A History of Korea (16 page)

As Koreans in the Three Kingdoms became accustomed to Chinese writing, they composed Chinese poetry, as seen in the Kogury
ŏ
general
Ŭ
lchi Mund
ŏ
k’s poem, which scoffed at the commanding generals of the invading Chinese Sui forces in 612. Although Chinese poetry was composed by a small minority of the educated elite, in vogue among the masses were the
sin’ga,
literally meaning “divine songs,” closely related to shamanism. Among a few remaining sin’ga is the well-known
kujiga,
or turtle song, believed to have been sung by nine village headmen who climbed up the Kuji-bong (hill) to find nine “golden eggs” at Kimhae in
AD
42.

The sin’ga, thought to have been composed by shamans, evolved into the hyangga, or native songs, through the influence of Buddhist monks and hwarang warriors. The hyangga also took on the religious character of shamanism and often functioned as vehicles for entreating divine intervention in human affairs. The Silla monk Yungch’
ŏ
n, for instance, composed
Hyes
ŏ
ngga,
or Song of the Comet, which, when sung, is said to have successfully eliminated a comet, regarded as an ill omen, and also to have caused Japanese pirates to retreat.
It is one of 25 hyangga still extant. Singing these hyangga, the hwarang warriors might make a pilgrimage to sacred mountains and rivers throughout the kingdom.

Musical instruments also emerged in this period. Master Paekky
ŏ
l of Silla is believed to have composed the pestle-pounding refrain called
taeak,
which had the miraculous power of onomatopoetic sound. In the sixth century Ur
ŭ
k, from the Kaya area, created the 12-stringed zither called the
kayak
ŭ
m.
The 12 strings symbolized a year. He brought the instrument to Silla and taught many disciples the art of playing it. When the Silla king Chinh
ŭ
ng attacked the upper Han River region in the mid-sixth century, at Nang-s
ŏ
ng (present-day Ch’ungju, North Ch’ungch’
ŏ
ng province), he summoned Ur
ŭ
k to perform music for him. In Kogury
ŏ
, in the mid-sixth century, Wang San-ak created the
k
ŏ
mun’go
(
hy
ŏ
nhakg
ŭ
m
[black crane zither]) by modifying the seven-stringed zither that was popular in the Chinese state of Jin. He is said to have composed more than 100 melodies for his instrument. Later the k
ŏ
mun’go came to Silla, where it was played by distinguished performers such as Okpogo. Besides these string instruments, there were also scores of percussion and wind instruments introduced from Central Asia. A repertoire of 185 melodies may have existed for the kayag
ŭ
m and some 860 melodies for the
pip’a,
a Korean mandolin. Korean music, including instruments, instrument makers, and master performers, found its way into Japan, greatly contributing to the development of Japanese music.

The Three Kingdoms each created many works of architecture, as well as paintings, sculptures, and handicrafts of extraordinary beauty. Above all, each kingdom appears to have constructed magnificent palace buildings, but none of these still exists. Judging only from the excavated site of the Anhak-kung palace, constructed by the Kogury
ŏ
king Changsu, in Pyongyang, in 427, one guesses it was majestic in size, some 622 meters long between the eastern and western edges, and 620 meters long between the southern and northern edges. Now one can see only where huge Buddhist temples once stood, particularly Hwanyong-sa at Ky
ŏ
ngju and Mir
ŭ
k-sa at Iksan. As noted above, the famed nine-story wooden pagoda at the Hwangyong-sa temple was built at the suggestion of the Silla monk Chajang, under the supervision of the Paekche master craftsman Abiji, in the mid-seventh century. Regrettably the masterpiece was destroyed by fire during the thirteenth-century Mongol invasions. Near
Hwangyong-sa, however, the Punhwang-sa temple, constructed in 614, still stands along with a majestic stone-brick pagoda at the site. The Mir
ŭ
k-sa temple, built by the Paekche king Mu in the early seventh century, is said to have been the largest Buddhist temple in East Asia, but a refined stone pagoda at the site represents the only surviving evidence of that giant temple. Another stone pagoda also remains at the site of the Ch
ŏ
ngnim-sa temple at Puy
ŏ
.

