This study attempts to delineate some characteristics of East Asian myths. A comparative examination on the myths of Korea, Japan, and China about the origins of agriculture was carried out with a special emphasis on their heroes to study their forms of existence. With the regard to the forms of existence of East Asian myths of agricultural origin, two types of transmittance are distinguished, i.e. documented and oral transmittance. The different forms imply the socio-political dynamic which can be related to document/non-document, ruling/ruled, upper/lower and center/periphery dichotomy. The documented myths has characteristics of the myths on sovereign power. This shows the close relationship between agricultural management and power. In Chinese documented myths, only male heroes appear while in Korean myths female heroins are common. Japan has highest portion of reincarnation myths, which shows a close tie with South Asian Culture. It is noted that the characteristics of the originator and carrier of the seeds differ by documented and oral myths. In the documented myths, the will of the originator is emphasized and they show the closeness to the ruling ideologies such as “son of the heavenly god coming down to the earth”, or “calling of the heaven”, but the in the oral myths, the will of the carrier and the active will power for life are emphasized. The formation of god figure is generally based on the life of a hero. This brings the heroism of agricultural heroes to life and also implies the agricultural symbolism of dead and reincarnation. When to compare mythological principles between Korean way of formation of agricultural heroes and those of other cultures, it is noted that Greek myths stress the passiveness of a human character. This is contrasted to the subjecthood and activeness represented in the formation of Jacheongbi who is the administrator of reincarnation rituals and executor of the agricultural principles. Compared to Egyptian Isis, similarity is found in that characters go through two reincarnation rituals and move to places voluntarily to solve problems, but a contrast is made in that Osiris became the king of the dead while those who were brought back to life with the help of Jacheongbi became agricultural gods in this world who oversee abundance. This contrast may have been resulted from the differences of the world views. Egyptians anticipate the continued life after death, while Koreans value shamanic view of this world. In the myths on agricultural origin agricultural principles are universally realized by the cycle of life and death, but the characters of the cultural heroes represented in the mythological epics differ by cultures, types of nature and human conditions. Further study on cultural heroes will shed some light on mythological principles and world views.