earlier in Ungnyeo’s myth that a bear and tiger begged for a human form, the tiger left early due to its impatience and hunger. Despite this portrayal, the tiger is a revered animal in Korea. Portrayals of tigers as creatures that protect humanity against evil spirits is depicted throughout Korean history and artwork. This reverence may be the reason why the tiger is Korea’s national animal.
Rica Equibal, a Philippine-born writer and artist, started Algonquin college with the goal to find her way into publishing. She went into her Algonquin journey with from her literature degree and proofreading experience supporting her, but she’s always up to learn more to add to her knowledge and repertoire. Aside from that, she also writes fiction—with hope to turn those little scenes and moments into a full story or novel—and draws.
She writes as inspiration strikes and primarily draws digital—that is, if she's not distracted by whatever video game she has in reach.