The Ch’
ŏ
ms
ŏ
ngdae, or Star-Gazing Platform, represents the quintessence of Three Kingdoms architecture. In Silla astronomy comprised an important part of the study of science. Star charts were made by observing the night skies. To observe the stars, Silla built an observatory at its capital in 647. The observatory was built with 364 carved stones which, including the sky in the count, represented the number of days in a calendar year. This milk-bottle-shaped observatory, some nine meters in height, likely served Silla scientists well.
¹⁰

Tombs from the Three Kingdoms period remain abundant. Used as burial sites for kings, queens, and other members of the royal family, as well as for high-level aristocrats, the tombs themselves reflect Koreans’ ingenious engineering skills. At first, the people of Kogury
ŏ
built tombs by placing slabs of stone one atop the other. An outstanding example of these earlier tombs is the pyramid-shaped Changgun-ch’ong, or Tomb of the General, which is more than 12 meters in height to symbolize the unyielding power of the figure interred. Later the stone tombs were supplanted by huge earthen tombs, which were mounds of earth piled atop a burial chamber formed from stone slabs. A typical example of these later tombs is Ssangy
ŏ
ng-ch’ong, or Tomb of the Twin Pillars, which has octagonal twin columns at the entrance of the burial chamber.
¹¹

Influenced by the structures in Kogury
ŏ
, the people of Paekche also built pyramid-shaped tombs of stone. Later, however, under the influence of China’s Southern dynasties, they made brickwork tombs and stone-chambered earthen tombs. Silla tombs, on the other hand, were made of wood, sealed with clay, and covered with mounds of stone and earth.

The tombs of Kogury
ŏ
and Paekche, constructed with a horizontal entrance-way leading to the burial chamber beneath the earthen mound, were vulnerable to grave robbing, and so virtually no tomb artifacts have been found. But because Silla tombs had no entranceway beneath the stone mound, they were relatively impenetrable and so many dazzling burial objects have been unearthed.

The Korean custom at the time was to bury the deceased’s belongings in chambers within the tombs, as people believed in the immortality of the soul.
Unlike tombs in those of Kogury
ŏ
and Paekche, as noted above, Silla tombs have preserved hoards of precious burial goods. Chief among the treasures are accessories of pure gold—crowns, caps, belts, earrings, necklaces, finger rings, bracelets, and shoes. Numerous ornaments have been recovered, fashioned from silver, gilt bronze, crystal, glass, beads, and jade. The objects were designed not for actual wear but as burial goods. Gold crowns have also been excavated from a number of Silla royal tombs, including K
ŭ
mgwan-ch’ong, or Tomb of the Golden Crown; S
ŏ
bong-ch’ong, or Tomb of the Lucky Phoenix; K
ŭ
mny
ŏ
ng-ch’ong, or Tomb of the Golden Bell; and Ch’
ŏ
nma-ch’ong, or Tomb of the Heavenly Horse. Unearthed in 1973, Ch’
ŏ
nma-ch’ong reveals more than 10,000 artifacts that were buried with the deceased person, who is believed to have been a king. Among the more important objects are a beautiful gold crown and a painting of a heavenly horse, for which the tomb was named. The burial objects unearthed from Silla tombs attest to the exquisite sophistication of those ancient craftsmen.
¹²

The best paintings from the Three Kingdoms period are the murals of Kogury
ŏ
tombs. Up to the present, it is known that more than 80 Kogury
ŏ
and Paekche tombs contain mural paintings. The various themes painted on the four walls and ceilings of the burial chamber of earthen tombs offer unique insight into the way of life and thinking of the Kogury
ŏ
people. The paintings are colorful representations of mythical birds and animals, as well as human figures displaying marvelous vitality and animation. These Kogury
ŏ
tombs are customarily named after the theme of the mural paintings, such as Kakch
ŏ
ch’ong, or Tomb of the Wrestlers; Muyong-ch’ong, or Tomb of the Dancers; and Sury
ŏ
p-ch’ong, or Tomb of the Hunters. Perhaps the most famous of the Kogury
ŏ
murals is the painting of the four spirits—the azure dragon of the East, the white tiger of the West, the vermilion phoenix of the South, and the tortoise and snake of the North.
¹³
These four mythical animals were believed to guard the deceased from the four directions. An excellent painting of the four spirits is found in a great tomb known as the Kangs
ŏ
Taemyo, or Great Tomb of Kangs
ŏ
, at Uhy
ŏ
n-ni near Pyongyang.

