Habaek’s Family Tree

About Habaek →

Family

• Hwonhwa(child),Wihwa(child),Yuhwa(child)

  According to the Samguk Sagi, Habaek is father of three daughters — Yuhwa, Hwonhwa, and Wihwa — river princesses who lived in his underwater palace on the Amnok River.

Enemy of

• Haemosu

  Habaek raged when the sun god Haemosu seduced his eldest daughter Yuhwa and challenged him to a shape-shifting contest — carp against otter, deer against wolf, pheasant against hawk. Haemosu bested every form, but the river god’s fury did not end with his defeat.

Rules over

• Habaek's Palace

  Habaek holds court in Habaek's Palace beneath the waters of the Amnok River, where he received Haemosu for the shape-shifting contest and where his three daughters Yuhwa, Hwonhwa, and Wihwa dwelt before Yuhwa's banishment.

Equivalent to

• He Bo(Chinese)

  Habaek's name derives from Chinese He Bo (河伯), the Yellow River god. The Korean deity was transmitted through Chinese cultural influence but developed distinct mythology centered on the Goguryeo founding narrative.

Associated with

• Jumong

  When Jumong fled Daeso's pursuing soldiers and called upon his grandfather Habaek at the river’s edge, the river god sent fish and turtles to form a living bridge, carrying his grandson to safety and sealing the path to Goguryeo’s founding.

• Yuhwa

  Habaek punished his daughter Yuhwa for the disgrace of her union with Haemosu, stretching her lips three spans long and banishing her from his underwater palace to the Ubal River where fishermen found her.