Chapter 1

Indigenous Descent Groups in Silla and Koryŏ

t is the task of this chapter to define the structure and organization of the indigenous Idescent group as it emerged in the early Silla and to relate the gradual stratification of Sillan society to the process of state formation. Although the documentary basis is thin, it is clear that in the early Silla a direct relationship between and power existed, so that the exercise of the latter came “naturally” to be contingent on the configuration of social relationships. Indeed, the hierarchization of Silla’s society seems to be a prime example for how social units formed by descent and proximity to the regulated access to the positions bestowing power and authority.1 The social paradigm that matured during the Silla period largely survived in Koryŏ and, despite certain incisive institu- tional innovations, continued to shape its sociopolitical field.

The Indigenous Descent Group of Silla

According to the documentary and archaeological record,2 early Silla (ca. fourth cen- tury) emerged as a state-like polity from a confederation of a number of territorially well-defined segmentary descent group clusters located in the Kyŏngju plain.3 Before the rulership was consolidated in one descent group, it was apparently shared by a multi­ lineal “dynastic group” constituted by three descent groups, the Pak, the Sŏk, and the Kim—all three likely to have originated from in-migrating -in-law from outside. Although later historiography strung their rule out in a line of succession, succession to the rulership was not automatic, as the criteria for selection were often unclear, and moved back and forth among these three kin groups, who closely intermarried. How the Kim managed to “break out” of this tripartite dynastic group and seize power in the course of the second half of the fourth century is not entirely clear, but it is likely that they were able to bolster their hold on solitary rule with their tighter kin organization as Descent Groups in Silla and Koryŏ 19

well as their superior landed wealth and control of larger populations. With these resources as the underpinnings of his supremacy and with the support of the Pak, who provided to the royal house, Naemul (r. 356–402) consolidated the “House of Kim” and succeeded in strengthening his rule and enlarging the confederated territory through conquest of neighboring polities. Further factors, suggested by Hyung Il Pai, may have been regional peer competition and the stimuli that the early Silla received from trade and diplomatic contacts with the northern Chinese colony of Lolang (108 BCE– 313 CE).4 It was Naemul’s descendant, King Pŏphŭng (r. 514–40), who decisively trans- formed Silla into an independent kingdom. He reinforced the Kim’s arrogation of the “royal line” by introducing the royal shrine system from Tang , thereby establish- ing their ancestry as the dynastic ancestry, and shortly thereafter replaced the native form of royal address with the more prestigious Chinese title “king” (wang). His final triumph was the welcoming of Buddhism as a religious prop of royal authority.5 It was, moreover, through the construction of stone-mounded tombs in the Kyŏngju plain, in which the deceased rulers were adorned with gold and silver crowns, girdles, and orna- ments, that the early Silla rulers of the fourth and fifth centuries marked their superiority over Kyŏngju society.6 The elevation of one descent group of the original dynastic group above the other two likely did not come without competition and possible strife. As the evidence suggests, the Kim ruler had to defend his claims not only against contenders from within the dynastic group, but also against challengers arising from among those excluded from that group, who demanded for themselves by birth and descent the social and political privileges of elite status. It is quite possible that the kolp’um system (bone rank system, or kolp’umje), which seems to have received definite shape in King Pŏphŭng’s reign, was conceived as an instrument to integrate potential rivals into a hierarchical system that linked status “received”7 by virtue of descent to political participation. Clearly, such classification of Kyŏngju society was a parallel development in the process of state formation. The kolp’um system stratified Silla society according to ascriptive criteria of status into graded status groups (kol). The royal group (which included consort givers) posi- tioned itself at the top of this social hierarchy as “hallowed bone” (sŏnggol). Next fol- lowed the “true bone” aristocrats (chin’gol), that is, branch members of the royal descent groups who could no longer aspire to the throne. Minor aristocrats of “head rank six” (yuktup’um) came next who, not belonging to the royal group, were excluded from inter- marrying with royals but likely formed their own endogamous group. Some lesser groups given fifth and fourth head ranks, usually regarded as “commoners,” ranged next, with the slaves forming the bottom of the societal hierarchy. The rationale of this ranking system seems to have been the graded assignment of political office in a nascent bureau- cracy. Only the chin’gol aristocrats had access to all seventeen office ranks, whereas the minor aristocrats were barred from holding office in the five top ranks. Each kol was subject to sumptuary laws prescribing dress codes and house construction. A further important corollary to the centralizing force of the kolp’um system was that residence in the royal capital of Kŭmsŏng (Kyŏngju) constituted an essential part of an aristocrat’s identification.8 Even though scholarly opinion diverges as to the extent of an early Silla king’s power,