[KS] Re: Korean myth

[Dr. Eckart Dege]

Dear Ms. Yun,
Having been several times to T'aebaek-san, Myohyang-san and Paektu-san 
I can tell you that these are quite distinct mountains, far apart from 
each other. The question though is why does Samguk Yusa refer to 
T'aebaek-san and Myohyang-san in the same context. Korean place names 
are not very distinct and sometimes used for several localities. The 
whole mountain backbone of Korea is called T'aebaek-sanmaek. 
Myohyang-san is not part of this backbone, however,  but part of a 
mountain chain branching off from it. The explanation would be that the 
name has changed, which could well be, especially since it is a mythical 
place.
In Myohyang-san you can still see the Tangun Grotto. It is a cave 16 
meters wide, 12 meters long and 4 meters high on the ridge between 
Manpok Valley and Munsu Valley leading up to Hyangno-bong. According 
to Samguk Yusa this is the place where  Hwan-ung, the son of the 
Heavenly King, appeared on the earth and also the cave where a 
she-bear and a tigress, who wanted to become human beings, were 
confined with a bunch of mugwort and twenty pieces of garlic for 100 
days. You know how the myth goes on: The tigress left the cave too 
early (she probably could not stand the smell of the garlic) and 
stayed a tigress, whereas the bear followed the instructions carefully 
and became a woman. She later conceived a son from Hwan-ung and bore 
Tangun. He was called Tangun, because he was found by the wild people 
of the area, whose king he became, under a sandalwood tree (a kind of 
berberis) which stood in front of the cave. Tangun Wanggom means King 
of Sandalwood.
Another version of this myth is a bit different. Here Hwan-ung 
decended to earth at the Heavenly Lake (Ch'on-ji) on Paektu-san. From 
there he travelled to Myohyang-san, the rest is the same. I can't 
tell you the source of this version though. This connects Paektu-san 
with the myth of the founding of Korea, a myth taken advantage of by 
the Kim Dynasty of North Korea. Here in the "Secret Camp on Mt. 
Paektu" you are shown the log cabin in which Kim Jong Il is said 
to have been born (under a towering cliff which carries three huge marble 
tablets with the incription: Jong Il bong). The irony behind this 
myth is that his birth was registered in the birth register of the city of 
Chabarovsk in Sibiria.
Yours,
Eckart Dege

Prof. Dr. Eckart Dege
Geographisches Institut der Universitaet Kiel
D-24091 Kiel
Germany
Tel.(office) +49 431 8802941
Tel.(home)   +49 4342 889695
Fax (office) +49 431 8804658
Fax (home)   +49 4342 889694


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