Siwang- Korean GroupCollective"Ten Kings of Hell"

The Journey Through the Courts

When a soul arrives in Jeoseung, the Jeoseung Saja deliver it to the first of ten courts. Each court has its own king seated on a judgment throne, and each king examines a different aspect of the dead person's life. The Saengsambu, the divine register that recorded every act from birth to death, lies open before him. There is no appeal and no advocate. The soul answers for itself.

The first seven courts are visited at seven-day intervals during the forty-nine days after death. The remaining three fall at the hundredth day, the first anniversary, and the third anniversary. The soul moves through them in order, and each king's verdict follows it to the next.

The Fifth Court

Yeomra presides over the fifth court, and his is the judgment that matters most. By the time the soul reaches him, it has already passed through four examinations, but Yeomra's assessment is the most comprehensive. He is the only one of the ten kings widely known by name in Korean folk tradition, and his court is the one that determines where the soul will go. The other kings refine and confirm; Yeomra decides.

The Forty-Nine Days

Above ground, the dead person's family is not idle. During the forty-nine-day mourning period, they conduct chiljae ceremonies at seven-day intervals, each timed to the soul's passage through the next court. The rituals generate merit that travels downward, easing the judgment the soul faces before each successive king. A family that neglects the chiljae leaves its dead undefended.

In Buddhist temples, ten paintings hang in sequence: the Siwang-do, each one showing a king at his bench with the soul before him. The scenes are specific. Punishments are shown in detail. The paintings face outward, toward the living, where they can still do some good.