Mural paintings are also found in Paekche tombs, perhaps the result of Kogury
ŏ
influence. The best known are those in the brickwork tomb at Songsan-ni, Kongju, and in the stone-chambered tomb at N
ŭ
ngsan-ni, Puy
ŏ
. Whereas Kogury
ŏ
murals are full of gumption and enterprise, the Paekche murals convey tranquility and refinement. No wall painting is found in Silla tombs, as they have no burial chamber.

Buddhism was the dominant artistic influence during the later years of the Three Kingdoms and the unified Silla and Kory
ŏ
kingdoms. Themes and motifs originating in India passed to Korea through Central Asia and China. Sculpture of the Three Kingdoms is almost entirely of images of Buddha and the Bodhisattvas. The images were not mere copies of Indian or northern Chinese models but have a distinctively Korean spirit representing an indifference to sophistication and artificiality, and a predisposition toward nature.

Each of the Three Kingdoms boasts of outstanding Buddha images, particularly those of the gilt-bronze, half-seated, meditating Maitreya Bodhisattva. The production of large numbers of statutes of Maitreya Bodhisattva suggests that at the time the Maitreya faith pervaded the three nations. In addition, Paekche produced stone Buddha images like the stone Buddha carved in the face of a cliff at S
ŏ
san, South Ch’ungch’
ŏ
ng province. The Paekche Buddha statues demonstrate the quintessence of the kingdom’s artistry—elegant facial contours and benign smiles. The smile of the S
ŏ
san stone Buddha is well known as the “smile of Paekche.”

A splendid gilt-bronze incense burner found at a temple site located at N
ŭ
ngsan-ni, Puy
ŏ
, in 1993, exhibits exquisite metal-arts workmanship in the Three Kingdoms period. This Paekche piece has a base, body, and lid, and 12 holes through which the smoke of burning incense wafted upward. It appears to have been used in rites of the royal house and reflects the thinking and values of the Paekche people who vehemently embraced Buddhism and Taoism.

Before Buddhism was introduced to the Three Kingdoms, Korean artistic creations were characterized by unsophisticated beauty. Later Buddhism greatly encouraged an aesthetic sense in Koreans, driving them to produce more refined artistic works in large quantities.

Many archeological findings in Japan as well as Japanese historical records suggest that Korean culture was imported to Japan from the prehistoric age and that, until the end of the eighth century, the Japanese ancient state and culture were greatly influenced by the Korean people. The Paekche people especially were greatly responsible for the development of the Japanese state and culture.

Archeological evidence reveals that a series of different cultures existed in early Japan. The first major culture was Jomon, named after the shape of its
cord-patterned pottery, which spread over the islands in about the third millennium
BC
. The Jomon people were essentially Stone Age cave dwellers who subsisted by hunting and gathering roots, nuts, and shellfish. Beginning about the third or second century
BC
, an entirely new culture began to develop in the northern part of Kyushu Island and the southern tip of Honshu Island, clearly under influences from the continent, and spread rapidly to the Kanto plain, replacing the old Jomon culture. This more developed Yayoi culture, named after a type of site in the city of Kyoto and characterized by rice cultivation, appears to have been imported to the Japanese islands by people who came across the sea from the Korean peninsula.

From the mid-third century ad, Japan entered the era of the “Tomb Culture” typified by large, round tombs modeled after the Korean tombs. Japan’s modern imperial line undoubtedly dates back to the “Tomb Culture” rulers. At that time Japan comprised many semi-autonomous units called
uji
(clan). In the Kyushu region, Yamato rulers, simply the chieftains of the Yamato
uji,
established their strength. Later they moved to the Nara region of Honshu Island. By the sixth century the Yamato state had been firmly established and was actively interacting with the southern part of the Korean peninsula. The Yamato government moved its capital from Nara to Heian (present-day Kyoto) in 794, and the “Heian-jo (dynasty) period” began. From this time on, the Japanese began to develop their own culture independently of Korean influences.