Table Of ContentKorea’s Ancient Koguryŏ Kingdom
Koguryŏ step pyramid, fifth century ce, near Ji’an in China.
Courtesy Wikipedia Commons.
Korea’s Ancient Koguryŏ Kingdom
A Socio-Political History
By
Noh Taedon
Translated by
John Huston
LEIDEN | BOSTON
This book is published with the support of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea).
Cover illustration: Lotus, Sun and Moon, from a painting on the antechamber ceiling of Ssangyŏngchong
(Twin-Pillar Tomb) in Nampo, North Korea.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
No, T’ae-don.
[Koguryosa yon’gu. English]
Korea’s ancient Koguryo kingdom : a socio-political history / by Noh Taedon ; translated by John Huston.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-24571-6 (hardback : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-90-04-26269-0 (e-book) 1. Koguryo (Kingdom)
2. Korea--History--To 935. I. Title.
DS911.74.N6313 2014
951.9’01--dc23
2014001113
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ISBN 978 90 04 24571 6 (hardback)
ISBN 978 90 04 26269 0 (e-book)
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Contents
Author’s Foreword to the English Edition ix
Translator’s Foreword xi
Author’s Foreword to the Korean Edition xiv
List of Maps xvi
List of Tables xvii
Introduction 1
Part one
The Chumong Legend and Royal Lineage of Early Koguryŏ
Factuality Review, First Half of Samguk Sagi Koguryŏ Annals
1 Origin of the Chumong Legend and the Principality of Kyeru 13
Evolution of the Chumong Legend and the Principality of Kyeru 14
Records of Chumong’s Place of Origin 14
Dating the East Puyŏ Story of Origin 18
Puyŏ and the Formulation of the North Puyŏ Story 27
Source of the Kyeru Principality 33
Original Homeland of the Kyeru Group 33
Rise of the Kyeru Principality 38
2 Formation of the Early Royal Line 42
Royal Lineage on the Kwanggaet’o Tomb Stele 42
The Existence of King Kogukch’ŏn 47
Lineage of the Three Kings 51
When the Early Lineage Was Established 59
Part two
The Early Koguryŏ Political System and Society
3 The Bu Principality System and Its Structure 69
Establishment of Bu Principalities 69
Examples of Bu Principalities 69
Bu Principalities and the Sovereign 80
When the Five Principalities (Obu) Were Established 85
vi Contents
Structure of the Principality System 88
Sub-principalities, Subordinate Groups, Marquisates 88
Township Folk and the Ka Nobility 98
The Political System under the Principalities 110
Official Ranks and the Council of Che-ga 110
The Tongmaeng Festival 118
From Proper-Name to Direction-Name Principalities 122
4 Levirate Marriage and Kinship Groups 127
Existence of the Levirate 128
Examples of the Levirate 128
Son-in-Law Chamber and Bride Price 137
The Nature of Levirate Marriage 142
Various Arguments on Levirate Origins 142
Levirate Marriage and Communal Ties 146
Early Koguryŏ Kinship Groups 151
Disappearance of Levirate Marriage 157
Distribution of Levirate Marriage 163
Part three
Formation of a Dominion and External Relations
5 Formation of and Vicissitudes in the Provincial System 169
The Checklists in Samguk Sagi Chiriji 4 169
Chronology and Characteristics of the Checklists 169
Chu and Sŏng in the Checklists 174
Structure of the Sixth to Seventh Century Provincial System 186
Yoksal, Ch’ŏryŏgŭnji and Ruch’o 186
Naep’yŏng, Waep’yŏng, Obu 199
Process of Forming a Provincial System 206
Institution of Prefectures 206
Prefectures in Profile 213
The Process of Establishing Prefectures 224
6 Fifth to Sixth Century East Asia and Koguryŏ’s External Relations 231
Koguryŏ’s External Relations 233
Strife Involving Northern Yan 233
Alliance with Nanchao and Rouran 238
Rapprochement with Northern Wei 242
Contents vii
Characteristics of Fifth to Sixth Century International
Relations 247
Multilateral Interaction for a Balance of Power 247
Tribute and Investiture Relationships in Name
and in Fact 264
Balance of Power and Sadae Chaso 271
International Changes after the Mid-Sixth Century 274
7 The Koguryŏ Ch’ŏnha-gwan as Seen in Epigraphs 283
Identification with the ‘Land of the Scion of Heaven’ 284
Perceptions of Neighbouring States: Tribute, Such’ŏn and
Hwa Yi 292
Paekje 292
East Puyŏ 293
North Puyŏ 293
Shilla 294
East Asia and the Koguryŏ Ch’ŏnha: Emperors, Kings and
Khans 298
Ch’ŏnha-gwan and a Sense of Commonality 308
Part four
Establishment of Rule by an Artistocratic Coalition
8 Mid-Sixth-Century Political Shifts: How the Han River Valley
Was Lost 315
Struggles for Royal Succession and Strife among Aristocrats 316
Military Threats from Northern Qi 319
Conflict with the Tujüe 325
Struggles Involving the Khitan 325
Tujüe and the Sumo Mohe Defection 330
Secret Koguryŏ-Shilla Accords 341
9 Aristocratic Coalition Rule and the Yŏn Kaesomun Coup 347
Actuality of the Coalition Period 347
Status of the King 356
The Yŏn Kaesomun Coup 362
Background of Yŏn Kaesomun 362
Position of Yŏn Kaesomun Prior to the Coup 371
Post-coup Polity 376
viii Contents
Conclusion: Defining Periods in Koguryŏ History 384
Appendix 1: Boundaries of Puyŏ-guk and Their Fluctuations 391
1 Puyŏ-guk Boundaries in the First Half of the Third Century 392
Location of the Capital and Frontiers 392
