The ''Gyuwon Sahwa'' (규원사화) is a forged text from the early twentieth century, claiming to be a history written in 1675 that describes ancient
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
n history.
Authenticity
The existence of the book is first recorded in 1925.
In 2017, South Korean historian Cho In-sung writes:
"The debate over authenticity f the ''Gyuwon Sahwa''may be said to be already over... The ''Gyuwon Sahwa'' is a hoax made after 1914."
Evidence for the ''Gyuwon Sahwas lack of authenticity includes:
* The work includes a dating error found in a text published in 1823, in which a quotation from the ''
Goryeosa
The ''Goryeosa'' (), or ''History of Goryeo'', is the main surviving historical record of Korea's Goryeo dynasty. It was composed nearly a century after the fall of Goryeo, during the reign of King Sejong, undergoing repeated revisions between ...
'' about an event that occurred in the tenth regnal year of
Seongjong of Goryeo is misattributed to the tenth regnal year of
Gwangjong of Goryeo
Gwangjong of Goryeo (925 – 4 July 975), personal name Wang So, was the fourth king of Goryeo.
Biography Birth and early life
Gwangjong was born in 925 as Wang So, fourth son of King Taejo, who had founded Goryeo in 918. His mother was Queen S ...
. This suggests that the ''Gyuwon Sahwa'' copied from the 1823 text.
* The work uses the word
文化 ''munhwa'' in the sense of the Western term "culture," which is a ''
wasei-kango
are those words in the Japanese language composed of Chinese morphemes but invented in Japan rather than borrowed from China. Such terms are generally written using kanji and read according to the ''on'yomi'' pronunciations of the characters. Whi ...
'' invented in nineteenth-century Japan and not found in Korea before the twentieth century.
* The seventh-century reign of
Queen Seondeok
Queen Seondeok of Silla ( ko, 선덕여왕 ; 595~610 – 17 February 647/January 8, Lunar Calendar) reigned as Queen Regnant of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, from 632 to 647. She was Silla's twenty-seventh ruler, and its first re ...
is said to have been "a thousand and several hundred years ago."
* Neither the work nor any of its content is found in anthologies of
Dangun
Dangun (; ) or Dangun Wanggeom (; ) was the legendary founder and god-king of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom, around present-day Liaoning province in Northeast China and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. He is said to be the "gran ...
-related information published by
Daejongists in 1913 and 1921.
* The aforementioned 1914 Daejongist anthology included a text written by the Japanese army in 1889, but mistranslated a line. The identical mistranslated line is found in the ''Gyuwon Sahwa'', suggesting that the latter's authors copied from the 1914 translation of an 1889 Japanese source.
* The work contains content and rhetoric very similar to those found in articles published in 1924 and 1925 by the nationalist historian
Sin Chae-ho.
The work was probably compiled by a
new religious movement
A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...
that involved the worship of Dangun.
On the ''Gyuwon Sahwa'', historian Don Baker also notes that "there are indications that the author of this purported seventeenth-century manuscript was aware of the creation story found in the Genesis chapter of the Bible and was also familiar with the Christian beliefs in the trinitarian nature of God and in the immortality of the human soul."
Contents
The book consists of five parts: Prologue (揆園史話序), Jopan-gi (肇判記), Taesigi (太始記), Dangun-gi (檀君記), and Epilogue (漫說).
* The Prologue and Epilogue consist of the author's comments. The author states that the contents are based on Yi Myeong's ''
Jinyeok Yugi'' (진역유기, 震域遺記), a late
Goryeo
Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...
dynasty text which in turn is based on ''
Jodaegi'', a
Balhae
Balhae ( ko, 발해, zh, c=渤海, p=Bóhǎi, russian: Бохай, translit=Bokhay, ), also rendered as Bohai, was a multi-ethnic kingdom whose land extends to what is today Northeast China, the Korean Peninsula and the Russian Far East. It wa ...
history text. Neither survives today, but ''Jodaegi'' is mentioned in
Annals of Joseon Dynasty
The ''Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty'' (also known as the ''Annals of the Joseon Dynasty'' or the ''True Record of the Joseon Dynasty''; ko, 조선왕조실록 and ) are the annual records of Joseon, the last royal house to rule K ...
of King Sejo era.
* ''Jopan-gi'' describes
Hwan-in,
Hwanung
Hwanung (Korean for the "Supreme Divine Regent") is an important figure in the mythological origins of Korea. He plays a central role in the story of Dangun Wanggeom (단군왕검/), the legendary founder of Gojoseon, the first kingdom of Korea. ...
and the division of heaven and earth and the origins of life and humans;
* ''Taesigi'' describes the rule of shinshi (神市氏) and other legendary god-like sages who ruled over humanity for 11,000 years. In addition, semi-legendary ruler
Chiwoo is described to have defeated Chinese
Yellow Emperor
The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch or by his Chinese name Huangdi (), is a deity ('' shen'') in Chinese religion, one of the legendary Chinese sovereigns and culture heroes included among the mytho-historical Three Soverei ...
.
* ''Dangun-gi'' describes the
Dangun Joseon
Gojoseon () also called Joseon (), was the first kingdom on the Korean Peninsula. According to Korean mythology, the kingdom was established by the legendary founder named Dangun. Gojoseon possessed the most advanced culture in the Korean Pen ...
(also 'Danguk' or 'Baedalguk') which lasted 1,205 years and was ruled by several ''Imgeum'' (kings). 'Dangun' means the king of Dan-nation. 'Imgeum' was used as the title name of rulers in Gyuwon Sahwa.
References
Citations
Works cited
*
* {{cite journal , last=조인성 (Cho In-sung) , year=2017 , title=Gyuwon Sahwa, Dangi Gosa, Hwandan Gogi wiseo-ron-ui seonggwa-wa gwaje , script-title=ko:『규원사화(揆園史話)』·『단기고사(檀奇古史)』·『환단고기(桓檀古記)』 위서론의 성과와 과제 , trans-title=Critical Studies on Pseudographs Regarding Ancient Korean History , url=http://contents.nahf.or.kr:8080/directory/downloadItemFile.do?fileName=dn_055_0080.pdf&levelId=dn_055&type=pdf , journal=동북아역사논총 , volume=55 , pages=263-305 , access-date=June 18, 2020, ref={{harvid, Cho, 2017
See also
*
History of Korea
The Lower Paleolithic era in the Korean Peninsula and Manchuria began roughly half a million years ago.
Christopher J. Norton, "The Current State of Korean Paleoanthropology", (2000), ''Journal of Human Evolution'', 38: 803–825.
The earlies ...
*
Korean mythology
Korean mythology ( ) is the group of myths told by historical and modern Koreans. There are two types: the written, literary mythology in traditional histories, mostly about the founding monarchs of various historical kingdoms, and the much l ...
*
Budoji
*''
Hwandan Gogi
''Hwandan Gogi'' (Hangul: 환단고기; Hanja: 桓檀古記), also called ''Handan Gogi'', is a compilation of texts on ancient Korean history. It is a bound volume of four supposedly historical records: ''Samseonggi'', ''Dangun Segi'', Bukbuyeogi ...
''
*
Gojoseon
Gojoseon () also called Joseon (), was the first kingdom on the Korean Peninsula. According to Korean mythology, the kingdom was established by the legendary founder named Dangun. Gojoseon possessed the most advanced culture in the Korean Pen ...
Korean false documents