The following is the 20th in a series of contributions by history scholars on the Goguryeo Kingdom. - Ed.

Historical records about King Dongmyeong, known as the founder of the Goguryeo Kingdom, provide varying explanations as to his origins. Notably, accounts about his father vary, but all records agree that his mother was Habaeknyeo, the daughter of Habaek (later identified as the son of the god of water). Moreover, the records show nothing about memorial ceremonies held in his father’s honor but indicate that ceremonies were continually held in memory of the king’s mother.

Descended from heaven

King Dongmyeong’s original surname is known to be “Hae,” given that his father’s name was Haemosu and the legend that the king was conceived when his mother “received the sunlight.” His name was later changed to Go when he founded the kingdom of Goguryeo. The legend about his birth from sunlight explains the “descent from heaven” myth surrounding the king’s birth. The other explanation is that Haemosu was an offspring of the heavenly emperor. With his mother, Yuhwa, being the daughter of Habaek (the god of water), the king was thereby the grandson of the god of water.

There is another myth that Dongmyeong’s mother gave birth to the king in the form of an egg. As the legend goes, King Geumwa, a king of Buyeo, gave the order that the egg be taken away and abandoned after it was laid. Despite abandonment, the egg was not consumed by animals; instead, the animals, along with birds, cuddled and protected the egg. The animals that appeared in this legend - horses, cows, swine and dogs - exactly correspond to the titles of top-ranking government posts of the Buyeo Kingdom (held by aristocrats just below the king). These titles were “ma (horse)-ga,” “woo (cow)-ga,” “jeo (swine)-ga,” and “gu (dog)-ga.” The matching names were interpreted to mean that the Buyeo aristocrats did not harm Dongmyeong, the future king of Goguryeo. Under these circumstances, King Geumwa had no option but to return the egg to his mother, Yuhwa, who wrapped and kept it in a warm place for hatching. The egg soon hatched out a baby boy who had an exceptional appearance. People later called him Jumong because of his extraordinary archery skills.

As the grandson of both the heavenly emperor and god of water, the boy further amplified celestial qualities about him. Since his archery skills were known to be extraordinary, the myths about him may reflect a good mixture of mythological and real-life elements.

The “heaven-worship ceremonies” of Goguryeo Kingdom were called Dongmaeng or Dongmyeong, an indication that the kingdom used the name of its founder for the appellation of the ceremonies they held for worshipping heavenly gods. The name also indicates that the ceremonies for worshipping gods and for the kingdom’s founder took place concurrently. The king, an offspring of heaven (as he was the son of Haemosu, the descendant of heaven), was rightfully honored at the ceremonies held for worshipping heavenly gods.

These worship ceremonies were recognized as “public events,” part of the country’s formal occasions, going beyond cultural realms. Participants would embellish themselves with refined silk fabrics and silver or gold decorations and present opulent-looking ceremonies. The occasions were obviously of a ceremonial nature, demonstrating the authority of the ruling class.

Individuals would wear hats of varying sizes and shapes to demonstrate the extent of power and influence they (or their families) were exercising, an indication that there was a clear sense of class distinction within the ruling echelon of the kingdom. In this context, the king presided over worship ceremonies, demonstrating his regal authority as well as absolute power over the kingdom’s hierarchical structure. The ceremonies, in other words, also had an ideological aspect, controlled by the ruling class. The fact that trials and punishments were carried out as part of worship ceremonies is also an indication that the occasions had a function of enforcing and safeguarding the social norms of the kingdom.

Worship ceremonies

In Goguryeo, King Dongmyeong was so highly revered that he was venerated as a figure “equal to heaven.” There were two ancestral shrines. They were dedicated to the “founding goddess from Buyeo” and the son of the goddess, respectively, and guards were sent to protect these facilities. The founding goddess obviously refers to Habaeknyeo, the mother of King Dongmyeong, and the son of the goddess, the king himself. The king’s mother, in other words, must have been honored as the figure who founded the kingdom. Apparently, the king deified his mother, whom he had left in Buyeo, and had her respected as the kingdom’s founding goddess. But later generations probably observed ceremonies for the king as the founder of the kingdom, thus leaving the documentary trail indicating that there had been two founders.

King Geumwa, a king of Buyeo, built a shrine for the king’s mother when she died in the eastern part of Buyeo in 24 B.C. (the 14th year of the reign of King Dongmyeong), after holding a funeral that suited her status as a king’s mother. Much later, in A.D. 121, King Taejo (sixth king of Goguryeo) went on a tour of Buyeo and held a memorial ceremony at the shrine of this goddess during his trip. His personal appearance at the ceremony was an exceptional event because subordinates were usually dispatched to conduct ceremonies at the shrine at the time. As was the tradition, a small wooden woman (wife) statuette was carved and presented during the ceremony, a ritual that survives even to this day, as villagers would prepare wooden statues when they conduct their “village ceremonies.” In any case, there has never been a memorial ceremony personally presented by a king at the shrine of King Dongmyeong’s mother since King Taejo. Honoring the king as the kingdom’s founder at his shrine became the dominant practice in the subsequent years.

The shrine for the founding king was built in A.D. 20, the third year of the reign of King Daemushin (third king of Goguryeo). Although its exact location is unknown, numerous records indicate that it was built in Jolbon, an area in southern Manchuria. The shrine/mausoleum remained in Jolbon even though the kingdom had to relocate its capital to Guknaeseong and Hwandoseong. While the tomb/shrine stayed in Jolbon, the kingdom’s “ancestral shrine of royal families” was transferred to the new capital. Apparently, the decision was made at a time when the mausoleum of the king, where he was buried, could not be moved. But, the “shrine of royal families” (where the memorial tablets of the kings and their families were kept), was relocated to the new capital. Thereafter, seasonal ceremonies were performed at the family shrine of kings and their families, while special tributes were paid at the shrine of King Dongmyeong, the founder of the kingdom, on special occasions like a king’s coronation.

However, the documentation concerning worship ceremonies held at the King Dongmyeong shrine is not found for the period of some 200 years spanning the eras of King Gwanggaeto (A.D. 374-412), King Jangsu (394-491) and King Munja, who reigned 519-531. The absence of the documentation was probably due to the kingdom’s relocation of its capital to Pyongyang. The introduction and spread of Buddhism, which led to the presentations of important ceremonies at Buddhist temples, might well be another factor.

According to historical records, a statuette of King Dongmyeong’s mother bled for four days during the fifth year of the reign of King Bojang, the last king of Goguryeo. The strange episode was interpreted to imply an ominous message about the coming collapse of the kingdom. Following the eventual downfall of the kingdom, the last king, King Bojang, had to present worship ceremonies at the mausoleum of Emperor Taizong (who reigned 627-657) of Tang China and at the shrine of Chinese royal families in Jang An, present-day Xian, which was a telling message that the sovereignty of the Goguryeo Kingdom had finally come to an end.

Goguryeo’s collapse, in other words, meant that the kingdom had lost all its rights to worship its ancestry and was absorbed into the worship tradition of another country. The collapse of the state would deprive its people of even the right to conduct ancestral ceremonies. This is a telling history lesson for a nation about the political significance of royal and ancestral ceremonies.

The writer is a professor of history at Korea University. - Ed.

By Choi Kwang-shik

코리아헤럴드 2004/06/10