10 · Foundational myth · medieval memory of a remote past

A founder recorded much later

Dangun in the Samguk yusa

The story of the bear, Hwanung and Dangun is preserved for the first time in a book written more than a millennium after Gojoseon.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Specific historical recreation of Dangun in the Samguk yusa, Korean tradition linked to Gojoseon; text compiled in Goryeo, Narrative preserved in 1281; set in a mythical antiquity — **DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · EXISTING EDITORIAL RESOURCE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction for museographic context; it is not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

History and context

The Samguk yusa, compiled in 1281, recounts that Hwanung descended from heaven, a bear was transformed into a woman and their son Dangun founded Joseon. It is the oldest preserved testimony of a tradition that gives narrative shape to the origin.

Myth can express ideas of legitimacy, community and the relationship between heaven, agriculture and sovereignty. It does not allow the foundation to be dated to 2333 BCE as an archaeological fact nor identify Dangun with a verifiable historical individual.

Iryeon compiled the Samguk yusa in the thirteenth century and cited older sources now lost. The story of Hwanung, Ungnyeo and Dangun survived because a medieval author considered it valuable to record accounts that an earlier court history might have omitted.

The date 2333 BCE belongs to a traditional chronology elaborated from the narrative. Archaeology has not identified Dangun, Asadal nor a state of that date; the myth does document how later generations imagined heaven, territory and legitimacy.

Evidence and interpretation

Documented fact: the National Institute of Korean History dates the Samguk yusa to 1281 and identifies it as the oldest preserved record of the myth. Interpretation and caution: social readings of the bear, crops and tribal unification are proposals; the mythical chronology is not scientific dating. Expanded documented fact: The Samguk yusa of 1281 is the oldest preserved version of the Dangun narrative and places its foundation in a mythical antiquity. Expanded interpretation and caution: Do not represent the transformed bear or the date as an observed historical event; distinguish the medieval manuscript from the legendary scene.

Catalogue facts

Narrative date: Narrative preserved in 1281; set in a mythical antiquity
Location: Korean tradition linked to Gojoseon; text compiled in Goryeo
Material: Historical-religious manuscript on paper, later copies
Context: Foundation memory written in the medieval period
Curatorial reading: The documented fact and its interpretation appear separately in the evidence block.
Compiler: The Buddhist monk Iryeon (1206–1289) compiled the work in Goryeo.
Language: The text was written in Classical Chinese and cites earlier traditions and works.
Historical value: It is a primary source for thirteenth-century memory, not contemporary testimony of the third millennium BCE.
Documentary coverage: 3 museum, heritage, primary corpus or research sources for this stop.

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

The bear and tiger test

In the preserved narrative, a bear and a tiger ask to become human. Hwanung gives them mugwort and garlic and imposes that they remain away from sunlight; the tiger does not complete the test, while the bear transforms into Ungnyeo. Her union with Hwanung gives rise to Dangun. The test precedes the foundation of the kingdom. It is content of the myth, not a biological description nor a test of a historical marriage. Reading its sequence allows understanding how the narrative constructs a legitimacy that combines heaven and the earthly world.

Research · Academy of Korean Studies · Infokorea 2017, founding mythsAccess recorded: September 5, 2026.

Location and territory

DEBATED LOCATION

Korean tradition linked to Gojoseon; text compiled in GoryeoLiaoning and northern Korea; the precise extent remains debated. The mark indicates the orienting centre of the scope, not a boundary or an exact point.

Sources and references

Expand this information and consult its sources

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