뉴스레터

The Boma Fortress is currently located in Boma Village (寶馬村), Antu County, the Jilin Province of China. A description of the status of the excavation and relics of this fortress can be found in Antu County Cultural Gazetteer (安圖縣文物志) (1985). The Boma Fortress is a flatland fortress with a total perimeter of 465 meters (126 meters along the eastern wall; 132 meters along the western wall; 103 meters along the southern wall; and 104 meters along the northern wall). The fortress has walls and stylobates made of stone with soil on top of them. The remaining northern wall is 4 meters wide and 1.2 meters high, and it is preserved in a relatively good condition. The area surrounding the fortress has already turned into farmland. Ten meters away from the northern wall, there is a road leading to Boma Village. In the middle of the fortress, there are three earthen stylobates standing in a row.

The institute that excavated the Boma Fortress this summer is the Frontier Archaeology Research Center of Jilin University. Of the three earthen stylobates, the northern one with an area of 726 square meters was the main excavation target. The person in charge of the excavation said that this was where the foundation of a large structure had been exposed, and that it might be a shrine (神廟) where the imperial family of Jin performed ancestral rites to Mt. Baekdu. Presumably this was the source of the report that China viewed the Boma Fortress as the site of Jin, not Balhae.

A Precious Relic of Balhae Built by Balehae and Used Until the Qing Period

However, according to Antu County Cultural Gazetteer, after the fortress was built during the Balhae period, a Buddhist temple was constructed within the fortress during the late Qing period after the Liao and Jin periods, and there was a city of heaven's ordinance at the northwestern corner of the fortress. This shows that people had lived in this fortress continuously from the Balhae to Qing periods. In particular, the Jechen who founded Jin are the Heishui Mohe (黑水靺鞨) subjugated by Balhae. This suggests that after Balhae Kingdom, the Juchen took it over and continued to use it.

Early on, the Boma Fortress was determined as Heungju (興州) under the jurisdiction of the Middle Capital Hyeondeokkbu (中京顯德府) during the Balhae period. It was in 1978 that China investigated this fortress in earnest. When fragments of pressed patterned roof tiles had been uncovered at the time, China identified the fortress as a Balhae one. Antu County Gazetteer (安圖縣志)(1928) also states that judging from the relics within the fortress, it is thought that the fortress was built during the Balhae period and used in the Liao and Jin periods as well. It also tells the tale of a general who obtained a precious horse during the Balhae period, and explains that was how the fortress came to be known as the Boma (meaning precious horse) Fortress. The stone post of the Boma Fortress also indicates that the fortress was built by Balhae Kingdom and used until the Jin Dynasty. Therefore, it goes without saying that the Boma Fortress is a precious relic of Balhae Kingdom.

Balhae built around the Upper Capital, the largest of its capital cities, a network of roads running in all directions for active exchange with its neighboring countries. The Boma Fortress is a major stop on the Abrok Road (鴨綠道) of all those roads, and it is located 30 kilometers north of the Heaven Lake on top of Mt. Baekdu. In 2013, China designated the Middle Capital Hyeondeokkbu around the Seogo Fortress (西古城) with jurisdiction over the Boma Fortress, along with the Upper Capital City, as a 'National Archaeological Sites Park.' In addition, China is carrying out a large-scale development project in Mr. Baekdu and its surrounding areas. A Google satellite view shows that the land around the Boma Village is pale white. I am concerned that the true meaning of the Boma Fortress as the traffic route from the Balhae period might be lost in the development boom.