Mythology Musings - The Korean Gumiho
There is a persistent theme in popular media of angsty vampires wanting to transcend their monstrous nature and become human. Allow me to introduce the Gumiho from Korean mythology.
women become shamans and men become sorcerers. They claim to be possessed by spirits, but to me, it is merely amusing and sorrowful. Unless they are a thousand-year-old rat in a burrow, they must undoubtedly be a nine-tailed fox in the forest. The nine-tailed fox under the forest, the shaman of the eastern house whom the multitude suspects (Complete Works of Isanguk Dongguk) The gumiho (or kumiho) is a nine-tailed fox spirit that often shapeshifts into a beautiful woman (Balmain, 2017).
Gumiho illustration provided by the National Institute of the Korean Language
What makes the gumiho so tragic and compelling in the East Asian Gothic tradition is her deep desire to transcend her demonic state. Many legends state she wishes to permanently transition into a human, creating a powerful parallel between existing gender relations and the gothic imaginary (Balmain, 2017).
Korean Classics Database . Complete Works of Isanguk Dongguk Vol. 2.
Gumiho - Nine-Tailed Fox (Wikipedia)
Korean Folklore (Wikipedia)
Balmain, C. (2017). East Asian Gothic: a definition.
