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Dan-Gun is named after the holy Dan Gun, the legendary founder of Korea in 2333BC

Long, long ago when earth and the heavens were one, at a time when animals could speak like humans, a divine god spirit called Hwan-in, king of the eastern heavens, ruled that part of the world where the morning is born each day. In that ancient time when the five beasts stood at the four corners of the world, the Blue Dragon in the East, the White Tiger in the West, the Red Phoenix in the South and the Tortoise and Snake in the North, the king sent his son, Hwan-ung, to earth in the eastern land and instructed him to build a new country there. Hwan-in's son possessed great power, honor and wisdom and was very much loved and trusted by his father. Hwan-in had great confidence in his son and foresaw that one day his son would make a great ruler for the eastern land.

Hwan-ung descended from heaven with three divine spirits: the Teacher, who creates the clouds; the General, who drives the winds; and the Governor, who brings the rains. The souls of 3,000 other spirits, an entire race of people, accompanied them to earth. Hwan-ung gathered his followers near the shade of an ancient birch tree on the slope of T'aebaek-san, a rugged 9,100 foot peak in northern Korea. There they began a new nation. Hwan-ung, son of the king of the eastern heaven, ruled his new nation from Shinshi, the "divine city," where he governed some 360 important matters including harvest, life, and punishment. Treated kindly and justly, Hwan-ung's people lived happily and prospered in their new land. Not far from Shinshi, in a small cave near T'aebaek-san, lived a bear and a great Siberian tiger, king of the beasts on the Korean peninsula.

Lying together in the grass on the mountainside one morning, the bear and the tiger spoke enviously of the humans living so happily under Hwan-ung's benevolent rule.

"Do you think there is any way we could become men?" the tiger responded. Leaving their mountain meadow, the two animals decided to walk down to Shinshi and speak with Hwan-ung himself about the matter.

"Hwan-ung, we both wish to become men. Could you help us?" asked the bear and the tiger.

"Yes, there is a way," said Hwan-ung, "but it is very difficult. Before you decide to go through with this, I must warn you it will require great patience."

"We do not care how difficult it is," the bear and the tiger anxiously replied, "we believe that we possess the required patience and we are willing to try."

After some thought about the unusual request, Hwan-ung made the necessary preparations and gave them his blessing and their instructions. The instructions were simple enough: they were to eat nothing but the 20 garlic cloves and bundle of mugwort he gave each of them for food, and they had to stay secluded in their cave for 100 days without sunlight.

"If you will do as I instruct and pray earnestly," said Hwan-ung, "then you will become men." The tiger and the bear agreed to the conditions and returned to their mountain cave to begin their ordeal.

Being wild animals accustomed to freely roaming the mountains, it was not long before the close confinement of the cave began to affect their desire. As time wore on it became harder for them to endure. After about 20 days had passed, the tiger's patience neared its limit.

"Try to concentrate on the goal and do not think of being hungry," said the bear, trying to encourage his friend. The bear's advice had little effect on the tiger's growing impatience.

"I have had almost all of this I can endure," grumbled the tiger. "I can wait no longer. I am getting out. I don't care about becoming a man after all. If I wait 80 more days, I shall have starved to death anyway." Failing his trial of patience, the weakened tiger limped out of the cave to find food. From that day, the tiger became a fierce creature who was treated as the greatest enemy of man.

Hwan-ung was stunned by the sight of this beautiful young woman. Standing before him she said, "I am the one incarnate from the bear with your blessing. I wish there were some way I could repay your kindness," she told him. Hwan-ung gave her the name Ung-yo, which means, "the girl incarnated from a bear." Ung-yo grew more beautiful with each passing day. Her beauty so impressed Hwan-ung that he proposed to her and soon married her.

Not long after their marriage, Ung-yo gave birth to a son in the shade of a birch tree on the slopes of T'aebaek-san. The boy was called Tan'gun, Lord of the Birch Trees, a name taken from the word tangul, or medicine man. "In the Kogum-ki it is written that Hwan-in is God (chon), Hwan-ung is the spirit (sin), and Tan'gun is the god-man (sin-in); these three constitute divine trinity (sam-sin)."

After Hwan-ung's departure from Earth in the 25th year of the reign of Emperor Yao in China, 2333 BC, Tan'gun Wang'gom, the first great ruler of Korea, united the scattered six tribes in the northern part of the peninsula and there set up the first acknowledged kingdom in Korea. Tan'gun called his land Choson, a name that means "Land of the Morning Calm," "Land of the Dawn," or "Land of the Morning Freshness," and he established his capital at Asadal (now P'yong'yang). From there, Tan'gun Wang'gom, the father of Korea, taught his simple-hearted people their first lessons in government, marriage, agriculture, cooking, housing, the worship of god, and all matters of right-living. Tan'gun ruled Choson at the time when, on the other side of the earth, Cheops of the Fourth Dynasty at Memphis had just completed construction of his Great Pyramid in Egypt and Hammurabi lived in Babylon working out his legal code. It was an age of great masters, a period to be remembered for all time.

