The Journal of Korean Art and Archaeology

While the Unified Silla Kingdom established an eclectic artistic style by embracing diverse foreign cultural elements in the centuries after the Three Kingdoms period and provided a solid future foundation for Korean metalwork, the evolution and advancement of this craft were promoted during the Goryeo dynasty through the development of distinctive Korean forms and styles. Buddhism further flourished during this era, and the number of Buddhist temples greatly expanded, leading to the increased production of a wide variety of religious metalwork. These numerous metal items included Buddhist ritual objects required for the more complex and diverse rituals and adornments of the Seon school of Buddhism (禪宗) that began to gain popularity in the late Unified Silla period. The aristocratic aesthetic and splendid dignity of Goryeo art are demonstrated most fully in the era’s metalwork. Status and Characteristics of Goryeo Dynasty Crafts in Xuanhe fengshi Gaoli tujing Xuanhe fengshi Gaoli tujing (宣和奉使高麗圖經, Illustrated record of the Chinese embassy to the Goryeo court in the Xuanhe era; hereafter Gaoli tujing) was written by Xu Jing (徐兢), who joined the diplomatic mission to Goryeo in 1123 lead by Lu Yundi (路允迪). He stayed in Goryeo for roughly one month by order of Emperor Huizong of Song China. His writings provide information on the architecture, religion, rites, figures, and customs of the time. Gaoli tujing consists of 40 volumes with 28 chapters and roughly 300 sections. Volumes 30, 31, and 32, in particular, focus on vessels of daily use, serving as a valuable reference for the study of Goryeo crafts. The original version of Gaoli tujing that included illustrations was lost in a fire, but a copy published in 1169 survives. After returning to Song China in 1124, Xu Jing presented Gaoli tujing to Emperor Huizong. His documentation of diverse aspects of the lives of Goryeo people, including their daily routines, culture, folk customs, and vessels, provides vivid and varied details about the Goryeo dynasty. Najeon Chilgi Craft The Goryeo craftworks mentioned in Gaoli tujing can be largely divided into daily craft wares and metalwork. First, mother-of-pearl lacquerware will be examined. The term najeon chilgi (mother-of-pearl lacquerware) refers to the technique of inlaying shell in an object to be lacquered and also to the works so produced. The technique of lacquering wooden objects has been practiced since prehistoric times, but no lacquerware inlaid with mother-of-pearl from the Three Kingdoms or Unified Silla has survived. However, bronze mirrors inlaid with mother-of-pearl from these periods indicate that a technique involving mother-of-pearl inlay began to develop from early on in the Korean Peninsula. During the Goryeo dynasty, wooden objects were covered with a hempen cloth and decorated with thinly sliced abalone shells. Tortoiseshell painted using a technique known as bokchae (伏彩, reverse-side coloring) was added, and borders of plant stem and other designs were rendered using silver or copper thread. Most najeon chilgi wares of the Goryeo dynasty were adorned with chrysanthemum scrolls. The inlay techniques pioneered at this time continued to be used in the Joseon era. From the mid-Joseon period, however, tortoiseshell was no longer applied. Moreover, silver thread or copper thread was replaced with thread-like strips of mother-of-pearl. Literature on the aesthetic value of Goryeo najeon chilgi is scarce. However, according to Goryeosa (高麗史, History of Goryeo) and Dongguk munheon bigo (東國文獻備考, Remarks about documents on Korea), “King Munjong of the Goryeo dynasty sent najeon chilgi wares to the royal court of the Liao dynasty as a gift in 1047” (the first year of the reign of King Munjong). “Gyobingji” (交聘志, Records on Exchanging Envoys) in Haedong yeoksa (海東繹史, History of Korea) and Xiushilu (髹飾錄, Records on lacquering) written by Huang Dacheng (黃大成) from the Ming dynasty, also mentioned Goryeo lacquerware inlaid with mother-of-pearl being sent to China. These references suggest that Goryeo najeon chilgi wares were considered special high-end products esteemed even in other countries. In the Local Products Section of Volume 23 “Customs II” of Gaoli tujing, which was written during the golden age of Goryeo najeon (inlaying mother-of-pearl), Xu Jing stated, “In Goryeo, which has much copper but little silver and gold, people are not especially skillful in lacquering a bowl. However, their skill at inlaying mother-of-pearl is extremely delicate, and its elaboration is praiseworthy.” Clearly, this high-ranking Song official deeply appreciated Goryeo najeon technique and the beauty of objects it created and compared to the wares widely used in China at that time. Moreover, in Volume 15, “Horses and Vehicles,” Xu Jing mentioned a cavalryman’s saddle vividly ornamented with mother-of-pearl, which indicates the widespread use of najeon for decorating objects. Despite their brevity, his expressions “extremely delicate” (極精巧) and “praiseworthy elaboration” (細密可貴) suggest that he thought highly of these traits of Goryeo najeon. In contrast to Goryeo najeon, Chinese mother-of-pearl inlay technique at the time was experiencing a decline. Thus, although he had left only a short remark on Goryeo najeon chilgi, Xu Jing at least felt that it was worth noting. As Xu Jing recorded, Goryeo mother-of-pearl inlay technique achieved a high level of sophistication in the early twelfth century. Only a few examples of Goryeo mother-of-pearl lacquerware from this time remain. They demonstrate that tortoiseshell (daemo) painted using the bokchae (reverse-side coloring) technique was used to depict the petals or stamens of small flowers at least up to the twelfth century (Fig. 1). This daemo bokchae technique begins with grinding a tortoiseshell to a transparent thinness. Red, yellow, or other colors are then applied on the inner side of the shell so that they can be seen through it. The use of this technique in najeon chilgi ware is unique to Goryeo. The bokchae technique was also employed for coloring the decoration on diaphanous veils and mandorlas in Goryeo Buddhist painting. Commonly, the tortoiseshell in Goryeo najeon chilgi wares were colored in red and yellow. These tones harmonized with the iridescent mother-of-pearl to add vibrancy and a dignified beauty. Xu Jing, who observed this daemo bokchae in najeon chilgi wares, admired the quality of Goryeo najeon, as implied in his expression “praiseworthy elaboration.” Fig. 1. Buddhist Rosary Case with Chrysanthemum Design Inlaid with Mother-of-pearl and Colored Tortoiseshell. Goryeo, 12th century. D. 12.4 cm. Taimadera Temple, Japan Textiles Gaoli tujing also describes the textiles observed in Goryeo, including hil (纈, dyed and patterned silk pieces woven together), embroidered tents, embroidered paintings, and intricately woven mats. Although actual examples of such textiles no longer exist, the records in Gaoli tujing prove that Goryeo practiced relatively elaborate and diverse textile crafting techniques. In the Dyed and Patterned Silk Tents Section of Volume 28 “Tents and Other Accessories I,” Xu Jing states: “In ancient times, tents made of dyed and patterned silk [hil] were not used. Ancient people, however, called dyed and patterned silk pieces woven together hil. Recently, Goryeo people have come to produce exquisite hil.” This underscores the refinement of the dyeing technique in Korea during the Goryeo dynasty. Moreover, the Embroidered Tents Section in the same volume includes the following: “Embroidered tents are adorned with five-colored threads. Panels that make up tents are not connected by sewing; they instead drape down from the top. Over the red patterned silk tents, mandarin ducks, flying luan (a mythical Chinese bird), and bundles of flowers are embroidered with red and yellow threads.” This section also mentions embroidered paintings. According to Xu Jing, “embroidered paintings are created on red fabrics edged with additional green cloth, and the mountain flowers and frolicking animals embroidered in five-colored threads demonstrate an exquisite crafting surpassing that of embroidered tents.” He continues that “These paintings are also embroidered with flowers, bamboo, birds, animals, and fruits, all of which look lively and vivid.” Such comments on embroidery suggest the sophistication of the paintings of the Goryeo era. Woodcraft Gaoli tujing briefly addresses the wooden crafts of the Goryeo dynasty lacquered in red or black, including a bench chair, banquet table, and tray table (soban). Just as red-lacquered wares were exclusively used by the Joseon royal court, as evinced by extant examples, Gaoli tujing relates that red-lacquered tray tables were reserved for Goryeo kings or officials. This book also indicates that black-lacquered tray tables were produced during the Goryeo dynasty. Metalwork Metalwork in Goryeo is discussed in Volume 30 “Vessels I,” Volume 31 “Vessels II,” and Volume 32 “Vessels III” of Gaoli tujing. Vessels I and II, in particular, introduce specific types of metalwork. The criteria according to which Xu Jing categorized and listed them are unclear. However, this paper examines the characteristics of Goryeo metalworks presented in Gaoli tujing by focusing on existing metal objects and pertinent examples. According to Volume 23 “Customs II,” “… Goryeo … has much copper but little gold and silver.” This quote suggests that gold and silver were used less, while bronzeware, of which the main ingredient is copper, was abundant. A majority of the surviving Goryeo metalworks are made from bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. However, it is uncertain whether Xu Jing differentiated between copper and bronze. Nonetheless, his comment in Volume 23 “Customs II” demonstrates that Goryeo did indeed produce a large number of metal objects. In other volumes on vessels in Gaoli tujing, he described metalworks related to daily life, such as incense burners in the shape of animals or Boshan Mountain or with three legs; braziers; utensils for lighting lamps; bottles; and cups. The name and shape of each item is described in detail. Through this, Gaoli tujing provides an essential reference for the study of the diverse aspects and forms of Goryeo craftwork. 