Taebong

Later Goguryeo 후고구려 (後高句麗) Hugoguryeo 고려 (高麗) Goryeo 마진 (摩震) Majin 태봉 (泰封) Taebong
901–918
Taebong at its height in 915.
Capital	Songak (901–905), Cheorwon (905–918)
Common languages	Old Korean, Classical Chinese (literary)
Religion	Buddhism (state religion), Confucianism, Taoism, Shamanism
Government	Buddhist Theocratic monarchy
King
• 901–918	Kung Ye
History
• Establishment	901
• Fall	918
Preceded by Succeeded by Unified Silla Goryeo Dynasty
Today part of	South Korea North Korea

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Taebong (Korean: 태봉; Hanja: 泰封; RR: Taebong; MR: T'aebong; Korean pronunciation: [tʰɛ.boŋ]) was a state established by Kung Ye (Korean: 궁예; Hanja: 弓裔) on the Korean Peninsula in 901 during the Later Three Kingdoms.^[1]

Name

The state's initial name was Goryeo, after the official name of Goguryeo, a previous state in Manchuria and the northern Korean Peninsula, from the 5th century. After suggestion by Ajitae, Kung Ye changed the state's name to Majin (from maha jindan) in 904, and eventually to Taebong in 911. When Wang Kon overthrew Kung Ye and founded the Goryeo dynasty, he restored its original name.

To distinguish Kung Ye's state from Wang Kon's state, later historians call this state Later Goguryeo (Hugoguryeo) or Taebong, its final name.

History

Taebong was established with the support of the rebellious Silla people, the mixed Goguryeo-Lelang people.

According to legend, Kung Ye was a son of either King Heonan or King Gyeongmun of Silla. A soothsayer prophesied that the newborn baby would bring disaster to Silla, so the king ordered his servants to kill him. However, his nurse hid Kung Ye and raised him secretly.^[2] He joined Yang Kil's rebellion force in 892. Silla, after nearly a millennium as a centralized kingdom, was quickly declining, and Kung Ye instigated his own rebellion and absorbed Wang Kon's forces at Songak. In 898, He set up the capital in Songak. He eventually defeated Yang Kil and other local lords in central Korea to proclaim himself king in 901.

Kung Ye transferred the capital from Songak to Cheorwon in 905. Taebong at its peak consisted of territory in the present-day provinces of North and South Hwanghae, Gyeonggi, Gangwon/Kangwon, Pyongyang, North Chungcheong and the southern part of South Jeolla.

In his later days, Kung Ye proclaimed himself a Buddha and became a tyrant who sentenced death to anyone opposing him, including his own wife. Lady Gang. As a result, in 918 four of his own generals—Hong Yu, Pae Hyŏn-gyŏng, Sin Sung-gyŏm and Pok Chigyŏm—overthrew Taebong and installed Wang Kon as King Taejo.^[3]

Soon thereafter, Goryeo was established. Taebong influenced Goryeo culturally. Kung Ye was originally a Buddhist monk. He encouraged Buddhism and changed the manners of national ceremonies Buddhist, including the Palgwanhoe (팔관회, 八關會) and Seokdeungnong (석등롱, 石燈籠, Stone lantern). These changes survived the death of Kung Ye and the fall of Taebong.

See also

• History of Korea

References