Historical Significance of the Koryŏ Dynasty (918-1392 CE)

1. Historical Significance of the Koryŏ Dynasty (918-1392 CE) • The Western name “Korea” is derived from the Koryŏdynasty. • Silla “unification” vs. Koryŏ unification • Is Koryŏ Korea’s ‘medieval period’? • Koryŏ as an important player in East Asian interstate relations • Koryŏ's Cultural Accomplishments • Buddhist Culture and Confucian Learning • TripitakaKoreana

2. The “Medieval Period” and Feudalism • The medieval period is associated with the feudalism in European history. • What is Feudalism? • Hierarchical system based on landholding • Common governmental system in medieval Europe • It involved kings and a series of princes, lordships, dukes, barons, marquises, counts. • Vassals held land from lords in return for services. • At lowest level serfs provided labour in return for land. • At top level stronger kings carved out kingdoms for themselves.

3. Feudalism and Development • Feudalism developed in Europe and Japan • It is considered as a prerequisite for development/modernization • Korea and China had centralized, not feudal states. Why? • Outside invasion requires a centralized government • Europe and Japan developed feudalism because they were located on the periphery and not subject to frequent outside invasions. • “No feudalism means no development”?

4. THE MILITARY COUP OF 1170 • Cause • Unrest in the aristocratic society and Internal power struggle • Discrimination of Military officials and Rise of Military Officials • Turning point in Koryô history • Fundamental socio-political changes • “Could it have led to the Japanese-style feudalism if Mongols did not invade?” • Why should we ask did question? • Fundamental socio-political changes • Significance of the Military Coup and Ch’oe Family Rule • Accelerate the transition from the Aristocratic to Bureaucratic society • Proliferation of Private Armies and landholdings • Decline of Royal Power and Prestige

5. Buddhism in Koryo • Buddhism as the “state religion” • Function of the “protecting the state” • Sponsoring the Buddhist rituals • National and Royal Preceptor • Royal princes and sons of aristocrats enter the monastery • Belief in reincarnation • Less concern for continuation of family line • Monasteries as the center of community • Large landowner • Funeral rites and cremation • Meeting place for young people • Buddhism and Geomancy • Food and festivals • TripitakaKoreana (1236-1251)

6. Women during the Koryo Period • Matrilocal Marriage • Golden age for Korean Women? • Women relatively well off • Women own and inherit property • Women may get custody in case of divorce • Widows can remarry • Some women even took on multiple husbands • Men taking on multiple wives was never uncommon in Korea until modern times.

7. Cultural Accomplishments • Pottery • Exquisitely inlaid Koryô celadon was highly prized throughout East Asia and beyond • Printing and publication • Tripitaka Koreana

8. Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, color on silk (14th century) Celadon Incense Burner

9. The Mongol Invasion of Korea • Mongols demand tributes • Six Major invasions (1231-1257) • ‘Heroic’ or patriotic resistances • Moving of the capital to Kanghwa Island • Koryŏsurrenders to the Mongols (1258) • Resistence by the Sambyôlch’o • Chindo 1271, Cheju 1273 • Koryŏ was incorporated into Khubilai Khan’s Mongol World empire (1279)

10. Period of Mongol Interference • PaxMongolica • Domination or Interference? • Weak royal power • Koryŏ Kings intermarried with the Mongol imperial family and Koryŏ kings came to rely on the Mongol court to maintain political position • Movement of people • Foreigners in Korea and Koryŏ nationals in Yuan China • Mongol cultural influence • Language • Customs • Expeditions against Japan • Mongols and Koreans invade Japan in 1274 & 1281 • Failed because of typhoons (“Kamikaze”)

11. Legacy of the Mongol Period • Turning point in Northeast Asian interstate relations • Great destruction of cultural and literary works • New awareness of cultural identity • Tan’gun myth • TripitakaKoreana • Part of the world network (Silk Roads) • New people, ideas, technologies, arts, and commodities

12. CULTURE OF THE LATE KORYO • Historiography • Samguk sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms) [1145] • State sponsored compilation of the past • Samguk yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms) [1279] • Buddhist legends and ‘strange’ tales • Compliments Samguk sagi • Literature • Printing • Tripitaka Koreana • Movable metal type

13. Tripitaka Koreana • Korean National Treasure • UNESCO World Heritage • World’s oldest surviving collection of carved woodblocks • 81,340 woodblocks • Carved on both sides • Housed at the special repository building in the Haein-sa Monastery

14. Publishing during the Koryô Period • Types of publishing • Transcription, Xylography, and Movable metal type. • Woodblock printing require highly skilled technicians and funding. • Buddhist temples were equipped with both manpower and money • World’s first movable metal typeset was invented in Korea in 1234 • Jikji (白雲和尙抄錄佛祖直指心體要節) • The world’s oldest extant book (1377) printed with movable metal type • At least 78 years older than the first Gutenberg Bible.

15. Jikji白雲和尙抄錄佛祖直指心體要節(The Monk Baegun’s Selected Teachings of the Buddhist Sages and Son Masters) –UNESCO includes it in the Memory of the World program in September 2001.

16. Johannes Gensfleischzur Laden zum Gutenberg (c. 1398 – c. February 3, 1468) • The “invention” of the technology of printing with movable types in 1447 in Europe. • Printing with movable metal type was enormously consequential by making texts available to a greater percentage of the population and helped to spark the European Renaissance • It is quite probable that the European printing revolution was influenced or inspired by the printing technology of Asia

17. Printing Technology and Social Development in Korea • Print technology fueled or accelerated social developments, but at the same time it was as a response to them. • Korea’s technological advances, including the first metal movable type, neither fundamentally changed the modes of communication nor induced visible historical changes in the Korean social structure. • Government control (censorship) and standardization • Limitations of the Chinese characters