1. Metalwork for Daily Use 1) Incense Burner and Brazier Gaoli tujing describes incense burners in several shapes. As a case in point, an animal-shaped incense burner is recorded in Volume 30 “Vessels I” as follows: “This delicately carved incense burner in the shape of a mother animal and her child is made of silver. The mother is crouching while a small animal hangs on to her and looks back with its mouth open, out from which the incense smoke escapes. This incense burner is brought out only on official occasions at Hoegyeongjeon Hall and Geondeokjeon Hall and placed between two pillars of these halls … each [incense burner is made] using 30 geun (1.8 kilograms) of silver. The animal-shaped burner is connected to its stand, and it is 4 ja (121.2 centimeters) in height and 2 ja and 2 chi (66.66 centimeters) wide.” Compared to celadon animal-shaped incense burners, a relatively small number of metal examples remain. Bronze Square Incense Burner with Lion-shaped Lid and Ferocious Animal Design in Relief (Fig. 2) in a private collection may be similar to the one described in Gaoli tujing, which helps identify the production date of the bronze incense burner. Fig. 2. Bronze Square Incense Burner with Lion-shaped Lid and Ferocious Animal Design in Relief. Goryeo. H. 29.8 cm. Private Collection Gaoli tujing also details three-legged incense burners and others in the shape of Boshan Mountain, which suggests that vessels modeled after ancient bronzeware, including incense burners in the shape of Boshan Mountain, were created in abundance during the Goryeo period. Regarding braziers, Xu Jing recorded: “The brazier looks like a three-legged caldron (鼎, Ch. ding) with a flaring mouth. Three legs being bitten by beasts are attached to the body. Such braziers containing water are placed on a desk. In most cases, they are used to warm the hands in the wintertime. This one is 1 ja and 2 chi (36.36 centimeters) in width and 8 chi (24.24 centimeters) in height.” There are several large tripod braziers with animal-shaped legs from the Goryeo dynasty, including Brazier with Animal Legs at the National Museum of Korea (Fig. 3) and another brazier at the Korean Central History Museum in Pyongyang (Fig. 4). In particular, the brazier excavated from Jangpung-gun in the city of Kaesong (or Gaeseong) and currently housed at the Korean Central History Museum in Pyongyang is notable as the sole surviving example with an inscription. The inscription includes “the Gapsin Year,” referring to either 1164 or 1224. The latter date is presumed to be the production year of this brazier. Such braziers were in use when Xu Jing wrote Gaoli tujing. It is noteworthy that Gaoli tujing clearly defines Goryeo braziers’ being used for heating the hands in winter. Fig. 3. Brazier with Animal Legs. Goryeo. D. 50.5 cm, H. 21.5 cm. National Museum of Korea Fig. 4. Brazier with Animal Legs with Inscription of “Gapsin Year.” Goryeo. Excavated from Jangpung-gun, Kaesong-si. D. 113 cm, H. 39.1 cm. Korean Central History Museum in Pyongyang 2) Gwangmyeongdae Gwangmyeongdae (光明臺), a kind of candle holder, are important items for studying Goryeo crafts given that actual examples remain today and term is mentioned in Gaoli tujing. Gaoli tujing addresses the type of gwangmyeongdae with three legs as follows: Gwangmyeongdae are stands that hold a lamp or a candle. They have three legs on the bottom and a ribbed column like bamboo nodes in the middle. In the upper section is a tray with a small bowl in the center. Either a candle or a lamp is placed inside this bowl. A copper lamp is filled with oil, and its wick is held down by a small white rock. The lamp is then covered with a red net. The gwangmyeongdae is 4 cheok and 5 chon (136.35 centimeters) high, and the tray is 1 cheok and 5 chon (45.45 centimeters) wide. Its conical-hat-shaped cover is 6 chon (18.18 centimeters) high and 5 chon (15.15 centimeters) wide. As quoted above, gwangmyeongdae are large objects over one meter in height and have a pedestal with three legs, a bamboo-joint-shaped column, and a disk-shaped lamp rest on which to set a candle or other lighting appliance. Gwangmyeongdae commonly consist of a pedestal, stem, and lamp rest. Among the candle and lampstands made during the Goryeo dynasty, those with flat, disk-shaped rests lacking a sconce in the center were described as gwangmyeongdae. Quite a number of such gwangmyeongdae from the Goryeo dynasty have survived. For example, there is one made in the Muja Year excavated from Beopcheonsa Temple (Fig. 5), now in the collection of Handok Medico Pharma Museum, and another in the collection of the Chuncheon National Museum. Both of them bear an inscription that refers to them as gwangmyeongdae. Fig. 5. Bronze Gwangmyeongdae with Inscription of “Muja Year.” Goryeo. Excavated from Beopcheonsa Temple Site. H. 50.7 cm. Handok Medico Pharma Museum Lighting appliances of the Goryeo dynasty have been categorized into gwangmyeongdae and candlesticks with a sconce. However, recent research has found that candle holders in the style known as “beon” (燔) were also produced at the time. Beon refers to a lighting utensil with an empty column-shaped sconce in which a candle is pinned, rather than a sconce with a needle in the center of the base. Many beon-type candle holders have been unearthed from temple sites dating to the Goryeo dynasty, including Sanoesa Temple Site in Cheongju. In particular, the candle holder made in the Muja year with the inscription of “Beopcheonsa Temple” in the collection of Yeungnam University Museum bears an inscription describing it as a beon. Nonetheless, the most widely used lighting utensils throughout the dynasty were in fact either gwangmyeongdae or common needle-type candle holders. These two types are almost identical in terms of the columns serving as a handle and base, but their tops differ (Fig. 6). At the time Gaoli tujing was written, gwangmyeongdae and candles were both being used. However, it is presumed that oil lamps were more common than candles, as indicated in the section on the meetings of the royal government in Volume 22 “Customs I” of Gaoli tujing: “In the old days, people could not use candles. These days, they come to make candles more skillfully. Large ones are like rafters, and even small ones are 2 cheok (60.6 centimeters) long. However, they are not very bright.” Considering that Gaoli tujing was written in 1123, these sentences indicate that candle-making techniques were underdeveloped until the early Goryeo period, and even at the time of writing, their brightness was apparently unsatisfactory. Fig. 6. Bronze Candlestick with Inscription of “Sinmi Year.” Goryeo. H. 18.8 cm. Uhak Cultural Foundation, Yongin 3) Bottles and Cups Xu Jing also comments on water bottles in Gaoli tujing: “The shapes of most [Goryeo] water bottles are similar to those of Chinese ewers for serving alcohol. Made using 3 geun (1.8 kilograms) of silver, water bottles are placed in the abodes of officials like senior envoys, vice envoys, Dohalgwan, and Jehalgwan. Each water bottle is 1 ja and 2 chi (36.36 centimeters) in height, 7 chi (21.21 centimeters) in diameter, and contains 6 doe (10.82 liters) of water.” As recorded here, water bottles were differentiated from kundika during the Goryeo dynasty. Moreover, it is noteworthy that Goryeo water bottles were shaped like Chinese ewers for alcohol. A number of metal ewers in such a shape and with a handle remain from the Goryeo dynasty (Fig. 7). However, it is interesting that Gaoli tujing describes them not as ewers, but as water bottles. Fig. 7. Bronze Ewer. Goryeo. Excavated from Gwangdeok-ri, Goesan. H. 22.5 cm. Cheongju National Museum Gaoli tujing continues: “A flower vase (花壺) with a pointed top and a round bottom is shaped like a sagging gall bladder. It is set over a square support and flowers are placed inside the vase with water inside in all four seasons. Goryeo people were poor at making flower vases before, but they have recently become proficient. The overall height of the flower jar is 8 chi (24.24 centimeters), the diameter of its body is 3 chi (9.09 centimeters), and it has a capacity of 1 doe (1.81 liters).” The flower vase mentioned here appears to refer to a specific type of flower vase (花甁). Flower vases were commonly made out of clay. However, Gaoli tujing indicates that metal flower vases were produced as well during the Goryeo period and that the metalworking techniques of the time had reached an advanced level of sophistication. Gaoli tujing discusses banjan (盤琖), a set consisting of a cup for holding alcohol and stand, in the following section: “The banjan of Goryeo is similar to those in China. However, in Goryeo the cup is deeper and its golden rim narrows in. The section of the stand where the cup rests is small and the foot [of the stand] is high. Commonly, such cups and stands are made of silver, but sometimes plated with gold. Flower designs are delicately engraved. Whenever alcohol is offered, new cups are used. Their capacity is rather large.” Gilt-silver Flower-shaped Cup and Stand (Fig. 8) in the National Museum of Korea is thought to have corresponded to the banjan mentioned in Gaoli tujing. Fig. 8. Gilt-silver Flower-shaped Cup and Stand. Goryeo. H. 12.3 cm. National Museum of Korea Furthermore, the liquor vessel (酒榼, juhap) mentioned in Gaoli tujing needs to be investigated since it bears a resemblance to Ewer and Basin (Fig. 9) in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. According to Gaoli tujing, Fig. 9. Ewer and Basin. Goryeo. H. 34.3 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston “A liquor vessel is mostly portable. Its top part [lid] looks like an upturned lotus flower, and a ring-chain partially painted in gold is attached on both ends of the handle. It is specially used when alcohol is offered. Alcohol contained in this vessel looks superb and tastes good. It is 1 ja (30.3 centimeters) high, its diameter is 8 chi (24.24 centimeters), the chain is 1 ja and 1 chi (36.36 centimeters) long, and it has a capacity of 7 doe (12.64 liters).” The ewer at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is considered a gilt-silver ewer since some parts are plated with gold. This ewer consists of a semi-spherical body with a long spout, a lid designed like layers of lotus flowers, a knob decorated with lotus flowers, and a handle on the side. Moreover, the flower-shaped basin in which the ewer is inserted remains intact, adding value to the ewer. What differentiates this ewer from others is the unique design of its body consisting of twenty-four bamboo stems. Each stem is delicately engraved with lotus scrolls. The upper and lower ends of the stems are also incised with scrollwork and plated in gold, which increases the splendor. Despite slight differences in details, the partially gilt liquor vessel with an upturned lotus-shaped lid from Gaoli tujing is presumed to have referred to the highest-class gilt-silver type of ewer made for holding alcohol. 4) Jars and Caldrons Regarding oil jars, Gaoli tujing states: “Most oil jars are shaped like wine jars and made of nickel. They do not have lids, but they are topped with nogs in case they fall and [oil] spills. Each oil jar is 8 chi (24.24 centimeters) high, its diameter measures 3 chi (9.09 centimeters), and it has a capacity of 1 doe and 5 jak (1.915 liters).” Comparing Silver-gilt Gourd-shaped Bottle (Fig. 10) with the smaller Silver-gilt Gourd-shaped Bottle (Fig. 11) in the National Museum of Korea, the latter is silver in color, which is similar to the color of nickel. It matches the oil bottle mentioned above. Its original stopper was lost, and the bottle is currently plugged with a replacement, but the original stopper may have been made of wood. Fig. 10. Silver-gilt Gourd-shaped Bottle. Goryeo. H. 11.1 cm. National Museum of Korea Fig. 11. Silver-gilt Gourd-shaped Bottle. Goryeo. H. 8 cm. National Museum of Korea 5) Seban (Washbasins) As its name suggests, a seban (洗盤, washbasin) appears to be a daily item in the form of a basin holding water for washing or other related activities. According to Gaoli tujing, there were several types of seban. The first type discussed in Gaoli tujing is ohwase (烏花洗): “[A basin] decorated with silver flowers is not used all the time, but only when senior or vice envoys personally meet the king. The flowers are created by dotting with glaze. Black patterns in varied weights decorate the white background. The circumference of the surface is 1 ja and 5 chi (45.45 centimeters), and the basin can contain 1 mal and 2 doe (21.6 liters) of water.” The original form of such ohwase can be observed in the washbasin with silver-inlaid design (Fig. 12) in the collection of the Jeonju National Museum. However, the washbasin at the Jeonju National Museum is at most a version used during the Abhiseka Buddhist consecration ceremony (灌頂盤) at a Buddhist temple sponsored by the royal family due to its large size and the exquisite silver-inlay adorning the entire interior surface of its dragon design. Fig. 12. Washbasin with Silver-inlaid Dragon Design. Goryeo. D. 77.3 cm. Jeonju National Museum The second type of washbasin mentioned in Gaoli tujing is baekdongse (白銅洗): “A nickel washbasin is similar to a blackish-silver washbasin in shape, but it has no decorations or coloring. Goryeo people call this a bingbun (氷盆). There is a type of washbasin made of red copper (赤銅洗, jeokdongse) of the same nature, but it is rather crudely manufactured.” Here, the baekdongse features a white hue because of its high tin content, while the elevated copper content of jeokdongse produces a red hue. Jeokdong (赤銅) is another name for the hwangdong (黃銅, brass) used in the Unified Silla period. However, as Xu Jing considered Goryeo jeokdongse “crudely manufactured,” there seems to have been some technical differences between Goryeo jeokdongse and refined Unified Silla jeokdongse. 2. Buddhist Metalwork While Volume 30 “Vessels I” of Gaoli tujing mentions water bottles as a crafted item in common use, Volume 31 “Vessels II” discusses a type of kundika that was an important Buddhist craftwork and vessel for making offerings. It explicates the shape and uses of a kundika in greater detail than other craftworks, thus providing significant data for dating and studying the metal kundika of the Goryeo dynasty. Gaoli tujing describes as follows: “A kundika has a long neck, bulging body, and spout on the side for pouring [water]. In the middle [of the ewer] are two sections where loops for tying a string are attached. There is a wide ring in the center of the neck of the lid which divides the upper and lower neck. This form recalls a portable brush. It is widely used by aristocrats, high-ranking officials, Daoist masters, Buddhist monks, and commoners, but contains only water. The ewer is 1 ja and 2 chi (36.36 centimeters) high, 4 chi (12.12 centimeters) in diameter; and holds a capacity of 3 doe (5.30 liters).” A kundika is a Sanskrit term for a type of ritual ewer that is known as a jeongbyeong in Korean. They originated out of the water bottles carried by traveling Buddhist monks in India. These ritual ewers as conceived in the Goryeo dynasty consist of an oval body, a long, slender, tube-shaped mouth, and a pouring spout on one side. Like incense burners, kundika are beautifully adorned with silver-inlaid designs of willow, waterfowl, clouds, cranes, dragons, flowering plants, and scrollwork (Fig. 13). The records mentioning ritual ewers in Gaoli tujing indicate that the ewers were used not only at Buddhist temples for holding water in front of the Buddha, but at houses of aristocrats, Daoist masters, and commoners as well. They further clarify that such ewers were exclusively for holding water, not alcohol. They make no mention of silver inlay, which suggests that such techniques might not yet have been applied to ritual ewers, or perhaps only began to be widely used later than the mid-twelfth century at the earliest. The lack of any reference to high-footed incense burners with silver-inlaid design in Gaoli tujing can be understood in the same manner. The earliest known example among Goryeo silver-inland ritual ewers and incense burners is an incense burner (Fig. 14) created in 1164 that once belonged to Baegworam Hermitage and is currently housed in the Koryo Museum of Art in Japan. Accordingly, it appears that ritual ewers and incense burners were not yet being inlaid with silver in 1123, or at least not yet widely popular. Fig. 13. Bronze Kundika with Silver-inlaid Willow and Waterfowl Design. Goryeo. H. 37.5 cm. National Treasure No. 92. National Museum of Korea Fig. 14. Silver-inlaid Incense Burner at Baegworam Hermitage. Goryeo, 1164. H. 26.5 cm. Koryo Museum of Art, Japan In regards to Buddhist temple bells, a definitive Buddhist craftwork, Xi Jing examined a huge bell hung at Bojesa Temple in Gaoli tujing: “A large bell is hung at Bojesa Temple. Despite its size, it does not ring out well. At the top of the bell is a dragon-shaped handle, and in the middle are a pair of flying immortals. According to the inscription carved on the bell, ‘This bell was produced in 1094 with 15,000 geun (9,000 kilograms) of nickel.’ Goryeo people related, ‘It was originally placed in a two-story pavilion; however, its sound reached the Khitan and Chanyu (單于) hated it. Therefore, the bell was moved to its current location.’ This is clearly an exaggeration, however.” Bojesa Temple mentioned here was situated in Hancheon-dong, Kaesong-si, Gyeonggi-do Province. Although the date of its establishment remains unclear, a record of a visit by King Jeongjong of the Goryeo dynasty in 1037 (the third year of the reign of King Jeongjong) proves that it existed at least prior to this date. When King Chungsuk ascended to the throne in 1313, its name was changed to Yeonboksa Temple. According to the inscription on the bell, in 1346 the Bell of Yeonboksa Temple was rusty when a Yuan dynasty Chinese bell master on his way home after crafting a bell at Jangansa Temple on Geumgangsan Mountain stopped to produce a new large bell. Dongmunseon (東文選, Anthology of Korean literature) also remarks on this event. Unlike other Buddhist bells from the Goryeo dynasty, the Bell of Yeonboksa Temple (Fig. 15) was created in the Chinese style. Considerably influenced by this example, many bells during the early Joseon period followed this Chinese style rather than a more traditional Korean manner. In the Joseon era, the Bell of Yeonboksa Temple is believed to have been transferred to the Southern Gate of Kaesong (Fig. 16). In Gaoli tujing, Xu Jing describes the bell of Bojesa Temple in detail. “A pair of flying immortals” that he mentions on the body of the bell might have referred to two heavenly beings commonly represented on the body of Goryeo Buddhist bells. His depiction of the bell proves that Bojesa Temple was home to a huge Goryeo-style bell made in 1094 before the Bell of Yeonboksa Temple from 1346. It suggests that the original bell at Bojesa Temple was produced in the traditional Korean style, unlike the later Yeonboksa Temple version. Moreover, in the Gwangtongbojesa Temple Section of the same Volume 17 “Shrines and Temples,” Xu Jing extensively describes buildings, Buddhist sculptures, and pagodas at Gwangtongbojesa Temple. He further states that “there is a large bell across from the priests’ living quarters, but its sound does not echo loudly.” This hints that Bojesa and Gwangtongbojesa Temples are in fact the same temple. Additionally, the fact that Xu Jing mentioned only the bell at Bojesa Temple among the many Buddhist temples in Kaesong indicates that there were only a few bells on the scale of the bell of Bojesa Temple in the city at the time. Fig. 15. Bell of Yeonboksa Temple. Goryeo, 1346. Southern Gate of Kaesong. H. 324 cm Fig. 16. “Southern Gate Pavilion in Gaeseong” in Album of a Journey to Songdo by Kang Sehwang. Joseon. National Museum of Korea Albeit briefly, Gaoli tujing also describes the Buddhist flagpoles (寶幢, bodang) at temples, and the vajras (金剛杵) used as a ritual implement in Esoteric Buddhism during the Goryeo dynasty. The Heungguksa Temple Section in Volume 17 “Shrines and Temples” records: “In the center of the garden, a copper banner pole (幡竿) stands. The diameter of the bottom is 60.6 centimeters, and its height measures about 30 meters … Its upper part is pointed, its body consists of several joined parts, and it has been gilded. The top of the banner pole is shaped like the heads of mythical bonghwang birds (Ch. fenghuang) holding a silk flag. Such poles can be found in other places, but the one at Anhwasa Temple is inscribed with ‘For the long life of the emperor in Great Song.’” This describes a Buddhist flagpole used at a temple. The extensive height of 30 meters and the assembly of joined parts recall other Buddhist flagpoles from the Goryeo dynasty, including the Iron Flagpole at Gapsa Temple and Iron Flagpole at Yongdusa Temple Site (Fig. 17) in Cheongju. However, the description of the flagpole as gilded and decorated with a bonghwang finial suggests that the conventional bronze flagpoles adorned with a dragon head finial, like the example in the collection of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art (Fig. 18), were not the only type produced during the Goryeo period, but that there were also flagpoles with a bonghwang head finial. Although the actual flagpole discussed in Gaoli tujing no longer remains, it is noteworthy that it was called a beongan, a pole for hanging a banner, and that the banner was hung from the mouths of bonghwang. Gaoli tujing could serve as a significant material for the restoration of such a flamboyant flagpole in its original form. Fig. 17. Iron Flagpole at Yongdusa Temple Site. Goryeo, 962. Yongdusa Temple Site, Cheongju. National Treasure No. 41. H. 12.7 cm Fig. 18. Gilt-bronze Miniature Buddhist Flagpole with Dragon Finial. Goryeo. H. 73.8 cm. National Treasure No. 136. Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art Moreover, a brief phrase in the State Preceptor Section of Volume 18 “Daoism” relates: “… a monk who holds a rank higher than guksa (國師, state preceptor) is called wangsa (王師, royal preceptor). When meeting a royal preceptor, even kings bow. Royal preceptors wear a long-sleeved undergarment, a shawl adorned with a landscape, a violet lower garment, a black belt, and shoes with bells, and carry a golden balcha (跋遮).” Here, balcha, namely a vajra, is a Goryeo Buddhist craftwork worthy of notice. Considering that another name for a vajra is vasara (跋折羅, pronounced “baljeolla”), balcha here definitely refers to a vajra. They are presumed to have actually been made of bronze rather than gold. Until now, Esoteric Buddhist ritual implements are considered to have been predominantly produced mostly in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. However, the record in Gaoli tujing indicates that vajras were in use since at least the early twelfth century. In a similar vein, a vajra and vajra bell (Fig. 19) dated to the early twelfth century were recently excavated at the site of Dobongseowon Confucian Academy. Another new and important discovery stemming from Gaoli tujing is that high-ranking monks such as royal preceptors carried a vajra as an attribute. Fig. 19. Vajra and Vajra Bell excavated from Dobongseowon Confucian Academy. Goryeo, 11th century. Vajra: H. 19.5 cm, Vajra Bell: L. 17.7 cm. Seoul Baekje Museum Conclusion Notable characteristics of Goryeo dynasty crafts include the dramatic advances made in najeon chilgi (mother-of-pearl lacquerware) and the diverse applications of metalworking techniques. The originality of Goryeo crafting can be found in inlay. The fundamental forms of incense burners and kundika were based on Chinese counterparts, but the application of silver inlay decorations was an inspiration of Goryeo artisans. In addition to silver inlay, repoussé was often used in silver works and reflects the outstanding metalworking skill developed during the period. Exquisite repoussé technique, which emphasized three-dimensionality by creating a raised design by means of hammering from the reverse side and pressing marginal spaces from the front recalled filigree work. Repoussé established itself as the most remarkable technical trait of Goryeo metalcraft. Only a small portion of Gaoli tujing by Xu Jing describes Goryeo crafts. However, it does discuss various types of craftworks, including mother-of-pearl lacquerware, textiles, wooden wares, and metalwork. In particular, the forms and uses of types of metalworks are explained relatively comprehensively. Xu Jing’s brief comment on “praiseworthy elaboration” reflects the sophistication in mother-of-pearl inlay technique achieved in Goryeo by 1123. Mother-of-pearl lacquerware produced using the superlative daemo bokchae (reverse-side coloring of tortoiseshell) technique is presumed to have been exported abroad. Among textiles, Xu Jing notes embroidered tents and embroidery with images of flowers, birds, and animals. Moreover, for woodcraft, he remarks on tray tables and the red-lacquered wooden pieces used by the royal family and aristocrats since the Goryeo dynasty. The next category of crafts that Xu Jing highlights is metal, which is classified according to its use as incense burners, gwangmyeongdae, bottle and cup sets, jars and cauldrons, and washbasins. Gaoli tujing sheds new light on the incense burners and braziers of the Goryeo dynasty by focusing on their varied shapes, the large-scale production of Boshan Mountain-shaped incense burners modeled after ancient bronzeware, and the uses and forms of braziers with animal legs. Moreover, it provides crucial material for investigating the state of mass production of gwangmyeongdae and various kinds of lighting appliances in 1123, including candles. It can also be demonstrated through Gaoli tujing that water bottles of the era included bronze ewers that began to be produced in abundance from early in the dynasty. It cannot be said for certain, but the banjan (a set consisting of a cup and stand for holding alcohol) mentioned in Gaoli tujing appears to connect to Gilt-silver Flower-shaped Cup and Stand in the National Museum of Korea. In a similar vein, the explanation of juhap, a type of liquor vessel, in Gaoli tujing corresponds to Ewer and Basin in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Both banjan and