Korean Historical and Classical Selections

The sources from which the following History of Korea is drawn are
almost purely Korean. For ancient and medieval history the Tong-sa
Kang-yo has been mainly followed. This is an abstract in nine volumes of
the four great ancient histories of the country. The facts here found
were verified by reference to the Tong-guk Tong-gam, the most complete
of all existing ancient histories of the country. Many other works on
history, geography and biography have been consulted, but in the main
the narrative in the works mentioned above has been followed.
A number of Chinese works have been consulted, especially the Mun-hon
Tong-go wherein we find the best description of the wild tribes that
occupied the peninsula about the time of Christ.
It has been far more difficult to obtain material for compiling the
history of the past five centuries. By unwritten law the history of no
dynasty in Korea has ever been published until after its fall. Official
records are carefully kept in the government archives and when the
dynasty closes these are published by the new dynasty. There is an
official record which is published under the name of the Kuk-cho Po-gam
but it can in no sense be called a history, for it can contain nothing
that is not complimentary to the ruling house and, moreover, it has not
been brought down even to the opening of the 19th century. It has been
necessary therefore to find private manuscript histories of the dynasty
and by uniting and comparing them secure as accurate a delineation as
possible of the salient features of modern Korean history. In this I
have enjoyed the services of a Korean scholar who has made the history
of this dynasty a special study for the past twenty-five years and who
has had access to a large number of private manuscripts. I withhold his
name by special request. By special courtesy I have also been granted
access to one of the largest and most complete private libraries in the
capital. Japanese records have also been consulted in regard to special
points bearing on the relations between Korea and Japan.
A word must be said in regard to the authenticity and credibility of
native Korean historical sources. The Chinese written character was
introduced into Korea as a permanent factor about the time of Christ,
and with it came the possibility of permanent historical records. That
such records were kept is quite apparent from the fact that the dates of
all solar eclipses have been carefully preserved from the year 57 B.C.
In the next place it is worth noticing that the history of Korea is
particularly free from those great cataclysms such as result so often in
the destruction of libraries and records. Since the whole peninsula was
consolidated under one flag in the days of ancient Sil-la no dynastic
change has been effected by force. We have no mention of any catastrophe
to the Sil-la records: and Sil-la merged into Koryŭ and Koryŭ into
Cho-sŭn without the show of arms, and in each case the historical
records were kept intact. To be sure, there have been three great
invasions of Korea, by the Mongols, Manchus and Japanese respectively,
but though much vandalism was committed by each of these, we have reason
to believe that the records were not tampered with. The argument is
three-fold. In the first place histories formed the great bulk of the
literature in vogue among the people and it was so widely disseminated
that it could not have been seriously injured without annihilating the
entire population.
In the second place these invasions were made by peoples who, though not
literary themselves, had a somewhat high regard for literature, and
there could have been no such reason for destroying histories as might
exist where one dynasty was forcibly ejected by another hostile one. In
the third place the monasteries were the great literary centers during
the centuries preceding the rise of the present dynasty, and we may well
believe that the Mongols would not seriously molest these sacred
repositories. On the whole then we may conclude that from the year 57
B.C. Korean histories are fairly accurate. Whatever comes before that is
largely traditional and therefore more or less apocryphal.
One of the greatest difficulties encountered is the selection of a
system of romanisation which shall steer a middle course between the
Scilla of extreme accuracy and the Charybdis of extreme simplicity. I
have adopted the rule of spelling all proper names in a purely phonetic
way without reference to the way they are spelled in native Korean. In
this way alone can the reader arrive at anything like the actual
pronunciation as found in Korea. The simple vowels have their
continental sounds: a as in “father,” i as in “ravine,” o as in
“rope” and u as in “rule.” The vowel e is used only with the grave
accent and is pronounced as in the French “recit.” When a vowel has
the short mark over it, it is to be given the flat sound: ă as in
“fat,” ŏ as in “hot,” ŭ as in “nut.” The umlaut ö is used but it
has a slightly more open sound than in German. It is the “unrounded o”
where the vowel is pronounced without protruding the lips. The pure
Korean sound represented by oé is a pure diphthong and is pronounced
by letting the lips assume the position of pronouncing o while the
tongue is thrown forward as if to pronounce the short e in “met.” Eu
is nearly the French eu but with a slightly more open sound. As for
consonants they have their usual sounds, but when the surds k, p or
t in the body of a word are immediately preceded by an open syllable
or a syllable ending with a sonant, they change to their corresponding
sonants: k to g, p to b and t to d. For instance, in the
word Pak-tu, the t of the tu would be d if the first syllable
were open. No word begins with the sonants g, b or d.
