NORTHEAST ASIAN HISTORY FOUNDATION 02/2013
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Written by_ Kum Kyung-suk, Research Fellow of the NAHF Research Department
In January 2013, it came to the attention of the Korean press that a Koguryo stele had been discovered in Ji'an City in Jilin Province of China, the city that used to be the second capital of Koguryo. It was said that since the actual date of its discovery, July 29 of 2012, this stele had been examined by local experts to decipher its inscriptions. This news was made public when it appeared in an article by the China Cultural Relics News, the official gazette of the State Bureau of Cultural Relics of China, dated January 4, 2013. Considering that the discovery of a stele related to Koguryo is a rare event, it was extremely exciting news. When the insufficiency of materials is a scourge to those studying ancient history, especially the history of Koguryo, the value of an epigraph, a direct product by people of the times, cannot be overemphasized.
An Invaluable Historical Record for Studying the History of Koguryo
Present-day Ji'an City in Jilin Province of China used to be the second capital of Koguryo. It was the political, cultural, and social center of Koguryo for 400 years from AD 3 (the 22nd year of Koguryo's second king Yuri), when the capital was moved from Wunu Mountain City (present-day Huanren, Liaoning Province of China), until 427 (the 15th year of Koguryo's 20th king Jangsu), when the capital was moved to Pyeongyang. Ji'an City is home to Guonei City, built on flatland for royal residence, and Wandu Mountain City, and the area is dotted with over 10,000 tombs from the Koguryo period.
It is said that the recently discovered stele of Koguryo was discovered on the sands right of the Maxian River (馬線河), 4.3 kilometers away from the highway between Ji'an and Dangdong. The site, covered in snow now, is halfway between the Old Maxian Bridge and the New Maxian Bridge. The area where the stele was discovered is a basin dotted with 700 to 800 Koguryo tombs.
This complex of Maxian tombs includes royal mausoleums like the Qianqui Tomb and the Xida Tomb inscribed on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list. According to the report by the Chinese press, this stele is made of granite, measures 173 centimeters in length, 60.6 to 66.5 centimeters in width, 12.5 to 21 centimeters in thickness, and weighs approximately 464.5 kilograms. It appears that this newly discovered stele of Koguryo is currently in Ji'an Museum for safekeeping. The Chinese authorities reportedly have decided to call it 'Ji'an Koguryo Stele.'
The inscriptions run vertically in ten lines. The first nine lines contain 22 characters each, and the last line 20 characters, totaling 218 characters. About 10 characters are missing because the upper right corner is damaged. As the stone stele has been sitting by the river and weathered for a long time, many of the characters are illegible. It is said that 140 characters have been identified. If the stele was made public, more characters could be identified.
Analysis of the Ji'an Koguryo Stele's Inscriptions
The stele inscriptions describe the lineage of Koguryo's royal family, mentioning that Koguryo was founded by King Chumo, and the King Chumo was a descendent of Habaek. Specified on the third line is about '四時祭祀', meaning performing ancestral rites in the four seasons of spring, summer, fall, and winter, which is thought to be one of the grave keeping household's roles. From the fourth line onward, it is stated that the rich people (富足者) were putting up grave keepers (守墓者) for resale. The practice of buying and selling grave keepers is described as a serious problem, and it is mentioned that the names of twenty grave keeping household heads (煙戶頭) were inscribed on the stele. This is similar in many aspects to the account of grave keepers on the Gwanggaeto Stele erected in 414 (the second year of King Jangsu). Let us take a brief look at the contents of this stele's inscriptions.
For the newly discovered stele of Koguryo, the first thing to take note of is the date of its erection. Currently, this stele is estimated to be dated in the era of either King Gwanggaeto or King Jangsu. An important clue to the date is "Mu□(戊□)" in the seventh line. While 'Mu(戊)' is clearly legible, the character after it is uncertain. Therefore, the date of the stele's erection, assuming that it was in the era around King Gwanggaeto, could be any of the following years that include the character Mu: Year Muja (戊子), 388, the fifth year of King Kokuk, father of King Gwanggaeto; Year Musul (戊戌), 398, the 8th year of King Gwanggaeto; Year Musin (戊申), the 18th year of King Gwanggaeto; and Year Muo (戊午), 418, the 6th year of King Jangsu. To determine which year, some guesswork will be needed based on the examination of the identifiable strokes of the second character.
The important significance of this stele lies in showing that there was another stele of Koguryo, other than the Gwanggaeto Stele, relating to grave keepers. While some scholars have asserted that the Gwanggaeto Stele's inscriptions are an exhaustive description of grave keeping for other royal mausoleums in the Guonei City area, others have insisted on the possibility that there may be another stele or two in addition to the Gwanggaeto Stele. The discovery of this stele is likely to rekindle the debate on this topic.
Another factor to take note of is that this stele's height is 173 centimeters. Presumably, this stele was a strong warning message to the rich people who were buying and selling grave keepers. The grand Gwanggaeto Stele was imposing to the point of overwhelming, but it was also so tall and big that only limited areas of its surface could actually reach one's eyes. By contrast, the newly discovered stele of Koguryo is short, and its whole surface could easily reach one's eyes.
The inscriptions on this stele describing that grave keepers were required to perform ancestral rites throughout the four seasons of the year (四時祭祀) give us a better understanding of the roles of grave keepers. Whereas the Gwanggaeto Stele only mentioned that grave keepers washed the stele clean, this stele indicates that the roles of graver keepers included making preparations for ancestral rites. On the Gwanggaeto Stele, it was stated that King Gwanggaeto, while he was alive, had told his son to appoint the 'New-Coming Hanye (新來韓穢)' people newly acquired from his expeditions as grave keepers. But it was also stated that his son King Jangsu, worried that 'New-Coming Hanye' people might not be familiar with the rules (慮其不知法則)', had not followed his father's instructions but mixed the old and the new households in the ratio of 220 to 110. What could be the 'rules' that the newly appointed grave keepers were not familiar with? They could be regulations governing grave keeping service, or they could include procedures related to ancestral rites that the grave keepers were required to perform. In this respect, the characters '四時祭祀' offer an interesting perspective on Koguryo's ancestral rites system.
The expression 'yeonhodu (煙戶頭: head of grave keeping household)' is also interesting in relation to aspects of the existence of grave keepers. What has been known so far about grave keepers was limited to gukyeon (國烟) and ganyeon (看烟) written on the Gwanggaeto Stele. On this stele, it was stated that the names of twenty grave keeping household heads would be inscribed. Whereas the Gwanggaeto Stele specified grave keepers in the number of gukyeon households and the number of ganyeon households, this stele stated that their names would be specified. If this was the case, the names must have been on the back side, which, unfortunately, cannot be confirmed for now.
As described briefly above, it appears that the newly discovered Koguryo stele will provide more information in understanding the history of Koguryo. Hopefully, it will further broaden our perception of the history of Kogruyo.
- Northeast Asia History Network
- Northeast Asia History Library
- DOKDO Research Institute
- DOKDO Museum Seoul
- Education and Training
