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''Moon Embracing the Sun'' (, also known as ''The Sun and the Moon'') is a 2012 South Korean television drama series, starring Kim Soo-hyun, Han Ga-in, Jung Il-woo and Kim Min-seo. It aired on MBC from January 4 to March 15, 2012 on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 for 20 episodes. The historical/fantasy drama is adapted from the novel of the same name written by Jung Eun-gwol. It tells of a secret, poignant love story between a fictional king of the Joseon Dynasty and a female shaman against the backdrop of Korean traditional palace; and the conflicts and conspiracy of vying political powers. The series won for Best Drama and Best Actor in the television category at the 48th Baeksang Arts Awards, and multiple awards at 2012 MBC Drama Awards, including Drama of the Year. ==Plot== Shaman Ari hears a strange noise in the night and gets up to investigate. She unwittingly witnesses a murder, and is seen by the perpetrators. The next day, Ari is pursued, arrested, and thrown in jail. Her friend and fellow shaman, Jang Nok-Yeong, comes to visit her in jail. Being a shaman, Ari has had a clairvoyant episode in which she has seen a child or young woman who has a "noble fate," and is connected in some way to the Joseon royal house. Ari, knowing that her time on earth is short, begs Nok-Yeong to watch over this child, but Ari is unable to offer any clues to the identity of the child. Nok-Yeong promises, even though she doesn't know who or where the child is. The next day, Shaman Ari is deemed to be guilty of treason and is seen being tortured; she refuses to lie about what she saw the previous night, and so is horribly killed via a primitive form of dismemberment. Years pass. The modest, stable, and loving Heo family includes two children: a son, Heo Yeom, and a daughter, Yeon-woo (which means, "misty rain"). Both children are well educated, intelligent, attractive, and kind. Yeon-woo is special, exhibiting wisdom beyond her years. The children's father is the Joseon king's Chief Scholar. One fateful day, thirteen-year-old Yeon-woo accompanies her mother to the royal palace to attend her brother Heo Yeom's civil service examination congratulatory ceremony. During this visit to the palace, Yeon-Woo wanders away from the ceremony and has a chance encounter with Crown Prince Lee Hwon. As a result of their chance encounter, Lee Hwon and Yeon-woo fall irretrievably in love. Bo-kyung, daughter of the Prime Minister and maternal blood relative to the Queen Dowager, is chosen along with Yeon-woo to act as companions for the prepubescent Princess Min-Hwa, younger sister of Crown Prince Lee Hwon. Min-Hwa is a young girl of mercurial moods, crying, whining, and screaming when she does not get her way. Upon seeing her brother's handsome "Teacher Heo" (whose outstanding scholarship caused him to be immediately engaged as a tutor for the Crown Prince), Min-Hwa becomes obsessed with Heo Yeom. Princess Min-Hwa discovers that Yeon-woo is Teacher Heo's sister and expresses her preference for Yeon-Woo's company. Bo-kyung, who is all but ignored by the princess, feels slighted and jealous about the princess's favoritism toward Yeon-woo. Min-Hwa soon asks her father the king to allow her to marry Heo Yeom. The king refuses, for reasons that are reasonably rooted in tradition, political strategy and socio-cultural correctness. Enraged and devastated, Min-Hwa throws a terrible temper tantrum. Shaman Jang Nok-yeong incidentally sees Yeon-woo one day and is immediately struck by the knowing that Yeon-woo is the child whom Ari begged her, so many years ago, to protect. Some time later, Yeon-Woo is demonstrated to be the superior choice (over Bo-kyung and another young woman) to wed Lee Hwon and become the Crown Princess of Joseon. This upsets Prince Yang-myung, the Crown Prince's freewheeling, illegitimate half-brother, who has also met and fallen in love with Yeon-woo. The decision also upsets the ambitious and two-faced Bo-kyung, and her father, the Prime Minister. Yeon-Woo undertakes her training to become the Crown Princess; she is seen to be a bit physically clumsy at first, but is also lovingly courted by Crown Prince Lee Hwon during the training period. Before Lee Hwon and Yeon-Woo can marry, however, the Queen Dowager secretly orders head shaman Jang Nok-yeong of Royal Star Mansion (Royal Astrology House) to cast a spell on