juhap require further examination. Among the jars and cauldrons discussed in Gaoli tujing, oil bottles bear a resemblance to Silver-gilt Gourd-shaped Bottle in the National Museum of Korea, which also demands further in-depth study. Notably, Gaoli tujing divides Goryeo washbasins, whose designations were obscure until now, into nickel and red copper types. Furthermore, Gaoli tujing mentions only a few examples of Goryeo Buddhist metalworks, including kundika, a large bell hung at Bojesa Temple, a flagpole, and vajra. However, it provides relatively detailed information on ritual ewers, which helps date the ritual ewers of the period. In particular, the lack of reference to the silver inlay technique commonly applied in Goryeo ritual ewers and incense burners suggests that this may not have been fully implemented until around 1164 when the earliest dated incense burner, that of Baegworam Hermitage, was created. In this sense, the records on ritual ewers in Gaoli tujing are invaluable for understanding the development of silver inlay. Moreover, Gaoli tujing indicates that a large bell produced in 1094 and decorated with heavenly beings was hung at Bojesa Temple, which was expanded into Yeonboksa Temple, prior to 1346 when the new bell of Yeonboksa Temple was made. In addition, Gaoli tujing mentions a banner pole standing in the precincts of Heungguksa Temple adorned with a finial in the form of the heads of bonghwang holding a silk banner in their mouths. This information would be useful for restoring Buddhist flagpoles from the time. It has also been newly discovered that Buddhist flagpoles were once called banner poles. Lastly, Gaoli tujing mentions a gilt vajra held by a royal preceptor, which shows that a vajra was considered a monastic attribute from early on. The original illustrations included in Gaoli tujing by Xu Jing have been lost. Moreover, its contents presented from the perspective of a Chinese official are rather peripheral and fragmentary. Nonetheless, it carries meaningful implications in that it offers new perspectives and materials on Goryeo crafts from around 1123 that are otherwise absent or unrecoverable.

Suryukjae (水陸齋), the “rite for deliverance of creatures of water and land,” refers to a Buddhist ritual to placate evil spirits and console lonely souls wandering the waters and land of the earth by guiding them to heaven through dharma lectures and offerings of food. It is both a Buddhist ceremony for directing souls to the next world (薦度, cheondo) and an offering of food to hungry ghosts (施餓鬼會, Siagwihoe), both of which emerged as widespread practices throughout East Asia during the Tang dynasty (618-907). According to the sixth century text Repentance Ritual of the Great Compassion (慈悲道場懺法, Ch.Cibei daochang chanfa), a Suryukjae was first held by Emperor Wu (, r. 502–549) of the Liang dynasty of China. However, this is considered simply an element of the legend surrounding their origin; no record confirms that such rites were actually held prior to the Tang dynasty. In China, Suryukjae (Ch. Shuilu rite) had become firmly established and practiced among the ordinary people during the Song dynasty (960–1279). Its popularity was driven by the ruling class, the Tiantai school of Buddhism, and the followers of the Pure Land cult. In Korea, Suryukjae was being held by the reign of King Gwangjong (光宗，r. 949–975) at the latest. Historical research carried out in Korea on Suryukjae is mainly focused on the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897). Not only does the bulk of the surviving documentary provide evidence on the rite date to that period, but around the final years of Goryeo and early years of Joseon, Suryukjae became an important issue relating to the suppression of Buddhism. While most Buddhist rites were removed from state ceremonies after the foundation of Joseon, Suryukjae, as a ritual praying for the souls of the dead, continued to be held on the grounds that it was needed to help save those suffering from diseases and to assuage public sentiment. Indeed, in 1395 King Taejo (太祖, r. 1392–1398), the founder of the Joseon dynasty, held the first regular state-sponsored Suryukjae to appease the souls of King Gongyang of Goryeo (恭譲王, r. 1389–1392) and other members of the Goryeo royal family. King Sejong (世宗, r. 1418–1450) gradually incorporated the rites held on the forty-ninth day after a person’s death and the Buddhist ancestral memorial rite (忌晨齋, Gisinjae) into Suryukjae, and Suryukjae became the only Buddhist ceremony to be recorded in Joseon’s Gyeongguk daejeon (經國大典, National code) (Fig. 1). Suryukjae continued as the only state-sponsored Buddhist rite during the early Joseon period until its discontinuation in the early sixteenth century under the persecution of Buddhism initiated by King Yeonsangun (燕山君, r. 1494–1506). While Suryukjae had been held by the state and the royal court during the early years of Joseon, it became widely practiced in private homes. The fundamental Suryukjae ritual procedures handed down to the present are said to have been established at this time. Fig. 1. Gyeongguk daejeon. 33.6 x 21.9 cm. National Museum of Korea As a state-sponsored rite of the early Joseon period, Suryukjae is an important research subject for understanding the court ceremonies of the era and the relationship between Buddhism and the state during the first half of the dynasty. Despite the growing body of research on Suryukjae as it were held at the time, it has yet to be confirmed when Suryukjae was first included among the funeral rites of the Joseon court, and indeed proper research on Joseon’s acceptance and adoption of the Buddhist rite remains to be pursued. This paper examines the process of the acceptance of Suryukjae by the state in the first half of the Goryeo dynasty and its broad diffusion during the latter half in order to illuminate how Suryukjae became established as a key component of court funeral rites by the late Goryeo period. It also shows how Suryukjae naturally came to be conducted as a state rite in the early Joseon period by examining its continuity as an official event in the relationship between the state-sponsored Suryukjae held for the funerals of King Gongmin (恭憨王, r. 1351-1374) and his consort Princess Noguk-daejang (魯國大長公主, ?–1365) of Goryeo and Suryukjae included as a part of Joseon state funerals. It is necessary to this end to understand how Suryukjae were conducted during the Goryeo dynasty, so the development of Suryukjae across the Goryeo period and its transmission from China as a state-sponsored rite during the first half of the dynasty is discussed. Next, the diversification of Suryukjae in the latter half of Goryeo is explored and shown how the rite was held with the specific objective of directing souls of the dead to the paradise (cheondo). After reaching this understanding of the context in which Suryukjae was held as a court cheondo rite during the reign of King Gongmin, the paper examines the relationship between state-sponsored Suryukjae during this reign and the Suryukjae held as part of court funeral rites and as a state-sponsored rite during the early Joseon dynasty. Suryukjae in the First Half of Goryeo and the Transmission of Ritual Texts   Buddhist rites accounted for a significant proportion of state-sponsored rites and ceremonies during the Goryeo dynasty and were held on a regular and irregular basis. Some of these rites were held for the first time during this period. The diversification of Buddhist rituals is a distinctive feature of the Buddhist culture of the time and reflects the multiplicity and richness of such faith during the Goryeo period and its importance both to the state and in the everyday lives of the people. Suryukjae is presumed to have been adopted in Goryeo during the tenth century through exchanges with the Wu-Yue Kingdom (907–978) in China. Originating in the Indian Buddhist ritual of making food offerings to hungry ghosts (施 餓鬼會, K. Siagwihoe, Ch. Shieguihui), it became established in China. It is believed that around the tenth century, when the term suryuk (水陸, Ch. shuilu, lit. “water and land”) came to be applied, Suryukjae was distinct from the rite for hungry ghosts. The oldest record of Suryukjae is found in the tract Rectifying the Term “Food Bestowal” (施食正名, Ch. Shishi zhengming) authored by the Song dynasty monk Ciyun Zunshi (慈雲遵式, 964–1032) of the Tiantai school of Buddhism. The rite first became popular in the Wu-Yue region around the tenth century and was established as an independent rite with its prayers and procedures during the Song dynasty when the legend emerged of Emperor Wu of Liang as the creator of Suryukjae and dedicated ritual texts (儀式文, Ch. yishi wen) appeared. When the rite later spread to the provinces and ordinary homes, it became the definitive Buddhist rite of China. Transmission of Suryukjae to Korea soon followed its establishment in China. In this regard, it should be noted that the earliest recorded performance of Suryukjae in Korea dates to the reign of King Gwangjong of Goryeo, that Buddhism during Gwangjong’s reign was characterized by exchanges with the Wu-Yue region, and that the Wu-Yue kingdom