Origin of Korean Myth
A myth is a traditional story, one which is basically focused on the early history of the place of people which tries to explain the social phenomena or origin of some natural events. In Asian countries like Korean, Japan, Chinese among other Asian countries. The origin of these Myths can be traced back as from 2000BC-313 AD. Most Myths are linked to the supernatural being of which in most cases the being is the creature of the universe. Therefore the research question for this paper would be; what is the origin of the Korean, Japan and China god and their religion. This is given in a very clear way but it is totally mythical since it cannot be proved and it also faces challenges. This mythical explanation is illustrated in the body of the assignment.
From the Chung, C (2012) works, the Korean religion is one of the oldest religion and it is referring to as Shamanism. According to this Myth, there was someone who was called Tangun (James, 2013). Tangun was believed to be the first Korean King and this king was a grandson to Hwanin (believed by Korean to be the creator). Tangun was a son to Hwanung, Hwanung fathered Tangun through bathing him on a young beautiful lady (Chai-sik, 2012). Tangun who was the first Korean King became the king in Korea during 2333BC. According to this myth Hwanung descent to earth from heaven to take charge of the earth from one of the Mountain in Korea known as Mt. Táebaek. During these time the myth explained that there was a point the tiger and the bear wanted to become human beings and they expressed their interest to the king (Il, 2012).
From Pai, H (2012) Hwanung reacted by sending beast into a cave for a period of hundred days (Kyu, 2013). While in the cave, the king gave an order that the beasts should only eat the garlic and mugwort to help them from direct sunlight so that they can be transformed into human beings. Due to the long period of time, the tiger became impatient and left the cave before the elapse of the 100 days. The bear went on being in the cave as instructed by the king and fortunately enough after 3 weeks it was turned /transformed into a very beautiful young lady. The Tiger (who transformed to a beautiful young lady) then became the mother of Tangun. This Myth is very appropriate as it highly links the origin of the Korean to heaven (Donald, 2013). After the born of the Tangun, he then started a heavenly teaching religion which was known as Shamanism. After that alter was constructed at Kanghwa Island, this was believed to have been constructed by the Tangun. Tangun´s birthday was traced back on 3rd of the 10th month and it is celebrated by the school children. This theory of the origin of the Korean religion was recorded in the Smaguk Yusesa but it was not considered significant till early twentieth Century.
According to the Ashkenazi, M(2012) mythical origin of their gods and religion, there was a myth which clearly explains it. In the beginning, the world was just a messy mass, the world was an ill-defined egg which was full of some unknown seeds (Michael, 2014). After sometimes the lighter parts of the world became the heaven which is known as Yang while the heavy part of the world became the earth which is known as the Yin. There were some gods which were produced from the heaven and earth. Firstly there were some three gods who were single after that there were some series of divine couples. According to this myth, one of the gods (pure male) appeared in form of a road which linked the heaven and earth. After that, there was the foundation which was laid to help in drifting the mud, cosmos as well as the sand which accumulate upon it.
Origin of Japanese Myth
The inhabitable place was created after a stake was driven in. Lastly the Izanagi (the god) He who invites and Izanami (the goddess) she who invites appeared (George, 2017). These two were then ordered by their heavenly superior to stand on a bridge which is floating in heaven and stirred the sea with a spear. After pulling up the spear then there was dripping off the brine from the tip resulted to Onogoro (A solid Island) the god and the goddess descended to this Island and these two met each other through circling around the celestial pillar in the Island (Craig, 2014). Izanami gave birth to the other gods at her deathbed and these gods precede over the farming, metal and earth. Izanagi looked at his wife and realized that the wife was attacked by the maggot. Therefore the Izanagi and Izanami´s children from the traditional religion in Japan known as the Shintoism religion. According to Japanese the Izanagi (the god) He who invites and Izanami (the goddess) she who invites appeared to earth from heaven (Yijiang, 2016).
According to the Yin, H (2012) the myth which explains the origin of the Chinese religion and their gods, there was a man known as Pan Gu who was believed to be the first man on earth from heaven. This man was believed by the Chinese to have come from an egg having two horns, hairy body and two tusks. There was a linked to the separation of the earth and heaven (Hubin, 2012). This separation results to the setting of the star, moon, sun as well as other planets in place. The shaping and levelling of the earth was done by this first man on earth, he did this through chilling out the valleys and stacking up the mountain on earth (Meir, 2014).
According to Scranton, L (2010) the god had a gigantic purpose where his eyes became the moon and the sun. Pan Gu´s blood formed the rivers and the water bodies on earth, his body became the soil and his hairs became the trees and other earth´s plantations. The human race in the whole world came from the parasites which infested the Pan Gu´s body before he died. This mythical origin of man according to Chinese was dated back in 3rd to 6th C. This god is represented as a dwarf man having left as his clothes. Pan Gu then resulted in the Confucianism religion in China during that period of time (Laird, 2010).
Origin of Chinese Myth
From the above six journals, the analysis are done on the similarities and differences of the journals.
All the three above myths about the origin of religion in Asian countries showed some connections to the religion. Where there was some supernatural being involved either as the origin of man or the universe (involved in the creation). In all the myths, there were heroes who are believed to have come from the heaven to earth. According to the Korean Hwanung is believed to have descended to earth from heaven to take charge of the earth from one of the Mountain in Korea known as Mt. Táebaek. According to Chinese Pan Gu who was believed to be the first man on earth from heaven. Another similarity between the three myths is that all were racially defined that is to say that every myth was based on a particular race such as China, Korea and Japan.
In both Korean and Japanese mythical theory of origin, there was sexual interaction where there was a wife to the god. For example in Korean myth Hwanung was the husband to the Tiger who was transformed into a young beautiful lady (they were the parents to the god Tangun. While in Chinese mythical belief there was no sexual interaction (Donald, 2013). We only had Pan Gu without any wife. In both Japanese and Chinese, the gods were responsible for the creation of the heaven and earth while in the Korean mythical origin of religion it is not stated and the origin of the earth and heaven are not discussed (Aston, 2017).
Conclusion
To summarize, myth is an ancient story which is basically focused on the early history of the place of people which tries to explain the social phenomena or origin of some natural phenomenon (a). The above mythical stories illustrate the origin of the three Asian religions that is the Korean, Chinese and Japanese. In both the myths there were some supernatural being who controls the universe and were linked to the origin of the religion and in some case the origin of some physical features on earth. The myths discussed above had some similarities as well as some differences. Some of the similarities which were discussed include; always hero, weapon, defined racially, Questions the legitimacy of the Country and Connection to religion.
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