In Korean we have the long and short quantity in vowels. Han may be
pronounced either simply han or longer haan, but the distinction is
not of enough importance to compensate for encumbering the system with
additional diacritical marks.
In writing proper names I have adopted the plan most in use by
sinologues. The patronymic stands alone and is followed by the two given
names with a hyphen between them. All geographical names have hyphens
between the syllables. To run the name all together would often lead to
serious difficulty, for who would know, for instance, whether Songak
were pronounced Son-gak or Song-ak?
In the spelling of some of the names of places there will be found to be
a slight inconsistency because part of the work was printed before the
Korea Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society had determined upon a system
of romanization, but in the main the system here used corresponds to
that of the Society.
This is the first attempt, so far as I am aware, to give to the English
reading public a history of Korea based on native records, and I trust
that in spite of all errors and infelicities it may add something to the
general fund of information about the people of Korea.
H.B.H.
SEOUL, KOREA, 1905.
Introductory Note.
Geography is the canvas on which history is painted. Topography means as
much to the historian as to the general. A word, therefore, about the
position of Korea will not be out of place.
The peninsula of Korea, containing approximately 80,000 square miles,
lies between 33° and 43° north latitude, and between 124° 30′ and 130°
30′ east longitude. It is about nine hundred miles long from north to
south and has an average width from east to west of about 240 miles. It
is separated from Manchuria on the northwest by the Yalu or Am-nok
River, and from Asiatic Russia on the northeast by the Tu-man River.
Between the sources of these streams rise the lofty peaks of White Head
Mountain, called by the Chinese Ever-white or Long-white Mountain. From
this mountain whorl emanates a range which passes irregularly southward
through the peninsula until it loses itself in the waters of the Yellow
Sea, thus giving birth to the almost countless islands of the Korean
archipelago. The main watershed of the country is near the eastern coast
and consequently the streams that flow into the Japan Sea are neither
long nor navigable, while on the western side and in the extreme south
we find considerable streams that are navigable for small craft a
hundred miles or more. While the eastern coast is almost entirely
lacking in good harbors the western coast is one labyrinth of estuaries,
bays and gulfs which furnish innumerable harbors. It is on the western
watershed of the country that we will find most of the arable land and
by far the greater portion of the population.
We see then that, geographically, Korea’s face is toward China and her
back toward Japan. It may be that this in part has moulded her history.
During all the centuries her face has been politically, socially and
religiously toward China rather than toward Japan.
The climate of Korea is the same as that of eastern North America
between the same latitudes, the only difference being that in Korea the
month of July brings the “rainy season” which renders nearly all roads
in the interior impassable. This rainy season, by cutting in two the
warmer portion of the year, has had a powerful influence on the history
of the country; for military operations were necessarily suspended
during this period and combatants usually withdrew to their own
respective territories upon its approach.
The interior of Korea is fairly well wooded, although there are no very
extensive tracts of timber land. A species of pine largely predominates
but there is also a large variety of other trees both deciduous and
evergreen.
Rice is the staple article of food throughout most of the country. Among
the mountain districts in the north where rice cannot be grown potatoes
and millet are largely used. An enormous amount of pulse is raised,
almost solely for fodder, and other grains are also grown. The bamboo
grows sparsely and only in the south. Ginseng is an important product of
the country.
The fauna of Korea includes several species of deer, the tiger, leopard,
wild pig, bear, wolf, fox and a large number of fur bearing animals
among which the sable and sea-otter are the most valuable. The entire
peninsula is thoroughly stocked with cattle, horses, swine and donkeys,
but sheep are practically unknown. The fisheries off the coast of Korea
are especially valuable and thousands of the people earn a livelihood on
the banks. Pearls of good quality are found. Game birds of almost
infinite variety exist and all the commoner domestic birds abound.
As to the geology of the country we find that there is a back bone of
granite formation with frequent outcroppings of various other forms of
mineral life. Gold is extremely abundant and there are few prefectures
in the country where traces of it are not found. Silver is also common.
Large deposits of coal both anthracite and bituminous have been
discovered, but until recently little has been done to open up the
minerals of the country in a scientific manner.
Ethnologically we may say that the people are of a mixed Mongolian and
Malay origin, although this question has as yet hardly been touched
upon. The language of Korea is plainly agglutinative and may, without
hesitation, be placed in the great Turanian or Scythian group.
The population of Korea is variously estimated from ten to twenty
millions. We shall not be far from the truth if we take a middle course
and call the population thirteen millions. Somewhat more than half of
the people live south of a line drawn east and west through the capital
of the country.

PART I

ANCIENT KOREA
Chapter I.
