Korean mythology consists of national legends and folk-tales which come from all over the Korean Peninsula. The origin may be a blend of Korean shamanism, Buddhist, Chinese myths, Confucian and Taoist legends and myths. The legends may also vary gre...
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Korean mythology consists of national legends and folk-tales which come from all over the Korean Peninsula. The origin may be a blend of Korean shamanism, Buddhist, Chinese myths, Confucian and Taoist legends and myths. The legends may also vary greatly by region, even within the country. For example, the people of Jejudo have a very different lifestyle from that of the mainland and so can generate different forms of the same myths. In Korean shamanism, animism was dominant as the prime source for religious life for the Korean people. Particular worship of mountains, animals, plants stem from the belief that they had souls and often show up in the folktales as well as talk about tributes and sacrifices, whether literal, or figurative.
At the same time, there were gods that occupied certain domains and they would often show up in folktales as distant protectors that called on humans when asked to rather than interfering with every day life. Early in Korean history, the shamanistic religion was dominant and because early Korea was divided often into smaller domains, such as Silla and Goguryeo, Baekje, the folktales and myths tended to differ also by those regions. With the arrival of Buddhism in the 3-4th century, the myths and native religion began to change as did the myths. With the advent of Neo Confucianism, the native religion was suppressed by the government where shamans were often killed for practicing and so many of the legends either changed or were blended into existing legends.
Korean Shamanism
Korean shamanism has a large influence on the Korean. It, too, has a large influence on the myths. Early in Korean myth, often men were equated to birds and women were often equated to fish or land animals. This often held true for later myths not based in Muism. Examples can be seen through the Samgungnyusa, where men often transformed into birds and tales of women include water or fish. For example, the early goddess, Lady Yuhwa, the daughter of the river deity, Habaek, but Hae Mosu was said to be a sky god. In the tale about Suro, Suro was said to transform into a bird—as did his opponent, but his wife, Heo Hwang-ok was said to have come by boat from the sea. This is very consistent throughout the Three Kingdoms period as seen in the Samgungnyusa.
Mountains were often also talked about being sacred, and often also show up in myths, legends and folktales. Kings were often delivered to the top of mountains, gods came down to mountains, and even mountain spirits, called San-Shin (산신) were worshipped.
Cosmology
The cosmology of Korea has changed over time as new religions have been imported into the country and been slowly syncretized. Also, there are larger regional differences with the older mythology rather than the newer mythology when the country became united.
From the prehistory to the Three Kingdoms era, it is thought that Koreans didn't believe in heaven and hell—they believed in the "Next Life" which was slightly better than the one here and had no particular location or place. It was not in a particular time, but out of the realm of time itself.
