Koryo as an Independent Realm: The Emperor's Clothes?

Headnote

This article examines the status of the mid-Koryo polity as an independent realm. Often ideological extremes are contrasted with one another, and one or the other is seen as representing Koryo's defining quality, but this article argues the necessity of examining Koryo from a pluralist point of view. Koryo's pluralist ideology is reflected in the way it looked at itself and its neighbors and in its policies. In order to clarify middle Koryo's status as an independent realm, issues closely connected to Koryo identity, such as the clothes of the ruler, state rituals, foreign policies, and ruling ideologies, are scrutinized.

Introduction

The rulers of Koryo have been recorded for posterity as kings and the land they ruled as a kingdom. It is customary to speak of the kings of Koryo and to position Koryo at the periphery of the Sinitic world. It is claimed that Koryo was a willing participant in the traditional East-Asian world order, subservient toward Chinese dynasties, noticeably reluctant towards non-Chinese empires. Recent research has modified this picture to some extent, but the fundamental premises of this position remain intact.1 Koryo was a kingdom that, as a principle, acknowledged the ontological-if not always the actual-superiority of its suzerain Chinese dynasty.

Nonetheless, there are various indications that the ruling elite of Koryo considered Koryo as a realm and as such as a possible center of the world. First, strong ambiguity between an imperial and a royal system is prominently present during long periods. Second, the designation realm (ch'onha) can be found in the Koryosa, explicitly referring to Koryo. Concurrent with this, the role of the Koryo ruler in the perceived world order at some times resembles that of the Chinese Son of Heaven to the extent that the Korean monarch mediated between heaven and earth in person. Third, tributary relations with the Song, Jin, and Liao dynasties were not as straightforwardly top-down as is often assumed. Fourth, Koryo put much effort into the creation and maintenance of a tributary system of its own by sustaining ties with neighboring states and tribes and fitting them within an adapted, but still very formal, framework. Finally, the dominant ideological orientation of early and mid-Koryo literati allowed for a non-monist perception of the universe. The dominant...