A History of Korea (25 page)

LEGACY

It is difficult to determine to what extent, if any, the eighth injunction had on Kory
history, especially given the prolonged periods of real sociopolitical power being held in the hands of military officials and Mongol clients. The other injunctions appear more effective in forecasting the tasks and concerns of the Kory
, especially in regard to the country’s collective identity and cultural core. The founder’s strenuous efforts to legitimize his family’s dominion, for example, went far beyond his incorporation of local lords through marriage ties. He also placed the Kory
dynasty firmly in the historical lineage of the peninsula through the dynasty’s name, which reinforced Kory
’s claims as a successor to Kogury
, and through his acceptance of the former leaders of both Silla and Parhae into the country’s aristocratic order. The significance of the Parhae connection, in fact, could have been the cause for the Ten Injunctions’ vitriol against the northern “barbarians,” especially the Khitan, who conquered Parhae around the same time that Silla itself came to an end. It was a matter of reinforcing Korea’s distinctiveness from the peoples who surrounded Kory
. Subsequent periods in the Kory
era witnessed follow-up efforts, such as the compilation of official histories, to reinforce these historical ties. As noted above, perhaps the most notable feature of this consolidation of collective identity was, as seen in the Ten Injunctions, the insistence on the centrality of Buddhism as the country’s dominant cultural element. Indeed, the rest of the Kory
era saw little divergence from this command.

Just as important but perhaps less notable were the substantial administrative advances that the Ten Injunctions appeared to endorse. The systematization of government, both institutionally and symbolically, constituted an urgent task for the early Kory
rulers, whose efforts turned toward overcoming the decades-long period of disintegration and local rivalries. The pervasiveness of Confucian language when describing the general approaches to proper government paved the way for major developments during the reigns of Wang’s immediate descendants on the throne. These included the establishment of a provincial administration more closely tied to the central government and, in 958, under the reign of King Kwangjong (one of Wang K
n’s sons), the implementation of that great institution for recruiting government officials in premodern Korea, the state examination system.

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Religion and Regionalism in the Kory
Order

CHRONOLOGY

1126	Yi Chagy m Rebellion
1129	Construction of a new royal palace in Pyongyang
1135	Outbreak of the Myoch’ ng Rebellion
1136	Suppression of the Myoch’ ng Rebellion by Kim Pusik
1145	Publication of the History of the Three Kingdoms
1170	akeover of government by military officials