Jeoseung- Korean LocationLocation · Realm"Realm of the Dead"
Also known as: 저승, Chŏsŭng, 황천, 黃泉, and Hwangcheon
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Description
The Korean realm of the dead, more just than the world of the living, because the righteous twin Daebyeol won its governance while the trickster Sobyeol took the mortal world. Souls cross rivers, pass through guarded gates, and face judgment before Yeomra and the Ten Kings in courts that keep accounts of every life.
Mythology & Lore
Why the Dead Have Better Justice
Before Jeoseung existed as a governed realm, the twin brothers Daebyeol and Sobyeol, sons of Cheonjiwang, competed for rulership of the two worlds. According to the Cheonjiwang Bonpuri, Daebyeol, the righteous brother, was meant to rule the living world, but Sobyeol cheated in the flower-blooming contest that would decide their fates. Daebyeol took governance of Jeoseung instead, establishing it as a realm of proper justice. Sobyeol rules iseung (이승, the living world), which is why mortal existence is plagued by disorder, deception, and unpunished crime. The underworld is more fair than the world above because the better ruler ended up there.
The Journey to the Courts
At death, Jeoseung Saja arrive to escort the soul. The path to judgment crosses a great river separating the living from the dead, passes through mountain passes and forests, and leads through gateways guarded by supernatural beings. Each stage presents obstacles the dead must overcome.
At the journey's end stand the ten courts presided over by the Siwang (Ten Kings of the Underworld), with Yeomra as chief judge. Each court examines a different category of sin or virtue. The Saengsambu (Book of Life and Death) documents every soul's allotted lifespan and moral accounting. Wealth, status, and power from the living world carry no weight in Yeomra's courts.
Barigongju's Path
The Barigongju Bonpuri tells how the Abandoned Princess first opened the road between the living and the dead. Cast out at birth by a king who wanted sons, Barigongju traveled to Jeoseung to retrieve the water of life when her father fell mortally ill. She crossed the river, passed the gates, endured the trials. She brought the water back.
Shamans reenact her journey during funerary gut ceremonies. The mudang follows Barigongju's path, guiding the newly deceased through the underworld's obstacles to ensure the soul reaches Yeomra's courts rather than wandering the living world as a restless gwishin.
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