is thought to be where Suryukjae first took hold in China. King Gwangjong of Goryeo is renowned for implementing various systems and institutions aimed at strengthening the royal authority and laying the foundation for a robust central government. However, as pointed out by the Goryeo scholar Choe Seungno (崔承老, 927-989) and reported in the record on the nineteenth year of the king’s reign in the Goryeosa (局麗史, History of Goryeo), Gwangjong was criticized in his later years for excessive patronage of Buddhist rites and ceremonies, too often holding the Ceremony of the Release of Fish (放生法會, Bangsaeng beophoe), the Food Offering Rite (功德齋, Gongdeokjae), and others. Choe Seungno particularly censured a Suryukjae held at Gwibeopsa Temple (歸法寺). Gwibeopsa Temple was established in 963 (the fourteenth year of the reign of King Gwangjong), so the rite must have been convened there at some point after that year. One figure who should be noted in this regard is Tanmun (坦文, 900–975 ) (Fig. 2), who was appointed abbot of Gwibeopsa Temple by Gwangjong in 968 to accompany its adoption as a royal temple. Tanmun was an elderly monk of the Hwaeom (Avatamsaka) school of Buddhism who had been closely connected to the Goryeo court since its foundation and had presided over numerous food offering rites for the royal family. Taking all of these conditions together, it can be deduced that the rite criticized by Choe Seungno was held at Gwibeopsa Temple after 968. The status of Gwibeopsa Temple during the reign of King Gwangjong and the conditions in which Suryukjae were held indicate that the rite was still limited to the court at this point and not yet practiced in ordinary homes. Fig. 2. Stele of National Preceptor Beobin (Tanmun). 978. 240 x 116.5 cm During the reign of King Seonjong (宣宗, r. 1083–1094), the Suryukjae ritual text (uisikmun) was introduced to Goryeo and a hall named Suryukdang dedicated to the performance of the rite was built at temples. According to History of Goryeo, Choe Sagyeom (崔士謙) obtained the Suryukjae ritual text from Song China and requested that King Seonjong build a hall where the rite could be held. However, while such a hall was under construction at Bojesa Temple (普濟寺) in the Goryeo capital Gaegyeong during the first month of 1090, a fire broke out in the temple. This indicates that Suryukjae would have been held according to the procedures laid out in the ritual text from the reign of King Seonjong at the latest. It also tells us that Goryeo Buddhist temples included a separate building called a Suryukdang for the purpose of holding the rite. As King Seonjong planned to build such a hall at Bojesa Temple, it appears that, like King Gwangjong, he intended to hold Suryukjae as a state or court ceremony. Moreover, since the hall was being built at the request of Choe Sagyeom, who had obtained the Suryukjae ritual text from China, the building was evidently intended for the performance of Suryukjae according to the Chinese litany. The surviving records go no further on this subject, but based on conditions in Goryeo around 1090 and the manner in which Suryukjae were held in the Song dynasty from where the ritual text was imported, we can gain a rough idea about Goryeo Suryukjae and the halls built for them. Following the Liao (Khitan) invasion of Goryeo in 993 (the twelfth year of the reign of King Seonjong), the Goryeo and Song dynasties repeatedly severed and then resumed official diplomatic ties. During the reign of King Seonjong, when Choe Sagyeom was said to have traveled to Song China, Goryeo sent two missions in 1086, but none over the next five years. It was not until the seventh month of 1090 that Goryeo dispatched another mission. Hence, if Choe Sagyeom traveled to Song as an official envoy, it is likely that he took part in the 1086 mission and presumably brought the Suryukjae ritual text back to Goryeo around that time. This date is important for identifying the Suryukjae ritual text upon which the construction of Suryukdang was based. The period is also of interest as a time of active exchanges of Buddhism and books between the Song and Goryeo dynasties, including contacts between National Preceptor Uicheon (義天, 1055–1101) of Goryeo and his disciples with Song Buddhist figures. Uicheon’s Sinpyeon jejong gyojang chongnok (新編諸宗敎藏總錄), a catalog of all the Buddhist sects’ commentaries on the Tripitaka drawn up during the publication of Gyojang, the canon of doctrinal teachings, includes Shishi xuzhi (施食須知, Essential knowledge on feeding hungry ghosts), a volume on the rite for hungry ghosts written by the Song dynasty monk Renyue (仁岳, 992–1064). Although there are no known examples of the use of Shishi xuzhi as a ritual text or evidence of its being widely distributed in Goryeo society, it has been confirmed that ritual texts on the Rite of Feeding Hungry Ghosts had indeed been transmitted to Goryeo by its middle period. Notably, Choe Sagyeom served as an official called an ilgwan (日官) at the Taesaguk, Goryeo’s bureau of astronomy and divination. Ilgwan officials were specialists in matters related to astronomy, geography, weather observation, water clocks (clepsydra), divination, geomancy (風水, K. pungsu, Ch. fengshui), and calendrical science. As geography and geomancy experts, they were often called upon to decide the site for the construction of a temple, and when a given temple was elevated as a national or royal temple, they were dispatched to take charge of efforts such as funerals or the erection of monuments and stupas. In major state Buddhist ceremonies such as Yeondeunghoe (燃燈會, Lotus Lantern Festival) and Palgwanhoe (八關會, Festival of the Eight Vows), they announced the time or attended the king during the royal procession. They were also involved in rites to avert calamity (祈穰, giyang) and various other state ceremonies. Evidently, overseeing official state Buddhist events and projects made up a large proportion of the work of Taesaguk officials. When Choe Sagyeom went to Song China in the latter half of the eleventh century, the publication of Suryukjae-related texts was flourishing and the ritual was taking root as an independent rite with its own history and ritual texts separate from the Rite of Feeding Hungry Ghosts. The legend had been established that Emperor Wu of Liang had written the first Suryukjae ritual text and held the first such rite. Reflecting this, related buildings such as Shuilutang (水陸堂, K. Suryukdang), Shuiluyuan (水陸院, K. Suryukwon), and Shuiludian (水陸殿, K. Suryukjeon) were built at Song dynasty temples from the eleventh century. “Jinshansi shuilutang ji” (金山寺水陸堂記, Record of Shuilutang at Jinshan Temple) was produced by Zeng Gong (曽鞏) at Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, where Emperor Wu is said to have held the first Suryukjae rite. A temple hall dedicated to Suryukjae was built there in 1049. From “Chengtianyuan ji” (承天院記, “Record of Chengtianyuan”) by Li Gou (李觀), it can be confirmed that a hall for Suryukjae was operated even earlier, around 1036, at Chengtian Temple in Quanzhou, Fujian Province. Additionally, the anthologies of Song literati, such as the poet Mei Yaochen (梅堯臣, 1002–1060) and the scholar-official Ouyang Xiu (歐陽脩, 1007–1072), confirm that separate halls dedicated to Suryukjae were being built within temples during the Song dynasty. In eleventh-century Song China, Suryukjae were actively held in the royal court with support from the scholar-official class. The writer and poet Su Shi (1036–1101) opened a Suryukjae temple in 1093 for his deceased second wife and compiled “Shuilu faxiang zan” (水陸法像贊, Eulogy of the iconography of the Water Land Rite). The historian Sima Guang (司馬光, 1019–1086) held the O#ering Rite to Monks (飯僧會, Ch. Fansenghui, K. Banseunghoe) or Water Land Assembly (水陸大會, Ch. Shuilu dahui, K. Suryukdaehoe) to mark the 49th-day anniversary or first anniversary after death. The Song court also held a Suryukjae in the royal coffin hall (殯殿, Ch. bindian, K. binjeon) on the 49th day after a death and on major seasonal divisions such as the winter solstice, Cold Food Day (寒食, Hansik), or on the death anniversary of a deceased empress, empress dowager, or emperor who had not yet received their temple names. Also, in the belief that disasters and epidemics could be caused by wandering souls caught in bardo, a condition between death and rebirth from which they were unable to reach heaven, the state would hold rites to guide those souls to heaven whenever calamity, plague, or pestilence struck. They would also gather the bodies of any dead who had not been buried and hold Suryukjae for them. In this regard, Suryukjae were in general events organized by the court, the state, or the ruling class during the Song dynasty rather than a rite for ordinary people. Considering Goryeo Suryukjae in relation to the characteristics of Suryukjae held during the eleventh century in Song China, it is likely that Goryeo court during the reign of King Seonjong intended to organize the rite according to the ritual texts that were being circulated through Song China at the time. The fact that the astronomy bureau official Choe Sagyeom brought the Suryukjae ritual text from China