The three together are known as samjuk (Korean: 삼죽; Hanja: 三竹; literally "three bamboo"), as the three primary flutes of the Silla period.

[3] According to Korean folklore, the daegeum is said to have been invented when King Sinmun of Silla was informed by Park Suk Jung, his caretaker of the ocean (Korean: 해관; Hanja: 海官) in 681 that a small island was floating toward a Buddhist temple in the East Sea.

The caretaker replied that a dead king who turned into a sea dragon, and two great warriors are giving a gift to protect Silla, and if the king would visit the sea, he would receive a priceless gift.

The person replied that a bamboo tree on the top of the island becomes two in the morning and one in the night.

The king cut down the tree, and the flute made from the bamboo was called manpasikjeok (Korean: 만파식적; Hanja: 萬波息笛).