『삼국유사』 「고조선」조의 古記論

Abstract

For over 300 years, researchers have accumulated historical examinations of the Ancient Joseon period's Gogi(古記). During this time, various studies and criticisms have been put forth, but it has proven impossible to form a consensus regarding the work's characteristics or even the date of its composition due to the complexity of the surrounding issues. The Tangun mythology, encompassing the Gogi of the Ancient Joseon, seems to have been confirmed by examples provided by Gweon Geun(1352~1409), who wrote about Tangun's dynastic period, approaching the topic from the years of Tangun's reign. Scholars have thus used his examples, dating as the are from a relatively early period, to interpret this mythos. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries these examples took on a more dynamic aspect. Scholars criticized scrutinizing the mythology from the viewpoint of Neo-Confucianism as both absurd and mired in Buddhist doctrine. This was an entirely different approach from that Iryeon(1206~1289), a Buddhist monk who attempted to reframe the wonders about ghosts from a previous age into a more acceptable depiction, divinity, choosing to focus on the story's sacred and heroic aspects. The scholars, though, did not content themselves even with this criticism; their concerns went further, centering around the complete reorganization of the Tangun mythos going back to the beginnings of ancient history. During the Japanese colonial period, government-sponsored scholars distorted the results of Ancient Joseon's Gogi conducted during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to suit their own ends. Typical examples included scholars such as Shiradori Kurakichi, Imanishi Ryu, and others. Through their writings, Gogi of the Ancient Joseon article was reduced to a mere hermit tale based on Buddhist teachings written by monks. One scholarly viewpoint advocates the examination of the true nature of the Ancient Joseon article's Gogi using the Samhan-gogi and Haedong-gogi. Another calls for the study of the Gogi based on the title of the work itself, while yet another opinion involves evaluating the title's underlying Chinese character, which translates literally to "old record". Studies have been done on the relationship between its date of composition and Samguk-sa. Related to Uiju county boundary in Liao Dynasty, part of the records of Northern Buyeo article, one can also see a separate examination conducted during the latter half of the eleventh century to the first half of the twelfth century into the Gogi's connection to the formation of the Goryeo dynasty. Among the historical documents circulated during the Goryeo dynasty, scholars were able to extract specific documents concerning Tangun and compile them into the data group. These were composed of the Ancient Joseon Gogi, Tangungi, Tangun-bongi, and an ancient record of an unknown title appearing in Wangryeok, along with others. Among these, the Ancient Joseon article's Gogi was confirmed to have been the standout document for a time. A mutual relationship exists between the Ancient Joseon article's Gogi and Wiseo, but a new explanatory approach is needed to address all of the weaknesses inherent in the numerous hypotheses and inferences regarding the nature of this material.