earticle

영어

Beginning with the Koryŏ Dynasty’s independent stance from China in King Taejo’s entreaty in the “Ten Rules” that “the culture and etiquette of our country need not be the same,” King Kwangjong established a new reign era and made Kaesŏng the imperial capital. King Sŏngjong held rites for a good harvest to heaven while establishing the funeral ora-tion as the emperor’s own writing. As per custom of establishing oneself as emperor, writ-ings addressed to the king from his subjects were designated as memorials, and expressions in songs performed at banquets and rites reflected this change. In the first line of “The Wind Entering the Pines,” the expression “The Son of Heaven of the Land of the East” shows its status as imperial literature. The Koryŏ Dynasty was able to establish an emperor and reign era as China was not unified during this period, but its systems and terminology were changed to that of a tribu-tary state in 1264 as a “son-in-law” nation of the Yuan. No longer able to write an imperial literature, Ch’oe Hae compiled the fifteen volumes of The Four-Six Writings of Easterners in 1338. Despite Koryŏ’s political fall to the Yuan, Ch’oe’s intent to establish these writings as part of an imperial literature can be seen in that many of them were addressed to Koryŏ emperor, who performed rites as the son of Heaven, from his subjects. As Kaesŏng contained many temples as the capital of a Buddhist state, while the build-ing of Buddhist temples was banned in Hanyang, the capital of a Confucian state. In con-trast to the gates of Hanyang named after the Confucian virtues of humanity, righteous-ness, propriety, and wisdom, the gates of the imperial capital Kaesŏng were named after the geomantic figures of the Scarlet Phoenix and Black Tortoise. While Kaesŏng’s wards had titles such as Purple Cloud Ward and Buddha Ward, these differed from Hanyang’s wards named after Confucian virtues such as Bright Etiquette Ward. Writings from the Festival of the Eight Vows also depict a different festival atmosphere from that of Hanyang. Han-yang’s scholars wrote poems while traveling or residing in Buddhist temples, but Kaesŏng’s scholars met and wrote poems regularly in Buddhist temples. As their private homes had no gardens, gardens in temples became spaces for meetings and literature. In “The Wind Entering the Pines,” the words “Buddha and Heaven help” are changed to “God and Heav-en help” in the Akchanggasa in the transition from a Buddhist to a Confucian state. As Kaesŏng was a free city untouched by the teachings of Confucius, its frequent deal-ings with foreigners is reflected in its freewheeling literature. The “Song of Yesŏng River” laments the pain of a wife stolen by a foreigner, while the “Turkish Bakery,” depicts a Koryŏ woman earnestly desiring a foreigner, examples which clearly show the difference in the literary climate of Hanyang and Kaesŏng. The song and dance performances by cross-dressing ladies in the Koryŏ court was also a sight not seen in Hanyang. The differences between Kaesŏng, the capital of a self-designated imperial and Buddhist Koryŏ state, and Hanyang, the capital of the loyal tributary Confucian “serving the great” Chosŏn are reflected as such in literature.