Korean Dynasties

1
Korean Dynasties

• What story do the maps tell?
• Consider what is going on in China and Japan.

2
Origin Myth

• In those days there lived a she-bear and a
  tigress in the same cave. They prayed to Hwanung
  to be blessed with incarnation as human beings.
  The king took pity on them and gave them a bunch
  of mugwort and twenty pieces of garlic, saying
  If you eat this holy food and do not see the
  sunlight for one hundred days, you will become
  human beings.
• The she-bear and the tigress took the food and
  ate it, and retired into the cave. In twenty-one
  days the bear, who had faithfully observed the
  kings instructions, became a woman. But the
  tigress, who had disobeyed, remained in her
  original form.
• The bear-woman could find no husband, so she
  prayed under the sandalwood tree to be blessed
  with a child. Hwanung heard her prayers and
  married her. She conceived and bore a son who
  was called Tangun Wanggom, the King of
  Sandalwood.
• From Koreas Place in the Sun

3
Han Conquest 109 B.C.-220 A.D.
4

• The significance of sinicised Choson, and later
  settlements in Korea sponsored by the Han
  emperors, lay in their long-term cultural
  influence on Japan. In time the Korean peninsula
  became the main conduit through which Chinese
  culture flowed to the Japanese islands.
• From Koreas Place in the Sun

5
The Three Kingdoms 57 B.C.-668 A.D.
6
Silla Dynasty668-935
7
Sokkuram Grotto and Pulguksa Temple(8th Century)
8
Standing Buddha (8th Century)_at_ Met Museum
9
On the RoadBy Choe ChI-won(9th Century)

• Whirling east and west on a dusty road,
• A lonely whip, a lean horseso much toil!
• I know its good to return home
• But even if I did, my house would still be poor.

10
Koryo Dynasty918-1392
11
Celadon Bottle (13th Century) and Wine Ewer
(12th Century) _at_ Met Museum
12
Mongol Invasion1231-1360
13
Choson (Yi) Dynasty 1392-1910
14
Turtle Boat(16th Century)
15
Literary Gathering(16th Century) Ink Painting
_at_Cleveland Museum of Art
16
Lady Hyegyongs Court Diary(1795-1805)

• When I first married the Crown Prince, his
  talent and generosity deeply impressed me. He
  was extraordinarily filialOne need not mention
  his dedication to his mother, Lady
  SonhuiMaternal love did not temper discipline,
  which always remained strictWhen her son became
  Crown Prince, she did not see fit to impose
  herself on him as a mother, and so she treated
  him with deference. For instance, she used the
  most respectful level of speech when speaking to
  himThus the Prince was always formal and quite
  careful in her presence. These high standards to
  which Lady Sonhui adhered were not something that
  ordinary women could easily attain. She loved me
  very much also, but she treated me exactly as she
  treated her son. I used to feel rather
  uncomfortable being treated so deferentially by a
  mother-in-law.
• From East Asia A New History