廣開土太王陵碑文 辛卯年條에 대한 新解釋

Abstract

Since its discovery, ‘Sinmyonyeonjo’ in the epitaph of the Great King Kwanggaeto has beenhighlighted more than any other aspects of the relevant research. The records of the‘Sinmyonyeonjo’ has been inscribed on the first side of the epitaph from 34th letter of the 8th lineto 24th letter of the 9th line. (百殘新羅舊是屬民由來朝貢而倭以辛卯年來渡□破百殘□□新羅以爲臣民). Among 1775 inscribed letters of the epitaph, it is only 32 letters. However, the interpretation ofthese 32 letters could change the whole historical background of then East-northern nations uponthe epitaph. The epitaph of the Great King Kwanggaeto had been erected in 414 by the King Jangsu whowas a son of Kwanggaeto in order to commemorate father’s achievement. This epitaphre-appealed in the late 19th century but the original form of the epitaph has been decayed as ofseveral processes of removing moss and rubbing the inscription. Particularly the amounts of limehad been covered the face of the epitaph in order to rub the inscription correctly, and this madethe condition of the epitaph worse than it was found before. Therefore, the rubbings which weretook before the lime coverage can be the most intact evidence of the original records of theepitaph. The most crucial letter is the one which was 13th letter of the 9th line. It was initially named‘海’ but it has been identified that the letter is actually written as ‘沺’, which is a successful resultof this research. This research work continuously compared this letter with the one from therubbing evidence that had been produced before the lime cover. The meaning of ‘沺’ is a ‘broadriver’ and given this in mind, the new interpretation about ‘Sinmyonyeonjo’ is as such: Baekje andSilla had been subordinate nations of Goguryeo for a long time. A tribute from them is a clearevidence of their dependency. However Wae(current Japan) invaded our subordinate nations inthe Year of Sinmyo(Sinmyonyeon), and this resulted the Great King Kwanggaeto cross the broad river(沺) and defeat Baekje and subjectify Silla.