The following description is from the
Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the three Kingdoms), volume 5, clause 7.
Criticisms surrounding her origins Chinese accounts Historians have long questioned the origins of Lady Saso noting the case of
Kim Pusik, a
Goryeo bureaucrat whom authored the
Samguk Sagi (not to be confused with
Samguk Yusa), who had been oblivious to these "tales and rumors" (as he puts it) of Lady Saso prior to his visit to
Song dynasty China. During Kim's visit to the kingdom (circa 1111–1117), his Chinese guide, "Wang Fu" (Traditional Chinese: 王黼) explained to Kim Pusik who saw the statue of a woman in "Wuxingwan" (Traditional Chinese: 佑神館) as someone who was "a legendary figure (Lady Saso) of
your country who was a daughter of an ancient Chinese emperor who fled east after being exiled for becoming pregnant without a husband" and that he (Wang) and his followers worshipped said individual. Kim Pusik later remarked about the rather peculiar encounter and questioned the validity of such claim made by a foreign Chinese who was heavily invested in a legend that neither he (Kim) or
his people had any knowledge of. Therefore, he did not include the
myth in his
history- and fact-focused
Samguk Sagi. But much like most claims made in
Samguk Yusa, historians are very skeptical as to whether or not such individuals truly existed. Another criticism focuses on these tales as being no different from mere deifications that stems from ideas such as Sinocentrism or
Buddhism, which claims unidentified individuals of foreign origins (such as Chinese or Indians) as supposed ancestors of past royals with no grounded evidence. Such claims have also been made by Il-yeon within
Samguk Yusa, in regards to the origins of
Heo Hwang-ok being ancient
India. Claims made by
Samguk Yusa (the source material Lady Saso is first mentioned in) is presumed to be the result of Chinese
Sinocentrism, aligning with the claims that the Japanese were descended from
Xu Fu (徐福), the
Xiongnu were descendants of Lü-Gui (履癸王) the last king of
Xia (夏) and that the case of
Gojoseon (古朝鮮) and
Gouwu (句吳) all revolve around China and its cultural significance. However, despite finding multiple claims in numerous texts across
East Asia (and even
Southeast Asia), modern historians have a difficult time cross-referencing and deducing on concrete evidence which back the legitimacy of such assertions, later stating that the claims made in the past were mostly hearsay. According to
Samguk Yusa, the story of Lady Saso include the terms "Gye-nong ()", "Gye-rim ()" and "Baek-ma ()". However, the mention of the word "
Gye", found in
Gye-nong and
Gye-rim is first introduced in the legend of
Kim Al-ji and absent in the chronologically older legend of Hyeokgeose. However, using this analogy,
Gye Yeon-su, a major contributor to
Hwandan Gogi claimed that Lady Saso was in fact, Princess Paso of Buyeo which elevated him (a person of the Gye family line) her descendant and of ancient Korean royalty. His claim (alongside the book itself) was heavily criticized and is now widely regarded as a work of fiction. However, it is thought that these false claims found in
Samguk Yusa and
Hwandan Gogi about Lady Saso is what caused her existence to become so controversial in recent times. == Family ==