Korean creation narratives are Korean shamanic narratives which recount the mythological beginnings of the universe. They are grouped into two categories: the eight narratives of mainland Korea, which were transcribed by scholars between the 1920s and 1980s, and the Cheonji-wang bon-puri narrative of southern Jeju Island, which exists in multiple versions and continues to be sung in its ritual context today. The mainland narratives themselves are subdivided into four northern and three eastern varieties, along with one from west-central Korea.
Many elements are shared by most Korean creation narratives. In one such episode, two gods grow flowers in a contest to decide who will rule the human world. The deserving benevolent god grows the (better) blossom, but the other god steals it while the good god sleeps. The undeserving cheater thereby becomes the ruler of humanity and spreads evil into the world. In another pan-Korean episode, there are originally two suns and two moons, making the world unbearably hot during the day and intolerably cold at night, until a deity destroys one of each.
Nonetheless, there are major structural differences between most mainland narratives and the Jeju Cheonji-wang bon-puri. In the former, the world is created by the god Mireuk, who ushers in an ancient age of plenty. Mireuk is then challenged by the god Seokga, and the two gods often engage in contentions of supernatural power, culminating in Seokga's victory through trickery in the flower contest. Mireuk departs, and the era of abundance is replaced by the current world. In Jeju, the celestial deity Cheonji-wang descends to earth after creation and impregnates an earthly woman. She gives birth to the twin boys Daebyeol-wang and Sobyeol-wang, who ascend to heaven, destroy the doubled sun and moon, and engage in the flower contest. The world of the living under the duplicitous Sobyeol-wang's rule is full of evil, but Daebyeol-wang goes to the world of the dead and often establishes justice there.
Many elements of Korean creation myths find parallels in the mythologies of nearby East and Inner Asia societies. The mainland gods Mireuk and Seokga are named after the Buddhist figure Maitreya and the historical Shakyamuni Buddha respectively, reflecting influence from the Buddhist tradition of Maitreya worship. The Korean episode of the flower contest appears with similar themes in many other areas of East and Inner Asia, while stories of superfluous suns and moons have also been attested both north and south of the Korean peninsula.
and 27 Related for: Korean creation narratives information
Koreancreationnarratives are Korean shamanic narratives which recount the mythological beginnings of the universe. They are grouped into two categories:...
Korean mythology (Korean: 한국 신화; Hanja: 韓國神話; MR: Han'guk sinhwa) is the group of myths told by historical and modern Koreans. There are two types: the...
Egyptian) Chaos (cosmogony) (Ancient Greek) Ymir (Norse) Gaia Kingu Koreancreationnarratives Manu (Hinduism) Panguite, meteoritic mineral named after Pangu...
Chinese creation myths are symbolic narratives about the origins of the universe, earth, and life. Myths in China vary from culture to culture. In Chinese...
extra stage boss. Mid-Autumn Festival for variants of this legend Koreancreationnarratives Hou Yi. (n.d.). Mythopedia. Retrieved April 14, 2023, from Hou...
A creation myth or cosmogonic myth is a type of cosmogony, a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it. While...
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and borders North...
quasi-literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis. The Genesis creationnarratives (Genesis 1–2) describe how God brings the Universe into being in...
love between man and woman. Korean prose literature can be divided into narratives, fiction, and literary miscellany. Narratives include myths, legends, and...
Korean drama (Korean: 한국 드라마; RR: Han-guk deurama), also known as Koreanovela or K-drama, refers to Korean-language television shows made in South Korea...
all based on the view that the universe was created. The Genesis creationnarrative has provided a basic framework for Jewish and Christian epistemological...
Manhwa (Korean: 만화; Hanja: 漫畵; Korean pronunciation: [manβʷa]) is the general Korean term for comics and print-cartoons. Outside Korea, the term usually...
Dating creation is the attempt to provide an estimate of the age of Earth or the age of the universe as understood through the creation myths of various...
including Korean shamanism, a deity by the name of Maitreya appears as an ancient creator god or goddess. In one such Koreancreationnarrative, a malevolent...
Traditional Folk Theatrics Interschool Division Arts Management, Creation of Narratives, Musicals Korea National University of Arts is made up of two Seoul-based...
Life replacement narratives or life extension narratives refer to three Korean shamanic narratives chanted during religious rituals, all from different...
Japanese colonialism and the communism of North Korea. Prior to the Korean War (1950–1953), two-thirds of Korean Christians lived in the North, but most later...
2018). "The Creation Science Movement in Korea: A Perspective from the History and Philosophy of Science" (PDF). International Journal of Korean History....
mythology directly inherited many of the narratives from the Jewish people, sharing in common the narratives from the Old Testament. Islamic mythology...
Lower Paleolithic era on the Korean Peninsula and in Manchuria began roughly half a million years ago. The earliest known Korean pottery dates to around 8000...
World Mythology identifies a number of traditional narratives as "Islamic myths". These include a creation myth and a vision of afterlife, which Islam shares...
grow, and eventually came out as fully-grown adults. Other narratives attribute the creation of humanity to Nhialac blowing his nose or believe that humans...
the lives of modern Koreans. Korean folk religions are based on Korean shamanism and foreign religions such as Buddhism. Korean folk religions changed...
sweeping changes in Korea. It began a process of Japanization, eventually functionally banning the use of Korean names and the Korean language altogether...