Excavated at Yangju Daemosanseong Fortress ‘Taebongguk built by Gungye... the largest number of characters among the wooden tablets discovered on the Korean Peninsula’

 

Korea’s first case of excavation of Taebong text materials... Confirmation of existence of newly confirmed Taebong character ‘Mudeung’

 

[Break News Yangju = Reporter Kim Wan-young] Yangju-si, Gyeonggi-do (Mayor Kang Soo-hyun) and the Institute for Cultural Heritage of Symbols (President Ko Jae-yong) held a reading meeting on the 'Taebongguk Wooden Tablet' excavated during the 13th academic excavation at Yangju Daemosanseong Fortress (Historic Site No. 526). It was announced on the 28th that it was held from the 20th to the 21st.

 

At the meeting on this day, the reading of the phrase ‘April 9th, 3rd year of King Jeonggae’ (政開三年丙子四月九日) written on one side of the wooden tablet was confirmed.

 

‘Jeonggae’ (914-918) mentioned in the wooden tablet is the last era of Gungye (? ~ 918) of Taebongguk, and the 3rd year of Jeonggae refers to the year 916. The excavation of this wooden tablet related to Taebongguk, the country founded by Gung Ye, is considered the first case in Korea.

 

In addition, the reading meeting highly evaluated the importance of 916 as “the only wooden tablet that shows the absolute date combined with the era name and zodiac sign,” as it coincided with the record on the wooden tablet as the year of Byeongja.

 

Meanwhile, at this reading meeting, the 'Taebongguk wooden tablet' excavated from Daemosanseong Fortress consisted of a total of 8 pages, and except for one side with a picture and one blank side, 8 lines of writing were written in ink on the remaining pages.

 

It was also noted that the total number of characters was 123, making it the largest number of characters, the largest number of lines, and the largest number of characters among the wooden tablets discovered on the Korean Peninsula.

 

In particular, the value of these excavated relics is comparable to the ‘discovery of the new Samguk Sagi’ in that they reveal the appearance of ‘Taebongguk’, which can only be confirmed fragmentarily in the Samguk Sagi and Samguk Yusa, and are expected to bring a new wind to the study of Korean ancient history.

At this reading meeting, 102 out of a total of 123 characters were read. As a result of the reading, the main content is about offering ancestral rites to Daeryong (大龍) at a large pond (大井) within Yangju Daemosanseong Fortress, and among these contents, the existence of a new Taebong person was confirmed.

 

On the 4th page of the wooden tablet, a 26-year-old person named ‘Mudeung (茂登)’ appears in the text ‘Shinhae Seip Yuk Mudeung’ (辛亥歲卄六茂登). The year of Sinhae is 891, the 3rd year of Jeonggae (916). He was calculated to be 26 years old at the time, which is consistent with the time of production of the wooden tablet, and is the personal name of a new Taebong person who has not been reported in academic circles.

 

Meanwhile, this wooden tablet was excavated from a water collection facility newly identified during the 13th excavation of Daemosanseong Fortress in Yangju. The excavation of the Taebongguk wooden tablet proves the fact that Yangju Daemosanseong Fortress was an important location on the ancient transportation route from the Three Kingdoms period to the Later Three Kingdoms period, and is an important example showing that political forces existed in the Yangju Daemosanseong area even during the Later Three Kingdoms period. is being evaluated.

 

The city highly evaluated the historical value and potential of Yangju Daemosanseong Fortress and has been conducting an excavation since 2018. As a result, the ‘Taebongguk wooden tablet’ was found during this excavation.

 

Yangju Mayor Kang Soo-hyun said, “We plan to hold an open meeting at the excavation site on December 6th to reveal the results of this excavation and the contents of the Taebong-guk wooden tablet. We will conduct in-depth research in the future to resolve issues that were not revealed at the excavation meeting. “We will sequentially reveal the appearance of Taebong-guk as seen in the world of ,” he said.

 

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