Boundaries of Puyŏ-guk 402
2 Boundaries at the Close of the Third Century 404
Puyŏ, North Puyŏ, East Puyŏ 404
Puyŏ and Paekje 411
The Final Fall of Puyŏ-guk 413
Appendix 2: Interaction between Koguryŏ, Palhae and Inner Asia 417
1 The Name Muglig in Dunhuang Manuscript PT#1283 418
2 Bökli in Ancient Tujüe Inscriptions 422
3 Koguyŏ Figures in Afrasiab Palace Murals 426
Appendix 3: Koguryŏ Reign Table (37 bce–668 ce) 430
Notations 433
Index 435
Author’s Foreword to the English Edition
It was in August of 1999 that this book, Korea’s Ancient Koguryŏ Kingdom:
A Socio-Political History, was first published in the Korean language on the
basis of previous years of research and writing. Some of the incorporated back-
ground material dates back as far as 1975 and has been steadily augmented
with a view to an eventual presentation concentrating on the socio-political
aspects of Koguryŏ history. During much of this time, Koguryŏ was virtually an
untilled field in terms of academic study and popular interest. Let us take a
brief look at how far we have come since then.
A steady stream of books, mostly in Korean, has emerged, first as a trickle
and gradually a rather surprising torrent. Some are of more value than others
and, due to commercial considerations, few if any of them have been trans-
lated into other languages for international distribution.
To overcome this, what is needed is an institution with an overriding non-
commercial concern for presenting Korean works with literary and scholarly
merit to a global audience. Fortunately this role has been undertaken since
2001 by the officially supported Literature Translation Institute of Korea (KLTI).
Every year KLTI designates a substantial number of books for translation and
conducts a screening process for qualified translators. I was most gratified that
Korea’s Ancient Koguryŏ Kingdom: A Socio-Political History was so designated
by KLTI in 2007, thus initiating the process for its translation into English.
Meanwhile, the efforts of others have proceeded apace. One of the most
significant of these is the team project, mentioned in the Translator’s Foreword,
led by Edward Shultz and Hugh Kang at the University of Hawaii to translate
The Koguryŏ Annals of the Samguk Sagi. The Annals have long constituted a
primary resource for my work as well as that of other researchers. The work
resulting from the effort in Hawaii was finally published by the Academy of
Korean Studies in early 2011. By that time the translation of this book had
already been completed, so the Annals translation was not available as a
reference. All of my extensive quotations from the Annals and the many other
reference works in Chinese or Korean that appear in this book have been done
independently by its translator.
On various other fronts, the past few years have seen the establishment of
several organizations dedicated either to ancient Korean history in general or
to Koguryŏ studies in particular. In Korea, the Koguryŏ Research Foundation
was launched in 2004, and the next year the Northeast Asia History Foundation
made its debut initially to present the case for Korean instead of Chinese
proprietorship of Koguryŏ as a cultural and historical antecedent. Also in 2005,
x author’s foreword to the english edition
the DPRK announced that it would construct a Preservation Centre for Koguryŏ
Tomb Murals in P’yŏngyang. In 2008, Seoul National University held a special
exhibition titled ‘Koguryŏ and Balhae from the Sky’, which was but one of sev-
eral such events held around the world.
The translator designated by KLTI is John Huston, who lived nearly two
decades in Korea and now resides in Australia. As far as I know, he was the first
non-Korean to graduate from Seoul National University, which is my own Alma
Mater. We were undoubtedly on the same campus at the same time but in dif-
ferent departments. I was in Korean History, while he was in Chinese Language
& Literature. It would be about thirty-five more years before our paths would
finally cross. We have yet to meet in person, but in the past several years we
have had a considerable amount of correspondence. The choice of Mr Huston
as translator was a fortuitous one, particularly given his experience with
Korean historical texts and his knowledge of Chinese as well as Korean.
The translation had to be done in a year’s time and it was. The next step was
to find a suitable publisher. I am very pleased that none could be more suitable
than Global Oriental/Brill of Folkestone, Kent, which has a long-standing and
distinguished reputation as one of the world’s pre-eminent publishers of aca-
demic works related to a wide range of Asian studies. This book will join Global
Oriental’s ever-growing list of titles in my subject area, taking a position along
with the likes of Christopher Beckwith’s Koguryŏ: The Language of Japan’s
Continental Relatives (2007) and A New History of Parhae (2012) translated by
John Duncan. This is very good company indeed, and I much appreciate the
support of KLTI, my translator John Huston, and my publisher Global Oriental
for making it possible.
Noh Taedon
Seoul, Korea
June 2012
