Yemaek

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Yemaek

The Yemaek or Yamaek are an ancient tribal group native to the northern Korean Peninsula and Manchuria and are commonly regarded as the ancestors of modern Koreans. [1] [2] [3] [4] The Yemaek have ancestral ties to multiple kingdoms in Northeast Asia including Gojoseon, Buyeo, Goguryeo, and multiple tribes including Okjeo, Dongye, Yangmaek (양맥; 梁貊) and the Sosumaek (소수맥; 小水貊). [5] [6]

Contents

History

The Yemaek are believed to be the mix of the Ye (濊) and Maek (貊) people. [7] He Qiutao (何秋涛) believes Ye is the short name of Buyeo. [8]

According to Chinese Records of Three Kingdoms, the Ye worshiped tigers. [9] The Chinese characters 貊 and 貉, which were used to transcribe Maek, were also used as a homophonic phonetic loan character to write 貘, meaning "white leopard"; [10] however, Guo Pu believes 貘 means a kind of bear, [11] now identified as the giant panda. [12]

Gomnaru, the capital of the Baekje Kingdom with ancestral ties to the Yemaek, means "bear port". Historians suggest tigers and bears may have been totems worshiped by Ye and Maek tribes. The Chinese character 狛, a variant form 貊 for Maek, is used in the Japanese language to transcribe Koma (cf. Komainu). Koma is sometimes written with the characters 高麗 "Go(gu)ryeo, Goryeo." The similarity between the pronunciation of Koma (bear) and gōm (bear) is notable.

A recent study believes the ancestor of Maek (貊) is the Bal (發). According to Records of the Grand Historian, the Balhae people lived next to the Shanrong nomads and the Sushen. According to Guanzi, the Bal-Joseons once sold patterned fur skins and visited the Royal Court. Written in the Yi Zhou Shu, there are the Ye and Bal, but no Maek. Due to this, it is believed Balhae people and Gojoseon may have lived in adjacent areas. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]

The main culture is the Seodansan culture. Korean historians believe the Yemaek established their cultural zone in the 12th to 10th century BC. These tribes began to grow more heterogeneously by the 7th and 8th centuries BC due to different geographical and environmental circumstances. [18] The Yemaek are believed influenced by the Mongol-Siberian nomadic cultures and that their ethnic origins were distinct from those of the Han Chinese. [19] By the late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, the Yemaek were technologically and culturally influenced by ancient Han Chinese who introduced ironmaking technology to them. [20]

In 705 BC, the Shanrong nomads (山戎) planned to plunder the Yan, Qi and Zhao kingdoms in the Guzhu text(孤竹國). However, these nomads were defeated by the allied Yan and Qi (660 BC) and were pushed north. There were many northern peoples within the Shanrong Alliance for plunder, one of them is believed to be the Bal (發). [21] After the Gojoseon–Yan War and Han conquest of Gojoseon, the Bal people (發) moved east and became absorbed into the Maek tribe.

It is believed the Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom in history, was established by the Yemaek. [22]

  • According to Chinese record Shiji, to the east of the Xiongnu people lived the Yemaek and Gojoseon. [23]
  • Tombstone of Yeon Namsan (연남산) found in Luoyang writes that the son of Goguryeo leader Yeon Gaesomun is Joseon. [24]
  • In Dangun's legend of the creation of Gojoseon, a tiger and bear pray to Hwanung that they may become human but promised to stay in a cave eating only garlic and mugwort, however, while the tiger gave up and left the cave, the bear remained and in 21 days transformed into a woman who later married Hwanung. She then gave birth to Dangun Wanggeom, [25] who is believed to symbolize the combination of Ye and Maek tribes into one Yemaek tribe. [26]

Japanese researcher Shiratori Kurakichi is the first to connect between Yemaek tribal people and the origins of the "Korean race." He believed that Korean racial origins can be traced to Manchuria and treated the Ye and the Yemaek as a single racial entity. However, Pai argues that the Ye or Maek could not have referred to a homogeneous tribe or racial unity, or a unified state. [27] Chinese records were inconsistent and frequently mentions Ye without any connections to Maek.

