뉴스레터

A whole view of Taewangneung
(Mausoleum of the Great King)

Grave keepers (守墓人) literally refer to those who keep the graves. It was their job to keep the graves of dead people, and do the cleaning and prepare for the rituals. Almost every country had a system in place for staffing and managing the royal mausoleums of kings of many generations. Samguksaki (History of the Three Kingdoms) includes an account explaining that in Koguryo or Silla, when a king or a high-ranking aristocrat died, grave keepers were assigned to his grave. It also includes a reference to 'Neungsaekjeon (陵色典),' presumably the government office in charge of this business. But there is no historical record that tells us in detail about the actual management, or the governing laws, of the royal mausoleums.

Instead, this information is found on the Gwanggaeto Stele and the Ji'an (集安) Koguryo Stele. These two steles contain various information about the grave keepers of the royal mausoleums of Koguryo, e.g. how they were organized, what their nature was, how many of them there were, from where they were recruited, and about the problems with the grave keeping of the royal mausoleums during the periods of King Gwanggaeto and King Jangsu, and these two kings' efforts to fix those problems to ensure safe management of the royal mausoleums. This account of how Koguryo had problems, even in its prime, with the keeping of the royal mausoleums and made efforts to fix them is very fascinating because it is a vivid description of hidden historical aspects of the society and politics of the time that are not found in any other historical record.

Why Grave Keepers, Not Mausoleum Keepers (守陵人)?

The Joseon Dynasty also had keepers of royal mausoleums. There are a number of stories told about them, including the tale of Neungchambong, the Royal Mausoleum Curator who kept the grave of the Crown Prince Jangheon. Neungchambong refers to the Junior 9th Rank Official responsible for managing the mausoleums by commanding many mausoleum keepers working under him.

Here is a question that comes to mind. In the Joseon Dynasty, those who kept the royal mausoleums of kings and queens were referred to as the Mausoleum Keeping Army and those who kept the graves of a queen's parents the Grave Keeping Army (守墓軍). Those who kept the graves of ordinary citizens were referred to as Grave Keepers. Then why were those who kept the royal mausoleums of Koguryo referred to as Grave Keepers instead of Mausoleum Keepers? Was referring to their tombs as graves instead of mausoleums intended to deny the majesty of the kings of Koguryo?

It was not. During the 4th to the 5th centuries, the kings of Koguryo proudly called themselves descendants of the heaven. In this period, they used the most honorary titles, such as Taewang (Great King), Hotaewang, Seongtaewang (聖太王: Holy and Great King), and Hotaeseongwang, and era names of their own. Therefore, it is hard to imagine that they lowered the titles of the tombs of the preceding kings to 'graves' and accordingly referred to those who kept them as Grave Keepers. At that time, there was no distinction between mausoleums and graves. Several bricks with the letters "Taewangneung (Mausoleum of the Great King)" engraved on them have been found in the Mausoleum of the Great King, a large stone mound tomb that is thought by many scholars to be the mausoleum of King Gwanggaeto for its proximity to the Gwanggaeto Stele. The fact that the word 'mausoleum' was written on the bricks while the word 'grave keeping' was written on the Gwanggaeto Stele and the Ji'an Koguryo Stele suggests that they didn't make a strict distinction between the words 'mausoleum' and 'grave.

Where Did the Grave Keepers Indicated in the Gwanggaeto Stele Come from?

According to the Gwanggaeto Stele inscription, the group of Koguryo's grave keepers in the 5th century consisted of the Old People (舊民) and those who were called Sinraehanye (新來韓穢). The inscription includes a detailed description of how many households from which area were recruited for the job. An analysis of this description shows that the Old People are from the frontier area that was incorporated into Koguryo's territory during the period before King Gwanggaeto, and Sinraehanye are mostly the people recruited from the Baekje area north of the Han River conquered by King Gwanggaeto. In other words, both the old and the new grave keepers were from peoples subjugated by Koguryo.

The grave keepers were counted with the units of Yeonho (烟戶) or Ho (戶:household), and Ga (家: family). This shows that the grave keepers were recruited and operated by family unit. The estimated average number of people per household in ancient times is five. That means there were over 1,500 grave keepers from the 330 grave-keeping households indicated in the Gwanggaeto Stele inscription. The number of the grave keepers of Koguryo's royal mausoleums must have increased with time. Accordingly, the matter of managing the grave keepers must have continued to receive attention.

Debates in Academia Surrounding the Grave Keepers and the Grave-Keeping System

The bricks found in the collapsed heap
of the stones of Taewangneung
and Cheonchuchong (housed in the
National Museum of Korea)

The discovery of the Ji'an Koguryo Stele triggered the academia's keen interest in Koguryo's grave keepers and grave-keeping system. According to the Gwanggaeto Stele inscription, King Jangsu recruited the Old People and Sinraehanye at the ratio of 1 to 2. The total of 330 households of grave keepers consisted of 30 households of Gukyeon and 300 households of Ganyeon, at the ratio of 1 to 10. This ratio suggests that perhaps Gukyeon were the main leaders responsible for keeping the graves and Ganyeon were in their supporting roles doing the cleaning and the like. But some scholars think that Gukyeon were residents of the capital and cities, including their suburbs, engaged primarily in production and manufacture in cottage industries, whereas Ganyeon were residents of high mountains and deep valleys, engaged in farming, fishing and hunting, or that Gukyeon were rich enough to afford to cover one position in grave-keeping service whereas Ganyeon had to put ten of them together for one position. There are also some researchers who think that Gukyeon carried out their grave-keeping service in Gukgangsang (國罡上) and Ganyeon raised funds to cover expenses necessary for them to carry out their grave-keeping service in a third area or in the original area of their residence. There is a theory that Gukyeon was the era name assigned to the mausoleum of King Gwanggaeto and Ganyeon other royal mausoleums. Another theory maintains that Gukyeon were the grave keepers actually present in the royal mausoleums for grave-keeping service and Ganyeon were the grave keepers in reserve.

The debates surrounding the grave keepers will go on and remain active for a long time to come unless a third evidence to confirm the established theory appears, or a perfect argument to quiet all the debates so far is presented.