大唐平百濟國碑銘에 대한 고찰

Abstract

On the surface of the first level of the Five-Storied Stone Pagoda at the Jeongnimsa site in Buyeo, Korea, is an inscription titled Daedang Pyeong Baekjeguk Bimyeong(大唐平百濟國碑銘-“Inscription on Baekje’s Conquer by the Great Tang”). The same inscription is carved also on a seokjo(石槽), a manger-shaped large stone container, originally located in a royal palace of the Baekje(18 B.C.E.∼660 C.E.), one of the Korean Three Kingdoms. The inscription consists of 2,126 traditional Chinese characters. He Suiliang(賀遂亮) was commissioned to compose it by Su Dingfeng(蘇定方) on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar in 660 C.E., just after the fall of the Baekje. It was calligraphed by Chuan Huaisu(權懷素). In previous scholarship this calligraphy was highly evaluated because it was thought to be directly written on the surface of the pagoda stone. However, this was proved not to be true. The calligraphy is quite neat, with characters of nearly equal size in the inscription’s first half; yet in the second half, character size is unequal and irregular. The contents of the inscription are as follows: a rationale for the Tang invasion; composition of its military; praise for its generals; and dealing with Baekje territory and with war prisoners, including the Baekje King Uija. Justification of the expedition is emphasized with quotation from a Chinese legend. He Suiliang is not explicit about his talent for writing, but he alludes to it. The end of the inscription indicates why he composed it; a list of the Tang generals is appended. Jeongnimsa was centered in the walled city of Sabi, the last capital of Baekje, and was the most important monastery to represent Baekje Buddhism. Su Dingfeng’s inscription of his meritorious war services on the stupa at this symbolic site was a barbaric act that trampled the religion and faith of the Baekje people. And behind the inscription on the royal palace seokjo(石槽) was the intention to make it clear to the Baekje people that Baekje was ruined. The value of the inscription is limited in that it was made to praise the Tang army’s distinguished war services and to rationalize their conquest by emphasizing King Uija’s misogovernance and Baekje’s alliance with Goguryeo, the Tang enemy. Alternatively, however, the inscription can be evaluated as the oldest record to provide the historic fact that Baekje’s crown prince was Buyeo Yung when the kingdom fell, that its population was 740,000 families and 6,200,000 people, and that its local administrative district was under 5 bang(方) 37 gun(郡) and 250 seong(城).