Yeon-woo to afflict her with a sickness that will lead to her death. The Queen Dowager wants instead to install her blood relative, Bo-kyung, as Crown Princess. Shaman Jang Nok-yeong breaks her promise to protect Yeon-woo, feeling that she has no choice but to obey the Queen Dowager. The Queen Dowager uses Princess Min-Hwa as a conduit to intensify the effect of the shaman's spell, as it is known that a young virgin with strong desires and motivations will lend a great deal of power to the spell. The Queen Dowager promises Min-Hwa that if she participates in the spell, Min-Hwa can have what she wants (that is, to marry Heo Yeom). Min-Hwa's selfish immaturity and obsession with Heo Yeom lead her to participate willingly, though it is also clear that she is being manipulated by the Queen Dowager. Min-Hwa does not truly understand the implications of her decision to participate in black magic. Yeon-woo becomes ill, and the physicians are unable to identify her illness or cure her of it. Yeon-woo is thus expelled from the palace, losing her title as Crown Princess. As Yeon-woo inches closer and closer to death, Nok-young secretly visits Yeon-woo's father and gives him a special potion for his daughter, which she tells him will allow Yeon-woo to die in peace. Yeon-woo's father gives her the potion and she dies, as her death is the only way to release her from the spell. After burial, Shaman Jang and a Heo family manservant hurry to dig up the grave and retrieve Yeon-Woo, knowing that she will awaken from the potion. Yeon-woo is deeply traumatized by dying and waking up buried alive, and has lost all memories of her previous life. With assistance and support from a Taoist priest, Shaman Jang, Yeon-woo, and Seol (the Heo family's loyal former maidservant) go into hiding in a distant location. Crown Prince Lee Hwon is soon married to Bo-kyung. Lee Hwon flatly refuses to consummate the marriage with Bo-kyung; he repeatedly feigns illness in order to avoid physical intimacy, and further, tries to avoid any interactions at all with Bo-kyung. The only people Lee Hwon allows near him are the eunuch who serves him, and the handsome and deadly swordmaster Woon. Woon's ever-presence with the prince leads some in the palace to quietly question Lee Hwon's sexuality, not understanding that Lee Hwon's heart belongs to a woman presumed dead. Bo-kyung becomes progressively more humiliated and bitter about the Crown Prince's obvious distaste for her. The king dies, and Crown Prince Lee Hwon becomes king of Joseon. With the former king's death, the need for Lee Hwon to produce an heir to the throne becomes more and more urgent. For this reason, the people around Lee Hwon are willing to try anything to help him recover from his "illness." Eight years later, it is learned that the flow of the universe has shifted and the three "exiles" in hiding are sent back to the capital city. It is learned that Yeon-woo was adopted as a "spiritual daughter" by Shaman Jang and Yeon-woo herself has become a shaman. Shaman Jang has sworn Seol to secrecy about Yeon-woo's true identity. Yeon-woo must try to understand her slowly returning memories, while at the same time contending with Queen Bo-kyung, the Queen's Father (who is still the Prime Minister), and the Queen Dowager in order to claim her rightful place as Queen of Joseon. Yeon-woo, as Shaman Weol (which means "moon") returns to the palace as a living talisman—a "bad-luck-absorbing shaman"—suggested by Shaman Jang as a way to cure the king's "illness." The king awakens one night to find Shaman Weol sitting by his bedside, and her unmistakable resemblance to his true love, Yeon-woo, causes the young king to start asking questions about what really happened eight years ago. Lee Hwon quietly launches a thorough investigation. Yeon-woo suffers many indignities, even ultimately being branded as a criminal ("lewd woman"), as a result of her service to King Lee Hwon. Yeon-woo is exiled to work as a slave at the West Infirmary. Prince Yang-myung finds her there and offers to take her away, as he did many years ago. Political intrigue continues to build and comes shockingly to a head as King Lee Hwon fights for his throne, fights for the woman he loves, and fights for his very life. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Moon Embracing the Sun」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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