Korean TraditionCreature
Haetae
- discerning justice
- guarding against fire and disaster
A lion-like guardian beast that can tell right from wrong, whose stone statues guard Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul and were believed to protect it from fire.
About Haetae
A beast of justice
The haetae (also haechi) is a mythical beast, often shown with a lion-like body, scales, and sometimes a single horn, that was believed able to distinguish right from wrong and to butt the guilty. It derives from the Chinese xiezhi, a unicorned beast of judgment associated with law courts, and in Joseon-dynasty Korea it became an emblem of justice worn on the rank badges of officials of the Office of the Inspector-General.
Guardians of Gwanghwamun
A pair of stone haetae stands before Gwanghwamun, the main gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, carved when the palace was rebuilt in the 1860s under the regent Heungseon Daewongun. According to a widely told tradition, they were placed to guard the palace against fire, facing Mount Gwanak to the south, whose fiery energy geomancers feared.
Seoul's symbol
The city of Seoul adopted the haechi as its official symbol in 2009, and it appears throughout the city on signs and souvenirs.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul (monument)
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
The danger rating is an editorial shorthand for how the myths portray the creature, not a claim made by the sources.