통일신라 黃漆의 일본 전래와 金漆

Abstract

Hwangchil is a very valuable paint which has records from Baekje in ancient societies and was known as Sillachil in Zhejiang, China. It has a history of more than one thousand years and was one of the major exports in ancient societies, although it is not well-known in Korea, not to mention awareness of its existence. Meanwhile, a pigment which was named as Geumchil and similar to Hwangchil of Silla was used in Japan. In this paper the exchange relationship between Hwangchil of Unified Silla and Geumchil of Japan is investigated after reviewing the literature on Hwangchil. In Japan, not much attention has been paid to the origin of Geumchil. Geumchil is variously called as Kosiabura, Takanotsume and Kakuremino, but review of literature on the names shows that Kakuremino is clearly defined as Hwangchil. Even though Kosiabura trees relevant to Gumchil are currently distributed across Japan, Kakuremino trees, which are evergreens growing well in the warm area of the western part of Kanto region, are presumed to originate from Hwangchil trees in Silla. It is thought that Kakuremino trees were introduced into Japan from Silla in the middle 8th century or were related to Jang Bogo, who conducted maritime trade in East Asia by establishing Cheonghaejin with people of Silla organizing resident community in Japan. The investigation of Hwangchil in ancient societies shows that Hwangchil of Silla was also used in Japan and the orgin of Japanese Geumchil is Hwangchil.