PSA 1 (5 points): Tangun was the mythical founder of Chosen, the earliest known Korean
state which was conquered by the Chinese emperor Han Wudi in 108 B.C.E. This myth was
first recorded in 1279 by the Buddhist monk Iryn in his Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the
Three Kingdoms, ), during the Kory Dynasty on the brink of national crisis when
the Mongols invaded. The myth goes as follows:
[Source 1] The Wei shu tells us that 2000 years ago, when the wise Emperor Yao
ruled China, Tangun Wanggom chose Asadal as his capital and founded the country
of Chosn.
The Old Record notes that in olden times Hwanins stepson, Hwanung, wished
to descend from heaven and live in the world of man. Guessing his sons desire,
Hwanin surveyed the three highest mountains and found Mount Taebaek the most
suitable place for his son to settle to help mankind. Therefore he gave Hwanung
three heavenly seals and allowed him to rule over the people. Hwanung descended
with 3000 followers to a spot under a sandalwood tree atop Mount Taebaek, and
he called this place the City of God. He was the Heavenly King Hwanung. Leading the
Earl of Wind, the Master of Rain, and the Master of Clouds, he took charge of some
360 areas of responsibility, including agriculture, allotted lifespans, illness,
punishment, and good and evil, and he brought culture to his people.
At that time a bear and a tiger who were living in the same cave prayed to
Hwanung to transform them into human beings. The king gave them a bundle of
sacred mugwort and twenty cloves of garlic and said, If you eat these and shun the
sunlight for 100 days, you will assume human forms.
Both animals ate the herbs and avoided the sun. After twenty-one days the bear
became a woman, but the tiger, unable to observe the taboo [for more than twenty
days], remained a tiger. Unable to find a husband, the bear-woman prayed under
the sandalwood tree for a child. Hwanung metamorphosed himself, lay with her, and
begot a son called Tangun Wanggm.
2
In the fiftieth year of the reign of Emperor Yao, Tangun made Pyongyang the
capital of his country, called Chosn, or Bright Morning, and then moved to Asadal
on Mount Paegak, where he ruled for 1500 years. When King Wu of Chou [Zhou]
enfeoffed Chi Tzu to Chosn, Tangun moved to Changdanggyng, then back to
Asadal, where he became a mountain god at the age of 1908.
Set in the fiftieth year of the legendary Chinese emperor Yao, the founding of Chosn would
thus have taken place on 3 October 2333 B.C.E., a date that has become a national holiday in
South Korea. However, there is no indisputable reference to any part of this legend before
1279. Please analyze the source within its historical background of the thirteenth
century by considering why the monk created such a unifying myth and why it is
historically important. The word limit is 130-150.
