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Cover: The Vermilion Birds on the South Wall of the Stone Chamber of the Great Tomb of Gangseo

These are the Vermilion Birds depicted on the South Wall of the stone chamber of the Great Tomb of Gangseo located in Daean, South Pyeongan Province, North Korea. The Great Tomb of Gangseo is the type of tomb that has inside it a chamber built with a pile of well-cut granite slabstone and covered with soil on top. In the middle of the stone chamber, each of the four walls in four directions has each of the four creatures depicted on it, the Azure Dragon on the East, the White Tiger on the West, the Vermilion Bird on the South, and the Black Turtle on the North, respectively.

These Vermilion Birds, one to the left of the South Gate and the other to the right, are facing each other toward the entrance. The exquisite features of the Vermilion Birds as mythological creates are well expressed: wings that beat up powerfully, tails that spiral up, plumage that makes it look like their entire bodies are in flames, and a mystical appearance with a tinge of red and green.

The Vermilion Birds are also a symbol of harmony between yin and yang. Supposedly, the one on the right, more colorful and graceful, is female, and the one on the left, with majesty and weight, is male.

From these Vermilion Birds with the delicately expressed beauty of the curves, and so full of colors and life that they look alive and about to fly up in the sky, we can feel the spirit of the ancient people of Koguryo who dreamed of becoming supernatural beings and flying up high and high in the sky.