The rational, logical mind quickly dismisses such legends as meaningless mythology, an indication of Korean totem worship. Much of what Westerners find so irrational and inconsistent with legends such as this represents the whole foundation of the Korean culture and it is the key to understanding their history. The ancient people of Choson did not question the significance of the legend's underlying truth, that a deity had desired to become human of his own volition. Unlike Westerners, Koreans never considered the earth as a place of exile for the gods, or a place where sinners were sent to do penance. They believed their land and their nation comprised a wonderful dream, a dream so good that even the deities and animals wanted to live there. Koreans felt gratified to have chosen so beautiful a place for their home. It is said even the ancient Chinese expressed wonder at Korea's beauty, summing it up in the verse: "Would rather live in Korea and see Kumgangsan (Diamond Mountains)." Koreans have always preferred life in the present, no matter how sordid, to life in some imagined, unknown heaven, and much of their literature reflects such thinking. One proverb declares a preference for "an earthly field of dung to the wonders of the afterworld."

Once known as the "Eastern Land of Courtesy," Korea seldom cultivated overseas interests, never invaded its neighbors, nor sought development outside given boundaries. The Korean's excessive adulation of their homeland and their aversion to coveting the territories of others eventually invited foreign invasion, subjugation, and a long period of colonial suffering. Koreans have preserved the Tan'gun legend and its psychological foundation through the centuries as a source of spiritual comfort in times of crisis. Koreans feel a solemn duty to pass on such beliefs and the pride of a people with a long history and ancient culture to succeeding generations.

Despite incomplete evidence to support it, many archaeologists and historians accept the Tan'gun legend's founding date of 2333 BC as correct. Even ancient Chinese records written twenty or thirty centuries before Christ, mention the name of Choson. Whether legend or fact, somewhere, sometime, the power and personality of a man called Tan'gun made a deep and lasting impression on the Korean people. Consider Kim Saeng, Korea's most famous calligrapher. Born in 711 AD, Kim Saeng earnestly prayed to God for his special gift. One day an angel appeared to him in a vision and said, "I am Tan'gun, and am come down to bless you according to the longings of your heart."

Solgo, another of Korea's greatest artists, also prayed for years that he might be divinely taught. One day an old man visited him and said,

"I am the god-man Tan'gun. Moved by your earnest prayers, I have come to give you the divinely pointed brush."

From that day, Solgo was a master artist. It has been said that he once painted a pine tree of such beauty and realism on a temple gateway that the swallows beat their little breasts against the stone wall trying to alight in its branches. Solgo was so thankful for his gift that he painted the aged Tan'gun more than a thousand times. Icons picture Tan'gun as a kindly old Chinese-Korean man with white hair, usually smiling, sometimes accompanied by his wife, and usually attended by a pet tiger.

In the ninety-ninth and last year of Tan'gun's reign, an old and weary tiger wandered the slopes of T'aebaek-san. There he met Tan'gun, the father of Korea. The two ancient figures sat together and spoke of the past.

"Before I leave this world, there is something I must ask you," said the old tiger. "It was my father who asked the blessing of Hwan-ung to become human, but because he could not wait, he remained a tiger. Must all tigers live forever in shame because of his impatience?"

Tan'gun replied that it need not be so and granted him an opportunity to redeem his fate. He explained to the old tiger the difficulty of the request, but if he agreed to the terms, Tan'gun would grant him one chance to redeem his family name.

"Before you agree," said Tan'gun, "you must understand that for you the price will be greater than I asked of your father. You will experience the joy and delight of being human; you will know the elation of realizing a dream, and the satisfaction of achieved ambition; you will bask in the beautiful sights, sounds, and fragrances of this land; you will savor the full measure of a good meal, the comfort of a warm fire, and the peaceful sleep of an infant; you will experience the love and happiness of having a family.

"But realize this old one; no dream comes without a price. You will also know the sorrows of being human; you will feel the pain and hunger of the poor and suffer all the brutality and terror that man can impose on his own kind; you will see ugliness, hear screams of pain and hopeless cries of desperation and come to know the smell of death; you will feel the utter despair of dreams lost and the frustration of ambitions denied; you will know the loneliness of an outcast and the solitude of a hermit. You my old friend, will live the long history of my people."

Speaking in a soft, low voice, Tan'gun said that a time was soon coming when men and animals would no longer be able to communicate with each other as they once did. Gently stroking the big cat's neck, Tan'gun gave the tiger the power to become human, but only for short periods of time. "You shall not grow older and you will not die," said Tan'gun. "You shall see and experience and remember all that your father will never know. If you accept this task, there will be no turning back. If you let impatience get control of you as it did your father, your kind will forever be cursed as untrustworthy and no man or animal shall think of you as a friend. The powers I give you shall be yours until Choson becomes a sovereign kingdom and its people become masters of their own destiny. When they achieve their goal my old friend, you shall achieve yours. I cannot tell you how long that will take, that is up to them. Spreading his arms outward toward the valleys below, he added, "All they need is here."

