Three-legged bird

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Three-legged bird flanked by dragon and phoenix. Mural from the Koguryo period, Korea.

The three-legged bird is a creature found in various mythologies of Asia and North Africa. It is often thought to inhabit and represent the sun. The creature has been featured in myths from Egypt, where it appears on wall murals,^[1] to Japan.

In Korean mythology, it is known as Samjogo (hangul: 삼족오; hanja: 三足烏). During the period of the Koguryo Kingdom, the Samjoko was a highly regarded symbol of power, thought superior to both the dragon and the Korean phoenix.^[1] The three-legged bird is one of several emblems under consideration to replace the phoenix in the Korean seal of state when it is revised in 2008. The Samjogo is considered a symbol of Goguryeo.

In Chinese mythology, the Fenghuang tracing back to 7000 years ago is sometimes shown as being three-legged.[1] [2] The Eastern Yi culture of Ancient China had a sunbird (a mythical three-legged crow), a solar symbol dating back to 3rd millennium BC[3] and may have been the precursor to the one in Shandong, China. [4] The three-legged crow can be first seen in the icongraphy of the Xi Wangmu (Queen Mother of the West) in Han-period religion. [5] In the Yong Tai Tomb dating to the Tang Dynasty Era, one can view a three-legged bird. [6]

In Japanese mythology, the creature is a raven called Yatagarasu (八咫烏), which is the bird of the sun goddess Amaterasu. The three-legged bird is used as the emblem of the Japan Football Association.