단군신화의 새로운 해석 -무량사 화상석의 단군과 치우를 중심으로-

Abstract

The Dangun myth described (at the Gojoseon section) in Samguk-yusa(Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms) compiled by Buddhist PriestIlyeon during the Goryeo dynasty is a valuable cultural asset to theKorean people. The bear tale in which Dangun was born of Hwanungof heavenly descent and the bear woman from a bear-totem tribeworshipping the god of the earth has dominated the Korean psychefor so long, excluding the existence of a tiger-totem tribe. However,as demonstrated in Hodori, the official mascot of the 1988 SummerOlympic Games, and the tiger emblem in the uniform for the Koreannational football team, the culture of tiger worship has prevailedover the bear-worshipping culture in Korea. I thought that the Dangun myth has to be reinterpreted in order toshed light on the cause of such a difference between the traditionaltale and reality. Therefore, I turned my eyes on the pictorial stonesat the Wu Liang Shrine in Shandong Province, China. These carvingswere made by the Wu family about 2,000 years ago and have beenrated as valuable historical materials used for understanding NortheastAsian myths and legends. Among them, I paid attention to the thirdpictorial stone of the back stone chamber and a tiger woman, not abear woman, appears on the stone. The studies of this pictorial stone have been already conducted. In1942, Chinese Researcher Liu Mingshu regarded this stone as a portrayal ofthe battle of Zhuolu between Chiyou and the Yellow Emperor (HuangDi) and construed Chiyou as the loser of the battle. In 1946, KoreanResearcher Kim Jae-won explained the carved image by linking it withthe Dangun myth, and in particular, while he gave an account of thebirth of Dangun, he mentioned Chiyou in a cautious manner. I critically reviewed Liu Mingshu’s and Kim Jae-won’s opinionson the relationship between Dangun and Chiyou who appear on thepictorial stone together. As a result, I interpreted the image on thesecond level of the stone as the scene of Chiyou’s victory at thebattle of Zhuolu. In addition, I understood that the image of a bearon the third level of the stone represents Chiyou, the tiger womannext to him seems to be holding the baby Dangun in her bosom,and that the pheasant in front of Chiyou symbolizes Hwanung. Isuggested the theory of the union between the three tribes: thebear-totem tribe, the tiger-totem tribe and the Hwanung-worshippingtribe by embracing the existence of the tiger-totem tribe instead ofexcluding the existence, and moreover, I reinterpreted the Dangunlegend, the founding myth of Gojoseon, from a new perspective thatDangun is a descendant of Chiyou who came from the bear-totemtribe, in order to overcome a gap in the history of Korea.