Haemosu- Korean GodDeity"Son of the Heavenly Emperor"

The Son of Heaven Descends

Haemosu came down from heaven in a chariot drawn by five dragons. Hundreds of attendants followed, with banners streaming and music sounding through colored clouds that filled the sky. He wore the ougu-gwan, a crown of crow feathers, the crow being the creature believed to live within the solar disk.

The procession landed near the Amnok River, in the region of Buyeo. There, according to the Samguk Yusa, Haemosu founded the kingdom of Bukbuyeo. Each morning he rose to heaven in his dragon chariot, and each evening he returned, his daily journey following the sun's course across the sky.

The descent is first recorded on the Gwanggaeto Stele (414 CE), which opens with the Goguryeo founding myth and names Haemosu "son of the Heavenly Emperor." The fullest account appears in Yi Gyu-bo's Dongmyeong-wang pyeon (1193), a narrative poem drawn from older records now lost.

The Bronze Palace by the River

Near Bear Mountain along the Amnok River lay a pool called Yongsimyeon, Dragon Heart Pool. The three daughters of the river god Habaek came there to bathe. When his attendants reported the maidens' presence, Haemosu went to see them and was captivated by the eldest, Yuhwa.

He commanded a bronze palace to be raised from the ground beside the pool. The three sisters discovered the gleaming building, entered to explore it, and found wine and food laid out within. Once they were seated and drinking, Haemosu revealed himself. The two younger sisters, Hweonhwa and Wihwa, fled. Yuhwa remained.

Haemosu had taken Habaek's daughter without paternal permission, without the formal negotiations or ritual observances that a proper marriage demanded. The river god would not let this stand.

The Shape-Shifting Contest

Habaek sent messengers demanding that Haemosu present himself and make amends. Haemosu agreed to visit the river god's underwater palace, where he was received with guarded hospitality.

Before sanctioning any marriage, Habaek insisted on testing whether this suitor was truly a deity worthy of his daughter. The two engaged in a shape-shifting duel. Habaek became a gleaming carp; Haemosu transformed into an otter and seized the fish in its jaws. Habaek took the form of a deer; Haemosu became a wolf and ran it down. Habaek transformed into a pheasant, taking to the air; Haemosu became a hawk and struck it from the sky.

Three domains, three defeats. The river god acknowledged Haemosu as a true deity and sanctioned the marriage.

The Wedding and the Escape

A great feast was held in Habaek's underwater palace, and the couple was formally wed with the rites that had been denied at their first meeting. Wine flowed, and Habaek plied his new son-in-law with drink.

But Haemosu overcame the intoxication through divine power. Before the wine could take hold, he called his dragon chariot and ascended toward heaven. Yuhwa attempted to follow, climbing into a leather carriage her father provided, but the vehicle failed before reaching the celestial realm. The sun god returned to the sky. His bride was left behind, alone and pregnant, stranded between the world of her father and the world of her husband.

Yuhwa's Exile and the Pursuing Sunlight

When Yuhwa's condition became apparent, Habaek was furious at the dishonor. He punished her by stretching her lips until they protruded grotesquely and cast her out of his underwater realm into the Ubal River. Fishermen found the disfigured woman caught in their nets and brought her before Geumwa, king of Eastern Buyeo.

Despite her altered appearance, which the king's attendants corrected by trimming her lips, Geumwa sensed that Yuhwa was no ordinary castaway and installed her in his palace. There, sunlight followed her wherever she moved. It slanted through windows to find her, illuminated darkened rooms where she was confined. When Geumwa tried to block the light, it entered from different angles, always seeking her out.

The Birth of Jumong

Impregnated by the persistent sunlight, Yuhwa gave birth not to an ordinary child but to a large egg. Geumwa's advisors urged him to destroy it. The king cast the egg to dogs, who would not eat it, and to pigs, who refused it. He placed it in the road, where horses and cattle stepped carefully around it, and threw it into the wilderness, where birds sheltered it with their wings.

Finally the egg was returned to Yuhwa, who kept it warm until it hatched. From it emerged the boy Jumong, whose name meant "skilled archer." He would grow to surpass all rivals, escape the jealous sons of Geumwa, and found the kingdom of Goguryeo.