Lady Saso

rdf:langString Lady Saso

rdf:langString 娑蘇夫人

rdf:langString Saso Buin

rdf:langString 사소부인

rdf:langString Saso Buin

rdf:langString Lady Saso (Korean: 사소부인; Hanja: 娑蘇夫人) is said to be the mother of Hyeokgeose of Silla. Also known as the Sacred Mother of Mt. Seondo (Hangul:선도산), legends say she was a princess from the Chinese royal family. Having coming from China and settling upon the Jinhan Confederacy, she gave birth to Hyeokgeose of Silla. Later, she was honored as great king (queen regnant) by King Gyeongmyeong. Nonetheless, Korean historians have long questioned her origins noting the case of Kim Bu-sik, the Goryeo bureaucrat whom authored the Samguk Sagi, having been clueless about these "tales and rumors" as he puts it. The Chinese guide Wang Fu (Traditional Chinese: 王黼) of the Song dynasty explained to Kim Bu-sik who saw the statue of a woman in Wuxingwan (Traditional Chinese: 佑神館) as someone who was "the goddess of your country who was a daughter of an old Chinese Emperor that fled East after being suspected of being pregnant without her husband." Kim Bu-sik thought these descriptions strange enough he nor the Korean people back then ever heard of such tales. There is also criticism that these tales are no different from old deifications related to Sinocentrism, claiming false Chinese or unidentified individuals as supposed ancestors as the practice were frequent back then. On the other hand, under the pretext that she is in fact a long lost Chinese princess, some suspect her to be from either one of the dynasties during the Warring State Period; Qin, Yan, and Wei being likely candidates. Others presume she was the princess of the Qin Dynasty due to the passage in the Book of Jin quoting, "Qin(秦)'s old immigrants fled to Jinhan to avoid harsh labor." When Il-yeon built Samguk yusa in the future, he wrote a legendary addition to the story of Lady Saso, paying attention to Kim Bu-sik's story.