A History of Korea (8 page)

Located in the northeast coastal areas of the Korean peninsula were two loosely organized “states,” Okch
ŏ
and Tongye. Geographical conditions apparently prevented them from developing into full-fledged confederated kingdoms. Though cut off almost entirely from the outside world by rugged mountain ranges, the language, food, clothing, and customs of these two “states” nevertheless resembled those of Kogury
ŏ
.

The small state of Okch
ŏ
, situated in today’s Hamgy
ŏ
ng province and consisting of some 5,000 households, had long remained a confederation of tribes, with tribal chieftains called
hu,
ŭ
pgun,
and
samno
independently administering their own domains. Originally Okch
ŏ
was controlled by Old Chos
ŏ
n (Wiman
Chos
ŏ
n). Then, with the establishment of Chinese Han commanderies, it fell under the rule of the Imdun Commandery and later the Nangnang Commandery. Since the first century
AD
Kogury
ŏ
brought Okch
ŏ
under its dominion and levied tributes from the small state. It is said that the Okch
ŏ
people carried salt, fish, “Maek cloth,” and other local products on their backs to Kogury
ŏ
over a distance of “1,000
li,
” or 200 to 300 miles. In the early fifth century Okch
ŏ
was completely under the command of the Kogury
ŏ
king Kwanggaet’o.

In Okch
ŏ
young girls were often taken into other families as future daughters-in-law. When people died in Okch
ŏ
, they were temporarily buried and their bones were later laid in wooden coffins with the bones of other family members. An entire family, in other words, was buried together in a single large coffin.

Tongye, located in today’s northern Kangw
ŏ
n province, had more than 20,000 households. Though bigger than Okch
ŏ
, it also never evolved into a confederated kingdom. Like Okch
ŏ
, Tongye had also been controlled by Old Chos
ŏ
n and Chinese Han commanderies, later to be annexed to Kogury
ŏ
.

Geographical isolation virtually relieved Tongye of outside interference and influence. Thus its hereditary customs were long maintained, handed down through the successive clan societies. Each clan was required to remain within its own territory, where it engaged in such economic activities as hunting, fishing, and farming. Should this prohibition be violated, slaves, oxen, and horses had to be given in compensation. This custom was known as
ch’aekhwa,
or responsibility for damages. The Tongye people worshiped the tiger as a deity.

Tongye possessed fertile farmland and was rich in marine products. It produced fine silk and hemp cloth, horses called
kwahama,
and seal furs. A thanksgiving service to heaven known as
much’
ŏ
n,
or a dance to heaven, was also performed there in the tenth lunar month of the year. Because the Tongye people’s livelihood depended on agriculture and fishery, the national thanksgiving event functioned as a festival to celebrate both a good harvest and a large catch. Failing to become confederated kingdoms because of their geography and their more powerful neighbors, Okch
ŏ
and Tongye ultimately disappeared from the landscape of history.

About the time when the confederated kingdoms of Old Chos
ŏ
n, Puy
ŏ
, and Kogury
ŏ
were established by the Yemaek people, a culturally homogeneous political entity had also taken shape at the hands of the Han people in the region south of the Han River. Nation building progressed more quickly in the western part of the region, in the basins of the Han, K
ŭ
m, and Y
ŏ
ngsan rivers, than in the eastern part, the Naktong River basin. Because of easy access to China, vast fertile farmland, and abundant products, people in the western region, later called Mahan, enjoyed a superior lifestyle to people in the east. Therefore, after the fall of Old Chos
ŏ
n, refugees from the north settled in this region.

MAP 1.2.
Confederated Kingdoms

Around the eighth century
BC
the Han people, a branch of the dongyi who had migrated from northeastern China, already used high-level mandolin-shaped bronze daggers and refined polished stone daggers, and constructed gigantic board-style dolmen tombs. Presumably, from early times on, a large number of walled-town states had already been established in this southern region, as evidenced by the use of finely wrought bronze daggers since the fourth century
BC
. A Chinese historical record from the third century
AD
notes that as many as 70 to 80 states had belonged to the
Sam-han,
or three Han, federations. These “states,” the larger ones controlling more than 10,000 households and the smaller ones just 600 to 700 households, were all walled-town states.

Chin, a loosely organized union of “states,” was established in the late fifth century
BC
and was centered on the southwest coastal areas of the Korean peninsula. Since the fall of Old Chos
ŏ
n to Wiman in 194
BC
, many refugees from the territory of Old Chos
ŏ
n, including its last king, Chun, swarmed into the Chin domain. Again, with the downfall of Wiman Chos
ŏ
n in 108
BC
, a number of refugees also fled south, settling in Chin territory. The immigration of these refugees from the north enabled Chin to adopt a more advanced iron culture. As a result, Chin society rapidly experienced a profound transformation, which eventually resulted in the restructuring of the Chin territory into three new political entities, known collectively as the three Han federations—Mahan, situated in the southwestern part of the Korean peninsula; Chinhan, located east of the Naktong River; and Py
ŏ
nhan, positioned west of the Naktong River.

It is said that the Mahan federation was made up of 54 states and more than 100,000 households. Among the numerous states, the ruler of the Mokchi state, situated in today’s Chiksan, South Ch’ungch’
ŏ
ng province, was elevated to the “Chin King” to assert nominal lordship over the three Han states. Later, however, the state of Paekche in the lower reaches of the Han River became increasingly powerful and competed for dominance over the Mahan federation with the state of Mokchi. The later Paekche kingdom developed out of the state and acquired predominance in the Mahan region. Paekche was founded by immigrant people from the north, and its founder-king is said to have been Onjo, a son of Chumong, the legendary founder-king of Kogury
ŏ
.