Language

It is believed the replacement of the native Yemaek and Gojoseon languages in the existing three kingdoms was accelerated by the southward expansion of a large number of northern people in the late 3rd century. [28]

Currently, there are academic attempts to recover Yemaek language based on toponym fragments recorded in the Samguk Sagi from occupied areas of Goguryeo and the Buyeo-Baekje.[ relevant? ]

Legacy

According to Samguk Sagi, Silla Kingdom was established by the Six Clans of Jihan who were Gojoseon in origin. [29]

The Royal Seal of Ye (예왕지인; 濊王之印), used previously by Buyeo Kings, was found in the Silla Kingdom (19 AD) and was presented for King Namhae Chachaung. [30]

The Goguryeo, Baekje, Buyeo and Gaya are all believed to have originated from the Yemaek tribes. [31]

The Yemaek culture is seen as ancestral to the modern Culture of Korea. [32]

Historian Sang-Yil Kim claims the Yemaek did also influence Chinese culture and had an overall large cultural impact in all of Northeast Asia, and that some other related ancestry around East Asia are the Dongyi, and some of which were of proto-Korean origin. [33]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Pai, Hyung Il (2000). Constructing "Korean" Origins: A Critical Review of Archaeology, Historiography, and Racial Myth in Korean State-formation Theories. Harvard University Asia Center. p. 86. ISBN   9780674002449. As the first "Koreans", the Yemaek are considered responsible for the formation of Tan'gun's kingdom of Kochoson
  2. ↑ Xu, Stella Yingzi (2007). That Glorious Ancient History of Our Nation: The Contested Re-readings of "Korea" in Early Chinese Historical Records and Their Legacy on the Formation of Korean-ness. p. 220. ISBN   9780549440369. ProQuest   304872860. The majority of the Kija Choson and Wiman Choson people were Yemaek, the ancestors of the Korean people
  3. ↑ Preucel, Robert; Mrozowski, Stephen; Nelson, Sarah (2010). Contemporary Archaeology in Theory: The New Pragmatism (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 218–221.
  4. ↑ Park, Kyeong-chul (December 2004). "History of Koguryŏ and China's Northeast Asian Project". International Journal of Korean Histor. 6: 2–5.
  5. ↑ Park, Kyeong-chul (December 2004). "History of Koguryŏ and China's Northeast Asian Project". International Journal of Korean Histor. 6: 4–5.
  6. ↑ "중앙아시아 '중세 300년' 호령한 예맥 칸국" [The Yemaek Khanate that ruled Central Asia for 300 years]. jmagazine.joins.com (in Korean).
  7. ↑ "关于东北古代史研究的几个问题" (PDF).
  8. ↑ "民族探幽：夫余与秽貊".
  9. ↑ Chen Shou, Records of Three Kingdoms , Volume 30, Weizhi, Chapter 30, Dongyizhuan, "常用十月節祭天，晝夜飲酒歌舞，名之爲舞天，又祭虎以爲神"
  10. ↑ Erya, Elucidation on the Beasts quote: "貘，白豹。"
  11. ↑ Erya: Commentated and Clarified Ch. 10 - 貘 quote "似熊，小頭庳腳，黑白駁，能舐食銅鐵及竹骨。骨節強直。中實少髓，皮辟濕，或曰豹白色者別名貘。" Translation by Harper (2013) "Resembles a bear, with a small head, short legs, mixed black and white; able to lick and consume iron, copper, and bamboo joints; its bones are strong and solid within, having little marrow; and its pelt can repel dampness. Some say that a white-colored leopard has the separate name mo. "