Tan-gun.... his antecedents.... his origin.... he becomes king.... he
teaches the people.... his capital.... he retires.... extent of his
kingdom.... traditions.... monuments.
In the primeval ages, so the story runs, there was a divine being named
Whan-in, or Che-Sŏ: “Creator.” His son, Whan-ung, being affected by
celestial ennui, obtained permission to descend to earth and found a
mundane kingdom. Armed with this warrant, Whan-ung with three thousand
spirit companions descended upon Ta-băk Mountain, now known as Myo-hyang
San, in the province of P’yŭng-an, Korea. It was in the twenty-fifth
year of the Emperor Yao of China, which corresponds to 2332 B.C.
He gathered his spirit friends beneath the shade of an ancient pak-tal
tree and there proclaimed himself King of the Universe. He governed
through his three vice-regents, the “Wind General,” the “Rain Governor,”
and the “Cloud Teacher,” but as he had not yet taken human shape, he
found it difficult to assume control of a purely human kingdom.
Searching for means of incarnation he found it in the following manner.
At early dawn, a tiger and a bear met upon a mountain side and held a
colloquy.
“Would that we might become men” they said. Whan-ung overheard them and
a voice came from out the void saying, “Here are twenty garlics and
apiece of artemisia for each of you. Eat them and retire from the light
of the sun for thrice seven days and you will become men.”
They ate and retired into the recesses of a cave, but the tiger, by
reason of the fierceness of his nature, could not endure the restraint
and came forth before the allotted time; but the bear, with greater
faith and patience, waited the thrice seven days and then stepped forth,
a perfect woman.
The first wish of her heart was maternity, and she cried, “Give me a
son.” Whan-ung, the Spirit King, passing on the wind, beheld her sitting
there beside the stream. He circled round her, breathed upon her, and
her cry was answered. She cradled her babe in moss beneath that same
pak-tal tree and it was there that in after years the wild people of
the country found him sitting and made him their king.
This was the Tan-gun, “The Lord of the Pak-tal Tree.” He is also, but
less widely, known as Wang-gŭm. At that time Korea and the territory
immediately north was peopled by the “nine wild tribes” commonly called
the Ku-i. Tradition names them respectively the Kyŭn, Pang, Whang,
Făk, Chŭk, Hyŭn, P‘ung, Yang and U. These, we are told, were the
aborigines, and were fond of drinking, dancing and singing. They dressed
in a fabric of woven grass and their food was the natural fruits of the
earth, such as nuts, roots, fruits and berries. In summer they lived
beneath the trees and in winter they lived in a rudely covered hole in
the ground. When the Tan-gun became their king he taught them the
relation of king and subject, the rite of marriage, the art of cooking
and the science of house building. He taught them to bind up the hair by
tying a cloth about the head. He taught them to cut down trees and till
fields.
The Tan-gun made P‘yŭng-yang the capital of his kingdom and there,
tradition says, he reigned until the coming of Ki-ja, 1122 B.C. If any
credence can be given this tradition it will be by supposing that the
word Tan-gun refers to a line of native chieftains who may have
antedated the coming of Ki-ja.
It is said that, upon the arrival of Ki-ja, the Tan-gun retired to
Ku-wŭl San (in pure Korean A-sa-dal) in the present town of Mun-wha,
Whang-hă Province, where he resumed his spirit form and disappeared
forever from the earth. His wife was a woman of Pi-sŏ-ap, whose location
is unknown. As to the size of the Tan-gun’s kingdom, it is generally
believed that it extended from the vicinity of the present town of
Mun-gyŭng on the south to the Heuk-yong River on the north, and from the
Japan Sea on the east to Yo-ha (now Sŭng-gyŭng) on the west.
As to the events of the Tan-gun’s reign even tradition tells us very
little. We learn that in 2265 B.C. the Tan-gun first offered sacrifice
at Hyŭl-gu on the island of Kang-wha. For this purpose he built an altar
on Mari San which remains to this day. We read that when the great
Ha-u-si (The Great Yü), who drained off the waters which covered the
interior of China, called to his court at To-san all the vassal kings,
the Tan-gun sent his son, Pu-ru, as an envoy. This was supposed to be in
2187 B.C. Another work affirms that when Ki-ja came to Korea Pu-ru fled
northward and founded the kingdom of North Pu-yŭ, which at a later date
moved to Ka-yŭp-wŭn, and became Eastern Pu-yŭ. These stories show such
enormous discrepancies in dates that they are alike incredible, and yet
it may be that the latter story has some basis in fact, at any rate it
gives us our only clue to the founding of the Kingdom of Pu-yŭ.
