A Name Called Silla
Wind, campfire and river sounds change with every scene, and the music follows the story.
In the last episode, we met King Mu of Baekje. The Samguk Yusa tells how Seodong, a boy who dug yams, spread a song through Seorabeol, won Princess Seonhwa, daughter of King Jinpyeong of Silla, then became king and built Mireuksa Temple below Mount Yonghwa. But the King Mu of the Samguk Sagi was King Jinpyeong’s rival, fighting him for nearly thirty years, and the gold plate found in 2009 in the western pagoda of Mireuksa in Iksan named the queen who enshrined the sarira as “the daughter of Jwapyeong Sataek Jeokdeok.”
Characters
Takes the throne at sixty-four
Fourth-generation descendant of King Naemul
(imagined character)
(imagined character)
His name is not recorded
This story begins in 500, about a hundred years before the last episode,
in Baekje’s neighbor to the east.
That country did not yet have just one name.
Sara, Saro, Silla—
In the winter of 500, Soji Maripgan died without a son.
The throne passed to Jidaero, a great-grandson of King Naemul. He was sixty-four years old.
The Samguk Sagi records that the new ruler was enormous in build and bolder than other men.
Bori forced a smile, but that night no one could easily fall asleep.
Until then in Silla, when a king died, five men and five women were buried with him.
This custom of burying the living along with the dead is called “sunjang.”
In the second month of 502, the king issued an order.
They’ve done away with sunjang!
In the third month of 502, the king ordered the heads of the provinces and commanderies to encourage farming.
The Samguk Sagi records that this was the year oxen were first put to work plowing the fields.
In the tenth month of 503, the officials, all of one mind, petitioned the king.
Until then, Silla’s rulers had been called by native titles such as “maripgan.”
The king accepted the name his officials offered.
The country: “Silla.” Its ruler: “king.”
羣臣一意 謹上號新羅國王 王從之 — Samguk Sagi
In 504, rules for wearing mourning clothes were laid down and proclaimed throughout the land.
In the second month of 505, the king personally set out the provinces, commanderies and counties of the realm.
And on the East Sea coast he created Siljik Province,
appointing a “military governor” (gunju) for the first time.
That winter, the king for the first time had ice stored, and set rules for the use of ships.
In the first month of 509, an eastern market called “Dongsi” (East Market) was set up in the capital.
The year was 512.
Isabu, now holding the rank of Ichan, had become military governor of Haseulla Province (today’s Gangneung).
In the sea to its east lay an island kingdom
that still refused to submit to Silla.
Usan. The Samguk Sagi describes it as an island in the sea due east of Myeongju (today’s Gangneung), also called Ulleungdo.
Isabu had many lion figures carved out of wood.
They loaded the wooden lions onto several warships and set out onto the eastern sea.
The Samguk Yusa says it was a voyage of two days with a fair wind.
Through the mist, the lion-bearing ships drew near.
Isabu shouted this lie to the islanders.
In the sixth month of 512, the people of Usan, terrified, surrendered at once.
From then on, Usan offered the products of its land every year.
In 514, the king set up a lesser capital (sogyeong) at Asichon
and moved people from the Six Bu and the southern lands there to live.
That same year, King Jijeung died.
And so the king who put an end to sunjang passed away.
The court gave the late king the name “Jijeung” (智證).
It was the first time in Silla
that a king was given a posthumous name.
The name chosen that day, “Silla,”
lived on for more than 400 years.
The throne passed to his eldest son, Wonjong: King Beopheung.
