고려 건국기의 三韓一統意識과 ‘海東天下’ 인식

Abstract

Examined in this article is the historical meaning of the very notion of “the Three Han units are one(三韓一統意識),” and the concept of “Another universe on the East side of the Sea(海東天下),” which both prevailed during the Goryeo period. The existence of these notion and concept are traced through stone epitaphs and other similar sources of historical information, produced at the end of the Unified Shilla period and in early years of Goryeo. These notion and concept were all formed during the ending days of Shilla, but were established as formal ideological beliefs for the state by the people of Goryeo. Shilla only considered itself as Jinhan(辰韓), one of the Three Hans, but Goryeo identified itself as the Three Hans as a whole. Shilla considered the establishment of another universe engulfing all regions in the Eastern side of the Sea(海東諸國) as the way to bind all Three Hans together, so memories and legacies cultivated by entities that had ever existed upon the East side of the Sea were conceptually absorbed into the Shilla culture and Shilla mind. So did even the memories and legacy of the Four Gun(四郡) units, as Shilla connected itself with the Hyeonto-gun(玄菟, 兎郡) unit, which had usually been associated with Goguryeo in the past. Goryeo too inherited Shilla’s such perception of the ‘East side of the Sea(海東),’ and established a universe of its own. The Goryeo-version of this “Universe on the East side of the Sea(海東天下)” was of course conceived as part of the Sino-centric world order(中華天下), but at the same time it was considered to have retained its own unique identity that differentiated itself from the Chinese universe. The Goryeo king considered itself as an Emperor(天子) in its own right, and the Goryeo people even defined China as a ‘Universe on the West[海 西],’ compared to themselves on the East.