and pursued the construction of a Suryukdang as a separate hall for the rite is not unrelated to the role played by ilgwan officials like Choe in forecasting or preventing shifts in the weather under the belief that extraordinary phenomena in the heavens and on land arose out of harmony between yin and yang and the five elements. Also, that a Suryukdang was built by royal command during the reign of King Seonjong and that it was constructed at Bojesa Temple in the capital, Gaegyeong, indicate that Suryukjae had been adopted as a state or royal Buddhist ceremony at the time. The question remains as to the identity of the ritual text brought back from Song by Choe Sagyeom. Despite the lack of documentary evidence, it is highly likely to be either Yang E’s (楊鍔, 974–1020) Ritual Text (儀文, Ch. Yiwen, K. Euimun) or the ritual text compiled by the Tiantai monk Ciyun Zunshi (慈雲遵式, 964–1034), considering the timeframe. The reign of King Seonjong, when the ritual text was adopted and a Suryukdang constructed according to its contents, should be seen as the period when the Goryeo Suryukjae was being systematized, so the rites held at the time would have been almost identical to those held in the Northern Song dynasty. The Northern Song Suryukjae rite is described in detail in Su Shi’s Eulogy of the Iconography of the Water Land Rite. In the ritual as held by Su Shi, the altar contained two tiers serving as an upper and lower altar. Enshrined on the upper altar were eight icons: Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, the Great Bodhisattva, Pratyeka Buddha, the Great Arhat, the Five Transcendentals, Dragongod defending Dharma. Another eight were enshrined on the lower altar: Officials and Minor Officials, Tian (天, Heaven), Asura, Ren (人, Man), Hell, Preta (餓鬼, Hungry Ghosts), the Beast, and Beings Outside the Six Realms, making up sixteen icons in total. This system of upper and lower altars became the customary manner of holding Suryukjae in China during the Song dynasty, and it is highly likely that Goryeo Suryukjae rites based on the ritual text introduced through Northern Song China featured the same composition of upper and lower altars. Diversification of Suryukjae in the Late Goryeo Period Goryeo dynasty records related to the Suryukjae rite begin to increase in number from the period of the Yuan intervention. Compared to records from the first half of Goryeo, predominately limited to History of Goryeo, Suryukjae is mentioned in the latter half of the dynasty in a wider range of texts, including literary anthologies. Moreover, these records describe concrete reasons for holding Suryukjae and relate how the rite was adopted and held as a state ceremony during the early period, but over time emerged as a rite performed by common people. They also confirm that a variety of ritual texts for holding Suryukjae were compiled, published, and distributed. Suryukjaeso (水陸齋疏, Memorial on Suryukjae), written by Cheonchaek (天頙, ?–?), the fourth patriarch of the White Lotus Association (白蓮結社, Baengnyeon Gyeolsa), is the earliest text from the latter Goryeo period to be written on Suryukjae. It is estimated that Cheonchaek held Suryukjae at Baengnyeonsa Temple (白蓮社) (Fig. 3) around the time the war ended with the Mongols, most likely as a rite to guide the souls of in the dead from war to heaven. The fact that Suryukjae were being organized and sponsored by Baengnyeonsa Temple, a temple of the Cheontae (天台, Ch. Tiantai) school of Buddhism, is linked with the traditions of the Song dynasty Tiantai school, which published Suryukjae ritual texts and first systemized the rite. Like Tiantai Buddhism in the Song dynasty, the Cheontae school in Goryeo emphasized repentance according to the ideological and religious characteristics of the White Lotus Association, which pursued the original Tiantai ideas and methods of spiritual practice. Cheonchaek stated in his book that the rite should not be held using state funding, but based on contributions from individuals, which seems to indicate that the Suryukjae at Baengnyeonsa Temple were not state-sponsored events. Fig. 3. Baengnyeonsa Temple (Photograph by the author) Suryukjae held during the latter to late Goryeo period following the recorded Suryukjae at Baengnyeonsa Temple share several characteristics: the rites were held regardless of the school of Buddhism; they were held not only by the court but also by members of the aristocratic official class who regarded them as an important ritual for guiding souls to heaven; and the distinction between Suryukjae and the Mucha Daehoe (無遮大會, Ch. Wuzhe Dahui), or Great Assembly of Non-discrimination, had eroded to the point that the two events were often perceived to be the same. Such changes suggest that the early-Joseon tendency to equate Suryukjae with Mucha Daehoe emerged at this time. When King Chungmok (忠穆王, r. 1344–1348) fell ill in 1348, his mother, Princess Deongnyeong (Irinjinbal, ?–1375), sent former state councilor Yi Haegun to Mt. Cheonmasan to hold a Suryukhoe, or Water Land Assembly, to pray for her son. This is a case of a Suryukjae being held to relieve diseases, indicating a diversification in the purpose of their performance beyond funeral rites or Buddhist ancestral memorial rites. During the reign of King Gongmin, the Seon (Zen) priest Naong Hyegeun (懶翁惠勤, 1320–1376) preached at a state-sponsored Suryukjae held in honor of the deceased consort Princess Noguk-daejang. As a Suryukjae was also held upon the death of King Gongmin, it can be deduced that the rite had been established as a court ritual for guiding the souls of the dead to heaven at least this time. During the latter Goryeo period, Suryukjae were held as a Buddhist ritual for the mourning period in the form of a sermon for the souls of the dead and sentient beings of the six realms. Suryukjae were held for similar purposes by ordinary officials as well. In “Memorial on a Suryukjae Held on the Death Anniversary of a Young Boy” (童子忌日水陸齋疏, Dongja giil suryukjaeso), a text by the late Goryeo-early Joseon civil official Yi Cheom (李詹, 1345–1405) about Suryukjae held on the anniversary of the death of a son at the age of five, Yi prays not only for the soul of his son, but also for other souls to be guided to heaven through the rite. He prayed for all sentient and non-sentient beings, including souls who died after being attacked by a tiger or falling, souls who died on a roadside, bleached bones blown about by the wind and rolling in the sand, creatures with wings, and creatures with scales, to be freed from all kleshas (mental states that disturb the mind) and attain enlightenment. Finally, he prayed for the happiness of his young son in the other world. Suryukjae were also held actively in the Seon (禪, Ch. Chan, J. Zen) school of Buddhism. Evidence of this is found in Newly Compiled Text for the Water Land Ceremony (新編水陸儀文, Sinpyeon suryuk uimun), collected by Ven. Hongu (混丘, 1251–1322), one of Goryeo’s most famous Seon monks. In the latter half of the Goryeo period, Seon monks wrote prayers or memorials for their deceased teachers and parents, or for others upon request, for use in funeral or memorial rites. Most of these prayers expressed wishes that the deceased attain enlightenment and meet Amitabha Buddha, who resides in the Pure Land, and basically emphasized the concept of the mind-only Pure Land, that is, “the Pure Land is the mind.” There is no mention of sentient beings in the Six Realms of Samsara or any expression of concern for the Six Realms of Samsara or Hell in the prayers (祭文, jemun) or memorials (疏文, somun) written by Seon monks. However, the fact that the prominent Seon monk Hongu published a ritual text related to the performance of Suryukjae is an indication that shifts took place within the Seon school itself. Moreover, as the title shows, the ritual text that he wrote was a newly compiled edition, or sinpyeon. This book has been lost in history and its contents cannot be clearly confirmed, but if a figure such as Hongu compiled and published a Suryukjae ritual text, it must mean that Suryukjae were indeed being held irrespective of the school of Buddhism during the latter half of Goryeo. The Goryeo monk Jugam Yugong (竹菴 猷公) identified the differences among existing Suryukjae ritual texts and published Jungnyemun (中禮文), a simplified version of Zikui's (仔夔) Tiandi mingyang shuilu yiwen (天地冥陽水陸儀文) from the Jin dynasty in China (Fig. 4). Fig. 4. Cheonji myeongyang suryuk euimun (Jungnyemun). Published in 1533 at Songgwangsa Temple. 