Who Are the the Ten Kings of the Underworld (King Yama)?
The ten judges of the dead
The Ten Kings of the Underworld are the ten rulers believed to judge the dead in the afterlife. King Yama (Yanluo Wang) is one of them.
When Wukong's lifespan runs out, his soul is tied up with rope and dragged off by messengers of the underworld. He wakes up and starts a rampage, and the Ten Kings appear together and treat him very humbly. Wukong has a judge bring him the Register of Life and Death, the book that records every being's lifespan, and blots out his own name and those of his monkey followers with a brush. The Ten Kings later report this to the Jade Emperor.
The idea of the Ten Kings grew out of a blend of Buddhism and Taoism. It also spread to Japan, where it is known through temple paintings of the Ten Kings.
Episodes featuring this character2
NEWEpisode 3
There's Just One Way to Never DieThe Ruyi Jingu Bang and the Book of Life and Death
Wukong wants a weapon that can protect his friends, so he storms the Dragon Palace beneath the Eastern Sea. There, an iron pillar on the seabed becomes the Ruyi Staff, which grows and shrinks at his command. That same night, after drinking with his new sworn brothers, his soul is dragged to the Underworld, and he wipes his own name and his friends' names from the Ledger of Death.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 4
Hired by Heaven, Stuck in the StablesGreat Sage Equal to Heaven
Invited to Heaven, Wukong is made "Bimawen," keeper of the Heavenly Horses. He works day and night without sleep, then learns the job is so low it doesn't even have a rank. Furious, he goes home to Flower-Fruit Mountain and names himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. He drives off Heaven's army, and Nezha is the first to call him by that name. But what Heaven finally gives him is a rank with a big name and nothing else.
19 pages