Hwanung (

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

for the "Supreme Divine Regent") is an important figure in the mythological origins of

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. He plays a central role in the story of

Dangun Dangun (; ) or Dangun Wanggeom (; ) was the legendary founder and god-king of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom, around present-day Liaoning province in Northeast China and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. He is said to be the "gran ...

Wanggeom (단군왕검/), the legendary founder of

Gojoseon Gojoseon () also called Joseon (), was the first kingdom on the Korean Peninsula. According to Korean mythology, the kingdom was established by the legendary founder named Dangun. Gojoseon possessed the most advanced culture in the Korean Pen ...

, the first kingdom of Korea. Hwanung is the son of

Hwanin Haneullim or Haneulnim (하늘님 "Heavenly Lord"/"Lord of Heaven") is the sky God of Cheondoism and Jeungsanism. In the more Buddhist-aligned parts of these religions, he is identified with Indra. In the more Taoist-aligned parts of these religio ...

(환인; ), the "Lord of Heaven". Along with his ministers of clouds, rain, and wind, he instituted laws and moral codes and taught the humans various arts, medicine, and agriculture.

Creation myth

According to the Dangun creation myth, Hwanung yearned to live on the earth among the valleys and the mountains. Hwanin permitted Hwanung and 3000 followers to depart and they descended from heaven to a

sandalwood Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...

tree on

Baekdu Mountain Paektu Mountain (), also known as Baekdu Mountain and in China as Changbai Mountain ( zh, s=长白山, t=長白山; Manchu: Golmin Šanggiyan Alin), is an active stratovolcano on the Chinese–North Korean border. At , it is the highest mo ...

, then called Taebaek Mountain (태백산/). There Hwanung founded Sinsi (신시/, "City of God") and gave himself the title Heaven King. In a cave near the sandalwood tree lived a bear and a tiger who came to the tree every day to pray to Hwanung. One day Hwanung gave the bear and the tiger twenty bulbs of garlic and some divine

mugwort Mugwort is a common name for several species of aromatic flowering plants in the genus ''Artemisia.'' In Europe, mugwort most often refers to the species '' Artemisia vulgaris'', or common mugwort. In East Asia the species '' Artemisia argyi'' i ...

. Hwanung promised if they ate only his garlic and mugwort and stayed in the cave out of the sunlight for one hundred days he would make them human. The tiger and the bear agreed and went back to the cave, but tiger was too hungry and impatient to wait, leaving the cave before the 100 days were done. But the bear remained, and on the 21st day was transformed into a beautiful woman, who gratefully honored Hwanung with offerings. With time the woman grew lonely, and prayed to Hwanung that she might have a child. So Hwanung made her his wife and gave her a son called Dangun, a name which has two meanings: "Altar Prince" and sandalwood. Dangun eventually founded

Kingdom of ''Sinsi-Baedal''

In the pseudo-historic book ''

Hwandan Gogi ''Hwandan Gogi'' (Hangul: 환단고기; Hanja: 桓檀古記), also called ''Handan Gogi'', is a compilation of texts on ancient Korean history. It is a bound volume of four supposedly historical records: ''Samseonggi'', ''Dangun Segi'', Bukbuyeogi ...

'' (환단고기/

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: 桓檀古記) described Gojoseon to have existed and formed in ''Hwan-guk'' (환국/

: 桓國, "Kingdom of ''Hwan''") and ''Baedal-guk'' (배달국/

: 倍達國, "Kingdom of ''Baedal''": later known as ''Sinsi'' 신시/

: 神市, "''City of the Gods''"). It is said that both nations were ruled by Hwan-in and Hwan-ung, each spanning from 7 rulers and 18 rulers respectively. The descriptions are generally accepted as fabrications in the modern era by mainstream historians. There are descriptions on both the books of "''Sinsi Yeokdaegi''" (신시역대기/

: 神市歷代紀, "Era of the Dynasty of ''Sinsi''") in the ''Samseonggi'' (삼성기/

: 三聖紀, "Period of the Sacred Three" - i.e. ''Hwanin'', ''Hwanung'' and ''Dangun'') and the "''Sinsi Bon-gi''" (신시본기/

: 神市本紀 "Period of ''Sinsi''") in the ''Taebaek Il-sa'' (태백일사/

: 太白逸史, "History of ''Taebaek''"), about the kingdom of ''Sinsi-Baedal'' where Dangun transferred the Korean people in the Kingdom of Gojoseon in

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

to establish the nation mainly at the centre of the Korean Peninsula. The kingdom of 18 descendants of Hwan-ung are claimed to have ruled the nation for 1565 years in the annals of these books, as well as the featuring one of emperors,

Chiyou Chiyou (蚩尤, ) is a mythological being that appears in East Asian mythology. Individual According to the Song dynasty history book ''Lushi (book), Lushi'', Chiyou's surname was Jiang (surname 姜), Jiang (), and he was a descendant of Flame E ...

(

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: 치우;

Hanzi Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

: 蚩尤) which has been traced from

Chinese Mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Much of t ...

on record. The following rulers of the ''Sinsi-Baedal'', are claimed to be dominantly

ancient Korean Old Korean () is the first historically documented stage of the Korean language, typified by the language of the Unified Silla period (668–935). The boundaries of Old Korean periodization remain in dispute. Some linguists classify the sparsely ...

in nature'':''

Popular culture

* Portrayed by Bae Yong-joon in the 2007 MBC TV series '' The Legend''.

References

Citations

Bibliography