Tan'gun gave him his name, the Tiger of Shinshi, and set forth the tasks he has been fulfilling for more than three-thousand years. Had the ancient tiger known what the future held for him and the Korean people, he might not have been so eager to accept the challenge. But accept it he did and he has kept his word to this day.

He is the Tiger of Shinshi, the Warden of Three Thousand Li, Defender of Choson, and Guardian of the Golden Thread. He is the strength and cunning the Korean people have used to defend their homeland. He protects and keeps alive the long and ancient history of Korea and his teachings pass this legacy to each new generation. He is the comforter who brings peace to the spirits of Korea's ancestors and who safeguards and protects the Golden Thread, that which ties and binds the Korean people together throughout time, a thread that must never be broken.

Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, compiled by the Sôn Buddhist master Iryôn in the thirteenth century. This text is the source of most of the legends of ancient Korea.

The Wei Shu tells us that two thousand years ago, at the time of emperor Yao, Tangun Wanggôm chose Asadal as his capital and founded the state of Chosôn. The Old Record notes that in olden times Hwanin's son, Hwanung, wished to descend from heaven and live in the world of human beings. Knowing his son's desire, Hwanin surveyed the three highest mountains and found Mount T'aebaek the most suitable place for his son to settle and help human beings. Therefore he gave Hwanung three heavenly seals and dispatched him to rule over the people. Hwanung descended with three thousand followers to a spot under a tree by the Holy Altar atop Mount T'aebaek, and he called this place the City of God. He was the Heavenly King Hwanung. Leading the Earl of Wind, the Master of Rain, and the Master of Clouds, he took charge of some three hundred and sixty areas of responsibility, including agriculture, allotted lifespans, illness, punishment, and good and evil, and brought culture to his people. At that time a bear and a tiger living in the same cave prayed to Holy Hwanung to transform them into human beings. The king gave them a bundle of sacred mugworts and twenty cloves of garlic and said, "If you eat these and shun the sunlight for one hundred days, you will assume human form." Both animals ate the spices and avoided the sun. After twenty-one days the bear became a woman, but the tiger, unable to observe the taboo, remained a tiger. Unable to find a husband, the bear-woman prayed under the Alter Tree for a child. Hwanung metamorphosed himself, lay with her, and begot a son called Tangun Wanggôm. In the fiftieth year of the reign of Emperor Yao, Tangun made the walled city of P'yôngyang the capital and called his country Chosôn. He then moved his capital to Asadal on Mount Paegak, also named Mount Kunghol, whence he ruled for fifteen hundred years. When, in the year kimyo [1122 BC], King Wu of Chou enfeoffed Chi Tzu to Chosôn, Tangun moved to Changdangyông, but later he returned and hid in Asadal as a mountain god at the age of one thousand nine hundred and eight.

Mythological first king of the Koreans, the grandson of Hwanin, the creator, and the son of Hwanung, who fathered his child by breathing on a beautiful young woman. Tangun reportedly became king in 2333 BC.

Legends about Tangun differ in detail. According to one account, Hwanung left heaven to rule Earth from atop Mt. T'aebaek (Daebaik). When a bear and a tiger expressed a wish to become human beings, he ordered the beasts into a cave for 100 days and gave orders that they were to eat only mugwort and garlic and avoid the sunlight. The tiger soon grew impatient and left the cave, but the bear remained and after three weeks was transformed into a beautiful woman. It was she who became the mother of Tangun. The myth is important inasmuch as it links the Korean people with a heavenly origin. Tangun's legendary association with agriculture has led to speculation that the myth is based on a historical leader who learned the secrets of the soil in the city-states of the Huang Ho (river) valley. Buddhism and Taoism clothed themselves with a Korean mantle by crediting Tangun with starting a national religion of Heavenly Teaching and with originating the Korean maxim Hongik-ingan ("Love humanity"). An altar on Kanghwa Island, which is said to have been built by Tangun himself, is periodically refurbished. Tangun's birthday ("Opening of Heaven Day") on the 3rd day of the 10th month is a holiday for schoolchildren.

The story begins with a bear, longing to be human, who asks for direction from the Gods. She was told to simply eat a bunch of Mugwort and twenty pieces of Garlic and keep out of the sunlight for 100 days.

Successfully completing the task, the Bear-Woman married the heavenly King's youngest son - Hwang Ung, and their child was Dan Gun. He was born on Korea's highest mountain, Mount Paektu (Chinese: Pai-t'ou) on the border with China, and went on to establish his own kingdom called Choson.

This bear legend is similar to others found in Siberia, and could indicate the true origination of Korea, as people migrated out of Central Asia.

The leaves of the common wormwood (Artemisia absinthium)and mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), have been used in medicines and such beverages as Absinthe. Absinthe is made from a spirit high in alcohol, such as brandy, and marketed with alcoholic content of 68 percent by volume. Wormwood and Mugwort are the chief flavouring ingredients; other aromatic ingredients include licorice (which usually predominates in the aroma), hyssop, fennel, angelica root, aniseed, and star aniseed. The beverage was first produced commercially in 1797 by Henry-Louis Pernod, who purchased the formula from a French exile living in Switzerland.