The Chinhan federation, consisting of 12 states, was established by the Wiman Chos
ŏ
n people who had migrated south into the Naktong River basin and today’s Ky
ŏ
ngju region. An outstanding example from this migration was Chos
ŏ
n-sang Y
ŏ
kkyegy
ŏ
ng, who fled south immediately before the fall of Wiman Chos
ŏ
n leading more than 2,000 households. These migrants from the north may have wanted to settle in the Mahan area but, upon meeting resistance from the existing inhabitants, they moved down to the present-day Ky
ŏ
ngsang region along the Naktong River. The later Silla kingdom emerged from the walled-town state of Saro, one of the 12 Chinhan states.

In the southeast coastal region of Kimhae and Masan, in present-day South Ky
ŏ
ngsang province, a federation of 12 maritime states known as Py
ŏ
nhan was established. The Py
ŏ
nhan people engaged in vigorous maritime activities and produced high-quality iron in large quantities. They exported iron wares to Japan and Nangnang through the “iron road.” Later, six Kaya kingdoms emerged from the Py
ŏ
nhan region.

From the late third century
BC
the influence of refugees from the north brought the state of Chin and the three Han federations solidly into the Iron Age. The introduction of iron technology enabled the widespread manufacture of iron artifacts for daily use. A variety of farming implements such as hoes, plowshares, sickles, and mattocks were fashioned from iron. With the extensive use of iron appliances, rice agriculture developed in the rich alluvial valleys and plains to the point where reservoirs for irrigation were established. The famous Py
ŏ
kkol-je (reservoir) at Kimje, North Ch
ŏ
lla province, and
Ŭ
irim-ji (reservoir) at Chech’
ŏ
n, North Ch’ungch’
ŏ
ng province, were built in the Mahan region.

Rulers of the three Han federations were called
sinji, h
ŏ
mch’
ŭ
k, p
ŏ
nye, salhae, ky
ŏ
nji, p
ŏ
rye,
and
ŭ
pch’a.
These indigenous titles are all interpreted as having meant “chief” or “head.” These political leaders had secular powers only, while religious ceremonies were performed exclusively by masters of ritual called
ch’
ŏ
n’gun,
or heavenly lord. Functioning as shamans, they are said to have had authority over separate settlements known as
sodo
or
sottae.
It is recorded that a tall wooden pole was erected in the sodo on which were hung bells and a drum, believed to be the instruments for invoking spirits. The sodo was regarded as a sanctuary; if a criminal entered the precincts of the sacred sodo, he could not be apprehended there. Because religion and politics had already been separated in the three Han federations under this standard, the society there was considered more advanced than in Old Chos
ŏ
n and Puy
ŏ
, where church and state were united.

The three Han people also performed ceremonies dedicated to heaven, similar to those celebrated in Puy
ŏ
’s y
ŏ
nggo, Kogury
ŏ
’s tongmaeng, and Tongye’s much’
ŏ
n. The harvest thanksgiving festival took place in the tenth lunar month, at the conclusion of the harvest. No less important was the ceremony held in the spring to pray for a bounteous year, observed in the fifth lunar month, after seeds had been sown. The entire populace, without class distinctions, celebrated these festivals, eating, drinking, singing, and dancing for several days on end. The three Han people engaged in communal farming using the system of
ture,
or mutual help, in which the labor supply worked all the farms in turn.

People of the three Han federations actively engaged in heaven worship. A traditional Korean belief dates back to the era of the three Han federations that all generations of men are born into the world from heaven and return to heaven when they die. An ancestral rite was identified as a sacrificial rite to heaven and was considered one of the most important moral virtues of filial piety. Burying tomb furnishings in a grave together with the corpse derived from the belief that a man returned to heaven to enjoy ultimate immortality.

Heaven worship was well illustrated through drawings incised on rocks. One such drawing at Yangj
ŏ
n-dong (village), in Kory
ŏ
ng county, North Ky
ŏ
ngsang province, consists of a number of concentric circles symbolizing heaven (the sun). Another at Ch’
ŏ
nj
ŏ
n-ni, in Ulchu county, Ulsan metropolitan city, includes a variety of geometric designs—circles, triangles, and diamonds—as well as sketches of animals, suggesting that heaven (circles), the earth (diamonds), and human beings (triangles) coexisted harmoniously. An incised rock drawing at Pan’gudae (cliff) near Ch’
ŏ
nj
ŏ
n-ni, created in the Bronze Age, depicts hunting scenes on land and at sea, and includes pictures of whales, tortoises, and other marine life, of wild animals such as deer, tigers, bears, boars, and rabbits, and of human beings, suggesting a prayer that the people of that age might live together peacefully with all of Mother Nature. The hunting and fishing scenes also imply a supplication that these essential economic activities would be accomplished successfully.
⁶
As these drawings make clear, the art created by the three Han people was closely related to heaven worship.

The era of the Chin and three Han federations has been considered “forgotten history,” mainly because of the near absence of historical records. But this period occupies an eminent place in Korean history not only as a unique historical entity in itself but also as preparation for the advent of a new historical period, that of the Three Kingdoms of Kogury
ŏ
, Paekche, and Silla.