Korean creation narratives

Korean creation narratives are Korean shamanic narratives which recount the mythological beginnings of the universe. They are grouped into two categories: the eight narratives of mainland Korea, which were transcribed by scholars between the 1920s and 1980s, and the Cheonji-wang bon-puri narrative of southern Jeju Island, which exists in multiple versions and continues to be sung in its ritual context today. The mainland narratives themselves are subdivided into four northern and three eastern varieties, along with one from west-central Korea.

Many elements are shared by most Korean creation narratives. In one such episode, two gods grow flowers in a contest to decide who will rule the human world. The deserving benevolent god grows the (better) blossom, but the other god steals it while the good god sleeps. The undeserving cheater thereby becomes the ruler of humanity and spreads evil into the world. In another pan-Korean episode, there are originally two suns and two moons, making the world unbearably hot during the day and intolerably cold at night, until a deity destroys one of each.

Nonetheless, there are major structural differences between most mainland narratives and the Jeju Cheonji-wang bon-puri. In the former, the world is created by the god Mireuk, who ushers in an ancient age of plenty. Mireuk is then challenged by the god Seokga, and the two gods often engage in contentions of supernatural power, culminating in Seokga's victory through trickery in the flower contest. Mireuk departs, and the era of abundance is replaced by the current world. In Jeju, the celestial deity Cheonji-wang descends to earth after creation and impregnates an earthly woman. She gives birth to the twin boys Daebyeol-wang and Sobyeol-wang, who ascend to heaven, destroy the doubled sun and moon, and engage in the flower contest. The world of the living under the duplicitous Sobyeol-wang's rule is full of evil, but Daebyeol-wang goes to the world of the dead and often establishes justice there.

Many elements of Korean creation myths find parallels in the mythologies of nearby East and Inner Asia societies. The mainland gods Mireuk and Seokga are named after the Buddhist figure Maitreya and the historical Shakyamuni Buddha respectively, reflecting influence from the Buddhist tradition of Maitreya worship. The Korean episode of the flower contest appears with similar themes in many other areas of East and Inner Asia, while stories of superfluous suns and moons have also been attested both north and south of the Korean peninsula.