Yongwang: Korea's Dragon King, Spirit of the Sea, Rain and Wells

Who is Yongwang?

Yongwang is the Dragon King, a water god born when the imagined dragon was deified. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture defines the dragon god as a deity who stirs winds and clouds, brings rain and governs the sea. It explains that Korea's native water worship met Buddhism in the Three Kingdoms period and turned into dragon-god belief, and that Daoist influence later added ideas such as Dragon Kings of the four seas.

The water he rules is wide. For fishers he raised and calmed waves and ruled the fish. For farmers he sent rain in a drought. Villagers believed a dragon god lived in wells and springs, kept the wells clean and held a well ritual at New Year. The encyclopedia sums up that dragon gods were revered across thousands of years as guardians of the nation, ancestors of royal houses, rain gods and sea gods. This page presents the belief as traditional culture, not as a promise of luck.

Legends: Daewangam and the Manpasikjeok flute

Dragon King stories fill Korea's old texts. Silla's King Munmu is said to have left a will that he would become a great dragon to protect the country and to have been buried in the East Sea according to that wish. Daewangam, a rock off Gyeongju, is traditionally identified as his tomb. In the Samguk Yusa story of Manpasikjeok, the dragon Munmu and the heavenly god Kim Yu-sin send a bamboo to King Sinmun, and a flute made from it drove away enemy soldiers, brought rain in drought and calmed rough waves.

Goryeo's royal house claimed dragon blood as well. The Goryeosa tells that Taejo Wang Geon's grandfather Jakjegeon saved the West Sea Dragon King from a fox and married a dragon maiden. In the tale of Lady Suro in Silla, a sea dragon seizes her and the people bring her back by singing the Hae-ga, a story that includes the dragon's seven-jewel palace, the origin of the word yonggung, the Dragon Palace. Baekje's King Mu is likewise said to have been born of a dragon in a pond and his mother.

In shamanic chants too the Dragon King is important. Jeju songs name a green dragon king of the east, a white of the west, a red of the south, a black of the north and a yellow of the center, one for each direction. The baby who becomes the underworld grandmother in the Jeju story of Samseung Halmang is also a daughter of the East Sea Dragon King.

How he is honored and what symbols mean

Yongwang is honored by the water rather than in the house. Seaside villages keep a Yongwang shrine of rocks or a small hut, fishing boats fly flags offered to him along with a ship guardian, and rituals are held at rivers, reservoirs and village wells. Temples keep a Yongwang altar and some hang a Yongwang painting.

The most widespread custom is Yongwang-meogigi, 'feeding the Dragon King', around the first full moon of the lunar year. People wrapped rice, rice cake or five grains in hanji paper, one packet per family member, threw them into the sea, river or well and prayed to go through the year without trouble from water. Names vary by region, among them Eobuseum, Yongwang-je and Yowang-je. At dawn on the full moon, those who wished for a child went to the well to draw the first water of the year. This is called Yongal-ttegi, 'scooping the dragon egg', and means taking the vitality of the dragon god living in the well.

• Yongwang shrine: a rock or hut by the sea, the setting for fishing-village festivals
• Yongwang-meogigi (Eobuseum): rice or rice cake wrapped in paper and thrown into water at the first full moon
• Yongal-ttegi: drawing the first water of the well on full-moon dawn
• Yongwang altar and painting: the place and image for him in a temple

Taboos and customs at sea

For people who work at sea, the Dragon King was tied directly to survival. When a boat was launched for the first time, and on the first sailing of the year, a Yongwang rite was held. Sailors avoided whistling on deck or turning over a fish when eating, because the images suggested a capsizing boat. Careful words and manners were also a way to steady the mind when facing rough water together.

The Jeju Yowang-maji gut welcomes the Dragon King to pray for a good catch or to retrieve the souls of those who died at sea and see them to the other world. According to the encyclopedia, two rows of bamboo branches stand as the Yowang gate and the shaman mimes cutting seaweed, breaking rock and clearing stones to open the road for the king. A distinguishing feature is that no sea fish are put on the offering table. The haenyeo's diving rite also ties back to this belief.

Regional differences

In fishing villages on the east, west and south coasts, a village-level fishing festival is the core of Dragon King belief. Nationally designated shaman rituals such as the East Coast Byeolsin-gut, the West Coast Baeyeonsin-gut, the Wido Ddibbaenori and the South Coast Byeolsin-gut all include a section that invites him. Inland farm villages, in drought, held rain rites at deep pools or large ponds called yongso, the dragon pools.

On Jeju, Yowang is honored as one stage of a large gut or in a separate Yowang-maji, and in the second lunar month many villages pray to him along with Yeongdeung. In places such as Andong, some homes kept a dragon jar, yongdanji, honoring the dragon as a house spirit and farm spirit. Even for the same king, a seaside village, a farm village and a household each asked something a little different, and the West Sea held its big festival during croaker season while the East Coast sang to the sea in its Yongwang section.

Haenyeo and the Dragon King

For the haenyeo of Jeju and the southern coast, the Dragon King is one of the closest spirits. They dive on a single breath for conch, abalone and seaweed, and tide and weather decide whether it goes well. Every year the village divers' association led a diving rite or the Yeongdeung rite and prayed to the Dragon King and Yeongdeung for safe work and a rich sea. They made the rice cakes and offerings themselves.

Each village had a seaside shrine that divers visited at the start of the season or after trouble. Passed down with it were reading of tides and wind and rules for diving in groups while watching each other. Jeju haenyeo culture was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2016, and the community's caring for the sea and keeping its rituals counted among its values. Dragon King belief is firmly woven into this way of life.

What remains today

The Dragon Palace and its king are familiar stage settings in Korean stories. In the classic Simcheong-jeon, Simcheong throws herself into the Indangsu sea and is welcomed in the Dragon Palace, then returns riding a lotus. In Byeoljubujeon, also called the Tale of the Rabbit, a turtle goes ashore to fetch a rabbit's liver for the ailing Dragon King. Stories such as the founding legend of Haeinsa, in which a man saves the Dragon King's son and gains treasure, also appear in several regions.

Today fishing villages still hold a rite when a new boat is launched and many keep a Yongwang-je in the first month. Place names such as Yongso, Yongduam and Yongyeon preserve the dragon-god stories, and at Buddhist release ceremonies where fish are returned to the water, the Dragon King is sometimes included in the prayers.

Dragon and Dragon King: a quick guide for visitors

Readers used to Western dragons may find the Korean dragon surprising. It is not a fire-breathing monster but a long, wise creature of water, associated with rain, rivers, the sea and the harvest, and usually seen as benevolent. That is why a king of dragons could be a god of fishers and farmers alike, and why dragon imagery was used for royalty.

If you travel in Korea you may notice dragon heads on temple roofs and bridges, Dragon King altars in small seaside temples, and place names that begin with yong. Each is a small trace of the same water belief. Visiting a fishing village in the first lunar month may even let you see a modest Yongwang-meogigi, a quiet rite held for neighbors rather than for tourists, so observe respectfully and ask before taking photographs.

Kindred spirits