  12. ↑ Harper, Donald (2012). "The Cultural History of the Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) in Early China". Early China 35/36 (2012): 185-224. 35/36: 185–224. JSTOR   24392405 . Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  13. ↑ Records of the Grand Historian(史記) > 南撫交阯北發, 西戎 析枝渠廋氐羌 北山 戎發息愼東長鳥夷
  14. ↑ Guanzi(管子) > 桓公問管子曰 吾聞 海內玉幣有七筴 可 得以聞乎 管子對曰 陰山之礌礝 一筴也 燕之紫山白金 筴也 發朝鮮之文皮 筴也
  15. ↑ Yi Zhou Shu(逸周書) > 稷愼大麈穢人前兒... 發人麃麃者 若鹿迅 走/孔晁注: 發亦東 北夷
  16. ↑ 엄순천. 2019, "山戎과 發의 종족정체성 및 알타이계, 고아시아계 종족과의 상관관계분석", 동양문화연구, vol.31, pp.77-106. Available from: doi:10.22863/eacs.2019.31..77
  17. ↑
    The Analysis of the Ethnic Identity of Sanjung(山戎) and Pal(發) and the Correlation with Altaic and Paleoasiatic Tribes
  18. ↑ Park, Kyeong-chul (December 2004). "History of Koguryŏ and China's Northeast Asian Project". International Journal of Korean Histor. 6: 2.
  19. ↑ Park, Kyeong-chul (December 2004). "History of Koguryŏ and China's Northeast Asian Project". International Journal of Korean Histor. 6: 2.
  20. ↑ Park, Kyeong-chul (December 2004). "History of Koguryŏ and China's Northeast Asian Project". International Journal of Korean Histor. 6: 4.
  21. ↑ Book of Sui(隋書) Volume67 裵矩傳 > 高麗之地 本孤竹國也 周代以之封于箕子 漢世分爲三郡 晉氏亦統遼東
  22. ↑ 한국민족문화대백과(한국학중앙연구원 편집) 참조
  23. ↑ Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian , Vol.110, Xiongnu Liezhuan,"諸左方王將居東方，直上穀以往者，東接穢貉、朝鮮"
  24. ↑ "Unknown".[ permanent dead link ]
  25. ↑ Il-yeon, Samguk Yusa , Vol.1, Giyi Chapter I, Unknown [ permanent dead link ]
  26. ↑ Hankyore, 'Why are Korean more familiar with tigers than with bears?', Dec 21, 2008
  27. ↑ Hyung Il Pai (2020). Constructing "Korean" Origins A Critical Review of Archaeology, Historiography, and Racial Myth in Korean State-Formation Theories. BRILL. pp. 104–111. ISBN   9781684173372.
  28. ↑ A series of displaced peoples southward movements following the Wei invasion to Goguryeo in 242, Xianbei invasion to Buyeo in 285, fall of Lelang in 313
  29. ↑ Kim Bu-sik, Samguk Sagi , Silla Bongi, Vol.1, "先是朝鮮遺民分居山谷之間爲六村" Unknown [ permanent dead link ]
  30. ↑ Kim Bu-sik, Samguk Sagi , Silla Bongi, Vol.1, "春二月 北溟人耕田 得濊王印獻之"Unknown [ permanent dead link ]
  31. ↑ Park, Kyeong-chul (December 2004). "History of Koguryŏ and China's Northeast Asian Project". International Journal of Korean Histor. 6: 4–5.
  32. ↑ Son, Chang-Hee (2000). Haan (han, Han) of Minjung Theology and Han (han, Han) of Han Philosophy: In the Paradigm of Process Philosophy and Metaphysics of Relatedness. University Press of America. ISBN   9780761818601.
  33. ↑ Son, Chang-Hee (2000). Haan (han, Han) of Minjung Theology and Han (han, Han) of Han Philosophy: In the Paradigm of Process Philosophy and Metaphysics of Relatedness. University Press of America. ISBN   9780761818601.
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