Late in the Tan-gun dynasty there was a minister named P‘ăng-o who is
said to have had as his special charge the making of roads and the care
of drainage. One authority says that the Emperor of China ordered
P‘ăng-o to cut a road between Ye-măk, an eastern tribe, and Cho-sŭn.
From this we see that the word Cho-sŭn, according to some authorities,
antedates the coming of Ki-ja.
The remains of the Tan-gun dynasty, while not numerous, are interesting.
On the island of Kang-wha, on the top of Mari San, is a stone platform
or altar known as the “Tan-gun’s Altar,” and, as before said, it is
popularly believed to have been used by the Tan-gun four thousand years
ago. It is called also the Ch’am-sŭng Altar. On Chŭn-dung San is a
fortress called Sam-nang which is believed to have been built by the
Tan-gun’s three sons. The town of Ch’un-ch’ŭn, fifty miles east of
Seoul, seems to have been an important place during this period. It was
known as U-su-ju, or “Ox-hair Town,” and there is a curious confirmation
of this tradition in the fact that in the vicinity there is today a plot
of ground called the U-du-bol, or “Ox-head Plain.” A stone tablet to
P’ang-o is erected there. At Mun-wha there is a shrine to the Korean
trinity, Whan-in, Whan-ung and Tan-gun. Though the Tan-gun resumed the
spirit form, his grave is shown in Kang-dong and is 410 feet in
circumference.
Chapter II.
Ki-ja.... striking character.... origin.... corrupt Chu.... story of
Tal-geui.... Shang dynasty falls.... Ki-ja departs.... route....
destination.... allegience to China.... condition of Korea....
Ki-ja’s companions.... reforms.... evidences of genius.... arguments
against Korean theory.... details of history meager.... Cho-sun
sides against China.... delimitation of Cho-sun.... peace with Tsin
dynasty.... Wi-man finds asylum.... betrays Cho-sun.... Ki-jun’s
flight.
Without doubt the most striking character in Korean history is the sage
Ki-ja, not only because of his connection with its early history but
because of the striking contrast between him and his whole environment.
The singular wisdom which he displayed is vouched for not in the
euphemistic language of a prejudiced historian but by what we can read
between the lines, of which the historian was unconscious.
The Shang, or Yin, dynasty of China began 1766 B.C. Its twenty-fifth
representative was the Emperor Wu-yi whose second son, Li, was the
father of Ki-ja. His family name was Cha and his surname Su-yu, but he
is also known by the name Sö-yŭ. The word Ki-ja is a title meaning “Lord
of Ki,” which we may imagine to be the feudal domain of the family. The
Emperor Chu, the “Nero of China” and the last of the dynasty, was the
grandson of Emperor T’ă-jŭng and a second cousin of Ki-ja, but the
latter is usually spoken of as his uncle. Pi-gan, Mi-ja and Ki-ja formed
the advisory board to this corrupt emperor.
All that Chinese histories have to say by way of censure against the
hideous debaucheries of this emperor is repeated in the Korean
histories; his infatuation with the beautiful concubine, Tal-geui; his
compliance with her every whim; his making a pond of wine in which he
placed an island of meat and compelled nude men and women to walk about
it, his torture of innocent men at her request by tying them to heated
brazen pillars. All this is told in the Korean annals, but they go still
deeper into the dark problem of Tal-geui’s character and profess to
solve it. The legend, as given by Korean tradition, is as follows.
The concubine Tal-geui was wonderfully beautiful, but surpassingly so
when she smiled. At such times the person upon whom she smiled was
fascinated as by a serpent and was forced to comply with whatever
request she made. Pondering upon this, Pi-gan decided that she must be a
fox in human shape, for it is well known that if an animal tastes of
water that has lain for twenty years in a human skull it will acquire
the power to assume the human shape at will. He set inquiries on foot
and soon discovered that she made a monthly visit to a certain mountain
which she always ascended alone leaving her train of attendants at the
foot. Armed detectives were put on her track and, following her
unperceived, they saw her enter a cave near the summit of the mountain.
She presently emerged, accompanied by a pack of foxes who leaped about
her and fawned upon her in evident delight. When she left, the spies
entered and put the foxes to the sword, cutting from each dead body the
piece of white fur which is always found on the breast of the fox. When
Tal-geui met the emperor some days later and saw him dressed in a
sumptuous white fur robe she shuddered but did not as yet guess the
truth. A month later, however, it became plain to her when she entered
the mountain cave and beheld the festering remains of her kindred.
On her way home she planned her revenge. Adorning herself in all her
finery, she entered the imperial presence and exerted her power of
fascination to the utmost. When the net had been well woven about the
royal dupe, she said,
“I hear that there are seven orifices in the heart of every good man. I
fain would put it to the test.”
