고조선 건국신화의 계승과 고조선 인식

Abstract

In contrast to documents dealing with Ancient Joseon as a developednation, fragmentary though the record may be, Ancient Joseon’sdestruction seems to have been left out of all written records. Yet, themyth surrounding Ancient Joseon’s founding has been fused with thatsurrounding the rise of subsequent nations and, thus, pieces of itscontent were able to be transmitted down through the ages. Thesurviving mythology seems to be centered in the Buyeo period,particularly in the northern and eastern regions of the nation. Also, inthe Gakjeochong tomb(which displays a portion of a Goguryeo tombmural portraying a wrestling match) one can see the images of a bearand a tiger as well as images of the Dongmaeng royal festival, includingsimilar scenes on the first of the Jangcheon tomb murals which alsoshow the images of a bear and forest deities. From this we can gatherthat the myth was also passed down to Goguryeo. Still, during thisprocess, the central historical fact and meaning within the legends ofAncient Joseon’s founding was corroded and gradually lost with theinfluence of Goguryeo’s own myth, the original elements changing andbeing dropped as it was passed down from generation to generatoin. Goryeo inherited the historical succession of Goguryeo, andGoguryeo’s cultural traditions were spread throughout its ancientterritories. Ancient Joseon’s cultural traditions, therefore, were fused with those of Goguryeo. Ancient Joseon could not be clearly perceivedwithin the historical framework of Goryeo’s early and middle periods. Itcould only be recalled in fragments of literary content and in locationscentered in Goguryeo. Tangun was enshrined as a regional deity inPyeongyang and on Guwolsan mountain. The historicity of AncientJoseon might seem to have been almost entirely eradicated, but thesacred pedigree and connection to heaven of its builders werestrengthened through the function of the divinations appropriated forthis purpose. Combining the faith surrounding the founding of AncientJoseon with the science of divination was a necessary factor of thefounding’s transmission to future generations, but this meant that itsintegrity could not be preserved and that the legends could onlycontinue to be further separated from historical fact. Subsequent to the recording of Gojoseon -guk(故朝鮮國) inHouhanshu , ‘Gojoseon(故朝鮮, 古朝鮮)’ makes intermittent appearancesin Chinese and Goryeo documents. Before this, Goryeo carried out aforeign policy within the framework of a contrast in the display of theimages of Gija and Wiman. As time passed, Wiman’s image was omittedand Gija’s was expanded, a policy that continued throughout the Goryeoperiod. Rather than emphasizing Goryeo’s sense of independence,however, this policy should be considered as belonging within thecontext of its status in Yuan China’s system of rule by son -in -law(“Buma nation” rule). The earlier period of hegemony had beenpassed down, and on the earlier basis of divination the transformationtheory “Samhan will transform into Jindan(三韓變爲震旦)” awakenedinterest in the history prior to the Samhan period and made possible thecompilation of Samguk yusa and of Jewang ungi . Here, also, an“admonition not to change established Goryeo tradition(不改土風)” by Kublai Khan and Yuan China had a definite effect. On this point,especially, Ilyeon(一然) and Yi Seung-hyu(李承休), who wrote Samgukyusa and Jewang ungi , respectively, knew the strengths andweaknesses inherent in divination. It should be noted that as theyguarded against the latter while maintaining the relationship betweenthe legends of national founding and the divination stories, they tried todiscover the true history behind the myth of the rise of Ancient Joseonthat had been passed down by separating it from the divinationnarrative. The Asadalsan mountain deity, the latest of the traditional methodsto understand Tangun, has undergone a recent transformation even asit has changed the historical consciousness toward Ancient Joseon. Itwas formed against the background of the transmission of the legend ofTangun’s grave in the vicinity of Pyeongyang, which was said to be thecapital of Ancient Joseon. The appearance of the legend was a result ofthe expanded historical consciousness of Ancient Joseon within thenation, which had thus recently started to consider Ancient Joseon to bethe starting point of Goryeo’s history. Between the loss of the sense of Ancient Joseon’s history and thevicissitudes in its relations with China, the nation’s consciousness of itssacred territories withered. Samguk yusa and Jewang ungi limit theirdescriptions of the sacred locations to the northwestern region and areunable to provide a positive understanding of these territories. Even so,from these works one can confirm the existence of a historicalconsciousness remembering and connecting Ancient Joseon, Buyeo, andGoguryeo with the Liaochen(遼瀋) region from fragments of Yi Seunghyu’swritings. Still, Kublai Khan’s admonition extended only to thetraditional and cultural sphere within the context of Goryeo’s relationship with the Yuan dynasty. As far as that relationship betweenGoryeo and the Yuan dynasty went, after King Gongmin’s anti-Yuanpolicies took effect in the Posuofu(婆娑府) region, which formed theborder between the “Hua(華)” and the “Yi(夷)”, Goryeo’s former ancientborders were immediately re-recognized as its present rightful bordersbased on the region of Liaochen being recognized since the time ofAncient Joseon as having to be defended by every generation.