The Four Underworld Messengers, collectively referred to as Sajiksaja, are dispatched by Great King Yeomna [King Yama] to the homes of the deceased. Each messenger is responsible for one of the four temporal aspects of a person’s birth: year (Yeonjiksaja), month (Woljiksaja), day (Iljiksaja), and hour (Sijiksaja). Paintings of the Four Underworld Messengers are typically composed of either four individual panels, each depicting a single figure, or a single panel featuring two or four messengers together. These messengers are commonly portrayed standing in front of a horse, holding a spear, sword, or a scroll inscribed with a decree from King Yeomna.


During the late Joseon period, paintings of the Four Underworld Messengers were often displayed at Buddhist rituals such as the Water-and-Land Ritual (Suryukjae) held in temples. In these settings, the painting of the Four Messengers would be hung opposite paintings of the Five Emperors of the Five Cardinal Directions. As divine messengers capable of delivering documents across realms—from the heavens to the underworld—their summoning during such rituals symbolized the formal approval and validation of the ceremony’s proceedings.