“But how can it be done?”
“I would that I might see the heart of Pi-gan;” and as she said it she
smiled upon her lord. His soul revolted from the act and yet he had no
power to refuse. Pi-gan was summoned and the executioner stood ready
with the knife, but at the moment when it was plunged into the victim’s
breast he cried,
“You are no woman; you are a fox in disguise, and I charge you to resume
your natural shape.”
Instantly her face began to change; hair sprang forth upon it, her nails
grew long, and, bursting forth from her garments, she stood revealed in
her true character—a white fox with nine tails. With one parting snarl
at the assembled court, she leaped from the window and made good her
escape.
But it was too late to save the dynasty. Pal, the son of Mun-wang, a
feudal baron, at the head of an army, was already thundering at the
gates, and in a few days, a new dynasty assumed the yellow and Pal,
under the title Mu-wang, became its first emperor.
Pi-gan and Mi-ja had both perished and Ki-ja, the sole survivor of the
great trio of statesmen, had saved his life only by feigning madness. He
was now in prison, but Mu-wang came to his door and besought him to
assume the office of Prime Minister. Loyalty to the fallen dynasty
compelled him to refuse. He secured the Emperor’s consent to his plan of
emigrating to Cho-sŭn or “Morning Freshness,” but before setting out he
presented the Emperor with that great work, the Hong-bŭm or “Great-Law,”
which had been found inscribed upon the back of the fabled tortoise
which came up out of the waters of the Nak River in the days of Ha-u-si
over a thousand years before, but which no one had been able to decipher
till Ki-ja took it in hand. Then with his five thousand followers he
passed eastward into the peninsula of Korea.
Whether he came to Korea by boat or by land cannot be certainly
determined. It is improbable that he brought such a large company by
water and yet one tradition says that he came first to Su-wŭn, which is
somewhat south of Chemulpo. This would argue an approach by sea. The
theory which has been broached that the Shantung promontory at one time
joined the projection of Whang-hă Province on the Korean coast cannot be
true, for the formation of the Yellow Sea must have been too far back in
the past to help us to solve this question. It is said that from Su-wŭn
he went northward to the island Ch’ŭl-do, off Whang-hă Province, where
today they point out a “Ki-ja Well.” From there he went to P‘yŭng-yang.
His going to an island off Whang-hă Province argues against the theory
of the connection between Korea and the Shantung promontory.
[Illustration: A TABLET TO KI-JA.]
In whatever way he came, he finally settled at the town of P‘yŭng-yang
which had already been the capital of the Tan-gun dynasty. Seven cities
claimed the honor of being Homer’s birth place and about as many claim
to be the burial spot of Ki-ja. The various authorities differ so widely
as to the boundaries of his kingdom, the site of his capital and the
place of his interment that some doubt is cast even upon the existence
of this remarkable man; but the consensus of opinion points clearly to
P‘yŭng-yang as being the scene of his labors.
It should be noticed that from the very first Korea was an independent
kingdom. It was certainly so in the days of the Tan-gun and it remained
so when Ki-ja came, for it is distinctly stated that though the Emperor
Mu-wang made him King of Cho-sŭn he neither demanded nor received his
allegience as vassal at that time. He even allowed Ki-ja to send envoys
to worship at the tombs of the fallen dynasty. It is said that Ki-ja
himself visited the site of the ancient Shang capital, but when he found
it sown with barley he wept and composed an elegy on the occasion, after
which he went and swore allegience to the new Emperor. The work entitled
Cho-sŏ says that when Ki-ja saw the site of the former capital sown with
barley he mounted a white cart drawn by a white horse and went to the
new capital and swore allegience to the Emperor; and it adds that in
this he showed his weakness for he had sworn never to do so.
Ki-ja, we may believe, found Korea in a semi-barbarous condition. To
this the reforms which he instituted give abundant evidence. He found at
least a kingdom possessed of some degree of homogeneity, probably a
uniform language and certainly ready communication between its parts. It
is difficult to believe that the Tan-gun’s influence reached far beyond
the Amnok River, wherever the nominal boundaries of his kingdom were. We
are inclined to limit his actual power to the territory now included in
the two provinces of P‘yŭng-an and Whang-hă.
