| On the left, the superb modern San-shin taeng-hwa of Yong-hwa-sa in 1996. The San-shin holds both a gnarled staff and a crane-feather fan. Three boy-attendants are shown: one fans the fire heating a teapot, another (with flying scarf) holds the Peaches of Immortaity, and the last holds a staff with a gourd-bottle tied onto it. To the right is a unique icon of three heavenly female spirits, similar to Sam-shin icons. They are resting on lotus flowers, a Buddhist motif granting them Bodhisattva or Arhant [na-han] status. They have the robes and looped hairstyles of queens or princesses of the Joseon Dynasty. Dragons cavort in clouds above the two attendants. The central goddess sits on a throne; she is not Hwang-ssi-buin. Probably, she represents one of the daughters of the Yong Wang [Dragon King of the Waters] (see pages 110-111 of the first edition of my book). His daughters, frequently found in Korean myths, get conflated with the 7 or 8 daughters of the Ok-hwang-sang-je (pgs 108-109) and the 7 or 8 daughters of the Jiri-san Seong-mo Halmae San-shin. |