After King Sejong created Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, he wrote a song called “Yongbieocheonga용비어천가,” which can be translated into a dragon soaring up to the sky to travel along the rightful path. It took a long time and tremendous sacrifice by many people to found the Joseon Dynasty and to create the country’s own letters, so for posterity, the king wanted to honor the founding principles for eternity. It’s a very long song, comprised of 125 chapters. The first verse goes like this: Six dragons take off into the sky from Joseon and each of their undertakings is a blessing from the heavens. Who do these six dragons represent? They are King Taejo태조, the founder of Joseon, King Taejong태종, who put the kingdom on a solid footing, and two other ancestors who came before King Taejo. King Sejong wrote another song entitled “Yeominnak여민락,” which means enjoying music with the people. The song is passed down to this day and here’s a performance of it by the KBS Traditional Music Orchestra.

Yeominnak / KBS Traditional Music Orchestra

In the East, the dragon, which is pronounced “yong” in Korean, symbolizes the king. That’s why the king’s face is called “yong’an용안” or the face of a dragon, the king’s throne “yongsang용상,” and king’s robe “yongpo용포.” Ancient Chinese literature describes a dragon as the king of all creatures with scales. Sometimes it is visible, and sometimes it is not. Sometimes it is thin, and sometimes it is thick, sometimes it is long, and sometimes it is short. It soars to the sky at the spring equinox and dives under a pond at the autumnal equinox. A dragon is depicted as having the body of a snake with fish-like scales, the head of a camel, the horns of a deer, the eyes of a rabbit, the ears of an ox, the paws of a tiger and the talons of an eagle. The dragons found in old paintings are most likely based on this description. The dragon is considered the god of water, so when there was a draught, people would pray to the drawings of a dragon for rain. Even nowadays fishing villages offer a shamanistic prayer to the sea god for the safety of fishermen and a big haul. But what if the sea god becomes ill? In the pansori piece called “Sugungga수궁가,” or “The Song of the Underwater Palace,” when the sea god ruling over the South Sea became ill, he sent a turtle to catch a hare, whose liver would supposedly cure the sea god’s ailment. Here’s a passage from Sugungga describing how the sea god becomes sick, performed by master singer Lee Il-joo이일주.

Sugungga / Sori Lee Il-joo

Dragons are one of the favorite actors in ancient western literature as well, but their appearances and roles are quite different from the ones in the East. Western dragons resemble a lizard with bat wings, and unlike the benevolent beings of the East that control water, they are fire-breathing villains to be vanquished by heroic princes. When it comes down to it, the only thing these two creatures share is the name “dragon.” In Indian mythology there is a semi-divine race of half human and half serpent called nagas, which look a lot like the dragons in Northeast Asian myths, only without legs. These serpentine beings are said to have the body of a cobra with multiple heads. The good nagas are often associated with waters like rivers and oceans, while the evil ones breathe fire to scare people. Today we will conclude with a song called “Suryongeum수룡음,” which can be translated into “a tune sung by a dragon in the water.” For this piece, which combines eastern and western cultures Kim Jeong-seung김정승 will play the danso, Na Hyeon-seon나현선 the harp, and Park Jeong-min박정민 the cello.

Suryongeum/ Jeong-seung at the danso, Na Hyeon-seon at the harp, Park Jeong-min at the cello