We must now inquire of what material was Ki-ja’s company of five
thousand men made up. We are told that he brought from China the two
great works called the Si-jun and the So-jun, which by liberal
interpretation mean the books on history and poetry. The books which
bear these names were not written until centuries after Ki-ja’s time,
but the Koreans mean by them the list of aphorisms or principles which
later made up these books. It is probable, therefore, that this company
included men who were able to teach and expound the principles thus
introduced. Ki-ja also brought the sciences of manners (well named a
science), music, medicine, sorcery and incantation. He brought also men
capable of teaching one hundred of the useful trades, amongst which silk
culture and weaving are the only two specifically named. When,
therefore, we make allowance for a small military escort we find that
five thousand men were few enough to undertake the carrying out of the
greatest individual plan for colonization which history has ever seen
brought to a successful issue.
These careful preparations on the part of the self-exiled Ki-ja admit of
but one conclusion. They were made with direct reference to the people
among whom he had elected to cast his lot. He was a genuine civilizer.
His genius was of the highest order in that, in an age when the sword
was the only arbiter, he hammered his into a pruning-hook and carved out
with it a kingdom which stood almost a thousand years. He was the ideal
colonizer, for he carried with him all the elements of successful
colonization which, while sufficing for the reclamation of the
semi-barbarous tribes of the peninsula, would still have left him
self-sufficient in the event of their contumacy. His method was
brilliant when compared with even the best attempts of modern times.
His penal code was short, and clearly indicated the failings of the
people among whom he had cast his lot. Murder was to be punished with
death inflicted in the same manner in which the crime had been
committed. Brawling was punished by a fine to be paid in grain. Theft
was punished by enslaving the offender, but he could regain his freedom
by the payment of a heavy fine. There were five other laws which are not
mentioned specifically. Many have surmised, and perhaps rightly, that
they were of the nature of the o-hang or “five precepts” which
inculcate right relations between king and subject, parent and child,
husband and wife, friend and friend, old and young. It is stated,
apocryphally however, that to prevent quarreling Ki-ja compelled all
males to wear a broad-brimmed hat made of clay pasted on a framework. If
this hat was either doffed or broken the offender was severely punished.
This is said to have effectually kept them at arms length.
Another evidence of Ki-ja’s genius is his immediate recognition of the
fact that he must govern the Korean people by means of men selected from
their own number. For this purpose he picked out a large number of men
from the various districts and gave them special training in the duties
of government and he soon had a working corps of officials and prefects
without resorting to the dangerous expedient of filling all these
positions from the company that came with him. He recognised that in
order to gain any lasting influence with the people of Korea he and his
followers must adapt themselves to the language of their adopted country
rather than make the Koreans conform to their form of speech. We are
told that he reduced the language of the people to writing and through
this medium taught the people the arts and sciences which he had
brought. If this is true, the method by which the writing was done and
the style of the characters have entirely disappeared. Nothing remains
to give evidence of such a written language. We are told that it took
three years to teach it to the people.
The important matter of revenue received early attention. A novel method
was adopted. All arable land was divided into squares and each square
was subdivided into nine equal parts; eight squares about a central one.
Whoever cultivated the eight surrounding squares must also cultivate the
central one for the benefit of the government. The latter therefore
received a ninth part of the produce of the land. Prosperity was seen on
every side and the people called the Ta-dong River the Yellow River of
Korea.
As a sign that his kingdom was founded in peace and as a constant
reminder to his people he planted a long line of willows along the bank
of the river opposite the city, so P‘yung-yang is sometimes called The
Willow Capital.
It is contended by not a few that Ki-ja never came to Korea at all and
they base their belief upon the following facts. When the Han Emperor
Mu-je overcame northern Korea and divided it into four parts he called
the people savages, which could not be if Ki-ja civilized them. The
Chinese histories of the Tang dynasty affirm that Ki-ja’s kingdom was in
Liao-tung. The histories of the Kin dynasty and the Yuan or Mongol
dynasty say that Ki-ja had his capital at Kwang-nyŭng in Liao-tung, and
there is a Ki-ja well there today and a shrine to him. There was a
picture of him there but it was burned in the days of Emperor Se-jong of
the Ming dynasty. A Korean work entitled Sok-mun Heun-t’ong-go says that
Ki-ja’s capital was at Ham-pyŭng-no in Liao-tung. The Chinese work
Il-t’ong-ji of the time of the Ming dynasty says that the scholars of
Liao-tung compiled a work called Söng-gyŭng-ji which treated of this
question. That book said that Cho-sŭn included Sim-yang (Muk-den),
Pong-ch’ŭn-bu, Eui-ju and Kwang-nyŭng; so that half of Liao-tung
belonged to Cho-sun. The work entitled Kang-mok says that his capital
was at P’yŭng-yang and that the kingdom gradually broadened until the
scholar O Si-un said of it that it stretched from the Liao River to the
Han. This last is the commonly accepted theory and so far as Korean
evidence goes there seems to be little room for doubt.
Ki-ja was fifty-three years old when he came to Korea and he reigned
here forty years. His grave may be seen to-day at To-san near the city
which was the scene of his labors. Some other places that claim the
honor of containing Ki-ja’s tomb are Mong-hyŭn, Pak-sung and
Sang-gu-hyun in northern China.
It was not till thirty-six generations later that Ki-ja received the
posthumous title of T’ă-jo Mun-sŭng Tă-wang.
The details of the history of K-ja’s dynasty are very meager and can be
given here only in the most condensed form.[A]
Footnote A:
The following details of the Ki-ja dynasty are taken from a work
recently compiled in P’yung-yang and claiming to be based on private
family records of the descendants of Ki-ja. It is difficult to say
whether any reliance can be placed upon it but as it is the only
source of information obtainable it seems best to give it. The dates
are of course all B.C.
[Illustration: THE TOMB OF KI-JA.]
In 1083 Ki-ja died and was succeeded by his son Song. Of his reign of
twenty-five years we know little beyond the fact that he built an
Ancestral Temple. His successor, Sun, was a man of such filial piety
that when his father died he went mad. The next king, Iăk, adopted for
his officials the court garments of the Sang Kingdom in China. His son,
Ch’un, who ascended the throne in 997 raised fifty-nine regiments of
soldiers containing in all 7300 men. The flag of the army was blue. In
943 the reigning king, Cho, feeling the need of cavalry, appointed a
special commission to attend to the breeding of horses, and with such
success that in a few years horses were abundant. In 890 King Săk hung a
drum in the palace gate and ordained that anyone having a grievance
might strike the drum and obtain an audience. In 843 a law was
promulgated by which the government undertook to support the hopelessly
destitute. In 773 King Wŭl forbade the practice of sorcery and
incantation. In 748 naval matters received attention and a number of war
vessels were launched. The first day of the fifth moon of 722 is
memorable as marking the first solar eclipse that is recorded in Korean
history. A great famine occurred in 710. King Kwŭl selected a number of
men who could speak Chinese and who knew Chinese customs. These he
dressed in Chinese clothes which were white and sent them across the
Yellow Sea with a large fleet of boats loaded with fish, salt and
copper. With these they purchased rice for the starving Koreans. At this
time all official salaries were reduced one half. In 702 King Whe
ordered the making of fifteen kinds of musical instruments. He also
executed a sorceress of An-ju who claimed to be the daughter of the Sea
King and deceived many of the people. In 670 King Cho sent an envoy and
made friends with the King of Che in China. He also revised the penal
code and made the theft of a hundred million cash from the government or
of a hundred and fifty millions from the people a capital crime. He
ordered the construction of a building of 500 kan for an asylum for
widows, orphans and aged people who were childless. In 664 one of the
wild tribes of the north sent their chief, Kil-i-do-du, to swear
allegiance to Cho-sŭn. In 659 there came to Korea from the Chu Kingdom
in China a man by the name of Pak Il-jŭng, who brought with him a
medicine called myun-dan-bang which he claimed was the elixir of
youth. By his arts he succeeded in gaining the ear of the king and for
many years was virtually ruler of the country. At last a king came to
the throne who had the wisdom and nerve to order his execution. At this
the whole land rejoiced

Confucian code. It is quite probable that
to this new departure is due the fact that the next year the laws of the
country were overhauled and put in proper shape for use. In 375 two
great monasteries were built in the capital of Ko-gu-ryŭ. They were
called Cho-mun and I-bul-lan. It should be noticed that the introduction
of Buddhism into Korea was a government affair. There had been no
propagation of the tenets of this cult through emmisaries sent for the
purpose, there was no call for it from the people. In all probability
the king and his court were pleased at the idea of introducing the
stately ceremonial of the new faith. In fact it was a social event
rather than a religious one and from that date to this there has not
been a time when the people of Korea have entered heartily into the
spirit of Buddhism, nor have her most distinguished representatives
understood more than the mere forms and trappings of that religion which
among all pagan cults is the most mystical.

Păk-je was not long in following the example of her powerful neighbor.
In the year 384 a new king ascended the throne of Păk-je. His name was
Ch’im-yu. One of his first acts was to send an envoy to China asking
that a noted monk named Mararanta be sent to Păk-je to introduce the
Buddhist ritual. We notice that this request was sent to the Emperor
Hyo-mu (Hsia-wu), the proper head of the Eastern Tsin dynasty, while
Ko-gu-ryŭ had received hers at the hands of one of those petty kings who
hung upon the skirts of the weakening dynasty and waited patiently for
its dissolution. Each of these petty states, as well as the central
government of the Tsin, was on the lookout for promising allies and such
a request as this of Păk-je could scarcely be refused. Mararanta, whose
name smacks of the south and who certainly cannot have been a Chinaman,
was sent to the Păk-je capital. He was received with open arms. His
apartments were in the palace where he soon erected a Buddhist shrine.
Ten more monks followed him and Buddhism was firmly established in this
second of the three Korean states. The greatest deference was paid to
these monks and they were addressed by the honorific title To-seung.
Sil-la received Buddhism some fifty years later.

All this time fighting was almost continuous along the Ko-gu-ryŭ-Păk-je
border. The latter stood on the defensive and found it necessary in 386
to build a line of breastworks along the border, extending from
Ch’ŭng-mok-yŭng northward to P’al-gon-sung and thence westward to the
sea. An amnesty was brought about through a happy accident. A groom who
had accidentally broken the leg of a Păk-je prince’s horse had fled to
Ko-gu-ryŭ to escape punishment. Returning now to Păk-je, he purchased
pardon by informing the king that if, in battle, the Păk-je forces
should direct their whole force against that part of the enemy’s line
where they should see a red flag flying they would surely be successful.
This turned out to be true and Păk-je was once more successful, but
followed up her success only to the extent of securing a definite
cessation of hostilities and the erection of a boundary stone at
Su-gok-sŭng to witness forever against him who should dispute the point.
But when King Ch’im-yu of Ko-gu-ryŭ died in 392 and his son Tam-dok came
into power all previous obligations were swept away and he proceeded to
reopen the wound. He attacked Păk-je fiercely and took ten of her towns.
Then he turned northward and chastised the Kŭ-ran tribe. When this was
done he came back to the charge again and seized Kwang-nu Fortress. This
was an almost inaccessible position on a high rock surrounded by the
sea, but the hardy soldiers of Ko-gu-ryŭ after twenty days of siege
found seven paths by which the wall could be reached, and they finally
took the place by a simultaneous assault at these various points. When
the court of Păk-je heard of this well-nigh impossible feat, all hope of
victory in the field was taken away, and they could only bar the gates
of the capital and await the turn of events. This king, Tam-dok, was as
enthusiastically Buddhistic as his father. He made a decree that all the
people of Ko-gu-ryŭ should adopt the Buddhistic faith and a few years
later built nine more monasteries in P’yŭng-yang.

A year later King A-sin of Păk-je sent his son, Chön-ji, to Japan as an
envoy. It is likely, but not certain, that it was a last resource of
Păk-je to secure help against Ko-gu-ryŭ. This is the more likely from
the fact that he went not only as an envoy but also as a hostage, or a
guarantee of good faith. If this was the hope of Păk-je it failed, for
no Japanese army was forthcoming. As another means of self-preservation
King A-sin formed a great school of archery, but the people did not like
it; for exercise in it was compulsory, and many of the people ran away.

In 399 Ko-gu-ryŭ sent an envoy to the Yŭn capital to pay her respects,
but the king of that country charged Ko-gu-ryŭ with ambitious designs
and sent an army of 30,000 men to seize the fortresses of Sin-sŭng and
Nam-so, thus delimiting the frontier of Ko-gu-ryŭ to the extent of 700
li. They carried back with them 5,000 “houses,” which means
approximately 25,000 people, as captives. It is difficult to believe
this enumeration unless we conclude that it means that the people living
within the limit of the 700 li were taken to be citizens of Yŭn.

The fifth century of our era dawned upon a troubled Korea. The tension
between the three rival powers was severe, and every nerve was strained
in the struggle for preeminence. In 402 Nă-mul, the king of Sil-la, died
and Sil-sŭng came to the throne. He sent out feelers in two directions,
one toward Ko-gu-ryŭ in the shape of a hostage, called by euphemism an
envoy, and another of the same sort to Japan; which would indicate that
Sil-la was still suffering from the depredations of the Japanese
corsairs. The envoy to Ko-gu-ryŭ was the king’s brother, Pok-ho, and the
one to Japan was also his brother, Mi-sa-heun. We remember that Păk-je
already had an envoy in Japan in the person of the king’s eldest son
Chön-ji. Now in 405 the king of Păk-je died. Chön-ji was the rightful
heir but as he was in Japan the second son should have assumed the reins
of government. As a fact the third son Chŭng-nye killed his brother and
seized the scepter. Hearing of his father’s death, Chön-ji returned from
Japan with an escort of a hundred Japanese, but learning of his
brother’s murder he feared treachery against himself and so landed on an
island off the coast where he remained until the people, with a fine
sense of justice, drove Ch’ăm-nye from the throne and welcomed back the
rightful heir.