25.1 x 18.9 cm (Photograph by the author) Suryukjae were also broadly popular in the Yuan dynasty and held in the capital of Dadu and Huabei (Northern China), from where they spread across the country. In records such as History of Yuan (元史, Yuanshi) or Biographies of Prominent Monks of the Great Ming (大明高僧傳, Daoming gaosen zhuan), there are many examples of Suryukjae being sponsored by the Yuan court. The court sponsored Suryukjae in Dadu and on Mt. Wutai and built Suryukjae halls around the Huabei region. The Suryukjae ritual text was also republished several times by Yuan monks. Journey to the West (西遊記, Xiyouji), which was completed during the Yuan period, shows how widespread Suryukjae had become among the ordinary people. In the fourteenth century, many Goryeo monks and other individuals returned from long periods of residence in Yuan China and experiences with Yuan Buddhism, giving rise to a new ambiance in their home country. This situation can be seen as the background for the broad popularity of Suryukjae in the late Goryeo period, a time when diverse ritual texts were being compiled or published. In addition, while it is unknown whether the ritual text brought back to Goryeo by Choe Sagyeom in the early part of the dynasty was later distributed, a wide variety of Suryukjae ritual texts were published during the Joseon dynasty, particularly in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, based on the ritual texts that had been adopted or published during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. State-sponsored Suryukjae as Part of Royal Funeral Rites during the Reign of King Gongmin Two of the points discussed above should be noted regarding the performance of Suryukjae in the latter half of Goryeo: of the fact that Suryukjae were held as part of funeral rites to guide to heaven not only the deceased but also the sentient beings of the six realms provides clear evidence that Suryukjae had been established as an important funeral rite; and the Seon priest Naong Hyegeun (Fig. 5) presiding over state-sponsored Suryukjae in the late Goryeo period as a royal rite for guiding souls to heaven. Fig. 5. Naong gip. 26 x 16.8 cm. National Museum of Korea After receiving the dharma from Dhyanabhadra (指空, Zhikong) and Pingshan Chulin (平山處林) in Yuan China, Naong returned to Goryeo in 1358 (the seventh year of the reign of King Gongmin). He received royal orders in 1361, to travel to Gaegyeong, where he lectured on the dharma and was appointed abbot of Singwangsa Temple (神光寺) in Haeju. When King Gongmin’s consort Princess Noguk-daejang died in the second month of 1365, Naong presided over a state-sponsored Suryukjae rite. King Gongmin mourned Princess Noguk-daejang deeply and held a grand funeral in her honor that continued for a considerable period. Unlike the funerals for other queens of Goryeo, this one is described in relative detail in History of Goryeo, which also contains a reference to the words of Naong Hyegeun (Fig. 6). At the funeral, Naong preached his “Sermon on the Six Gati Starting with Suryukjae.” The exact date of this state-sponsored Suryukjae rite during which Naong Hyegeun offered a series of sermons on the six gati (道, destinies of rebirth), transfer of merit, and lecturing to the souls of deceased ones, is unknown. However, the fact that the small assembly for lecturing to the souls of deceased ones took place in the royal coffin hall indicates that the Suryukjae must have been held during the period when the coffin hall was active, falling between the second month of 1365 when the queen died and the Injin day in the fourth month when she was buried at Jeongneung. Fig. 6. Portrait of Three Priests (Jigong, Naong, and Muhak). Naong is on the right. 1782. Color on silk. 121.7 x 241.4 cm. Daegoksa Temple in Euseong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do According to History of Goryeo, rites for the dead were held every seven days after the queen’s death, and the funeral took place on the forty-ninth day at her tomb, Jeongneung. This confirms that the tradition of Chilchiljae (七七齋, literally “seven-seven rites”) was being observed, which meant that rites were performed every seven days, and the funeral was held on the occasion of the seventh rite. The holding of a Suryukjae as part of Chilchiljae means that it constituted one of the procedures of the funeral rites. It should be noted that the funeral of Princess Noguk-daejang is the first among the recorded funerals of Goryeo kings and queens to have been conducted with the full set of seven rites over forty-nine days. When King Gongmin died in the ninth month of 1374, a Suryuk assembly was held on the sixteenth day of the twelfth month of the year to guide his soul to heaven. On that occasion, Naong Hyegeun held the small assembly for lecturing to the souls of deceased ones and preached a sermon on the six gati. If we calculate the day on which the Suryukjae was conducted, it appears to have been held separately from the rites on the forty-ninth or one-hundredth day after death. While it is unclear whether rites for King Gongmin were held every seventh day until the forty-ninth day, this is likely to have been the case considering that they were held for Princess Noguk-daejang and in the royal funerals immediately after the foundation of Joseon. Hence, the funerals of Princess Noguk-daejang and King Gongmin can be considered to be characterized by the performance of Chilchiljae and Suryukjae and by the fact that the ceremonies were presided over by the monk Naong Hyegeun. The Suryukjae held for Princess Noguk-daejang is particularly notable as the first state-sponsored Suryukjae confirmed in historical records. The common features of the state funerals for Princess Noguk-daejang and King Gongmin (Fig. 7) attest to the adoption of Suryukjae as an element in state funeral rites during the reign of King Gongmin of Goryeo. In addition, given that one of the major Buddhist priests of the day, Naong Hyegeun, presided over the state-sponsored ceremony, Suryukjae appears to have been established as both part of the royal funeral rites and as a royal rite to guide souls to heaven. The state sponsorship of Suryukjae indicates that they were held as official state events in accordance with the attendant norms and with all expenses borne by the state, further underlining how Suryukjae had been adopted as a formal aspect of state funerals. Fig. 7. Portrait of King Gongmin and Princess Noguk-daejang. Joseon. Color on paper. 99.2 x 82.5 cm. National Palace Museum of Korea With Naong Hyegeun overseeing the Buddhist component of King Gongmin’s funeral, which took place nine years after the death of Princess Noguk-daejang, the two funerals would likely have been much the same, at least in terms of Buddhist ceremony. History of Goryeo makes special mention of the state funeral of Princess Noguk-daejang being modeled on the funeral for Princess Jeguk-daejang, the consort of King Chungnyeol (忠烈王, r. 1274–1308) of Goryeo. Due to the scarcity of pertinent materials, the details of Princess Jeguk-daejang’s funeral are unknown. However, based on the fact that Princess Noguk-daejang was the first to be given the title “daejang princess” (a posthumous title for wives of Goryeo kings who were of Yuan origin, indicating the highest level of kinship with Yuan) after Princess Jeguk-daejang and Princess Gyeguk-daejang (the consort of King Chungseon [忠宣王, r. 1275–1325]), and that her funeral was modeled on that of Princess Jeguk-daejang, it is thought that Princess Noguk-daejang’s funeral would have differed in some way to the funerals of previous figures of the Yuan intervention period. Given that systems and institutions were being reorganized during the reign of King Gongmin, the funeral of Princess Noguk-daejang, the only state funeral conducted during this period, would likely have provided a model for the Goryeo royal funerals that followed. Meanwhile, having arrived in the Buddhist milieu of the capital under the patronage of King Gongmin, Naong Hyegeun maintained close relations with the king and royal court of Goryeo. The king’s strong support allowed him to take on the role of royal preceptor, and he presided over Buddhist rites at state funerals through the reigns of both Gongmin and his successor King U (禑王, r. 1374–1388). Thanks in large part to his active involvement in royal funerals, Naong Hyegeun and his disciples maintained leadership of the late Goryeo and early Joseon Buddhist community in close connection with the royal court. King Gongmin and Princess Noguk-daejang were the last rulers of Goryeo to be buried with a full state funeral (Fig. 8). As these funerals were directly observed and attended by the power elite who later founded Joseon and arranged its cultural systems and institutions, they provided a model for a royal funeral for the founders of the new dynasty. Immediately after Joseon’s establishment, the ruling forces intended to reorganize the state Buddhist rites held during Goryeo, but funeral rites were an area that could not be easily reformed. Furthermore, the Confucian cultural institutions that were adopted in the early Joseon period had yet to be fully delineated. This meant that when inauspicious rites (funeral rites) had to be held suddenly, there would have been little choice but to organize them according to Goryeo precedents. Joseon royal funeral rites would, therefore, have been reorganized gradually across the process of holding several state funerals and emplacing related cultural systems. Fig. 8. Hyeolleung (Tomb of King Gongmin) and Jeongneung (Tomb of Princess Noguk-daejang) in Kaesong Starting with the funeral of Queen Sindeok in 1396 (the fifth year of the reign of King Taejo), when the founders of Joseon were first faced with the task of holding a state funeral, they were most discomfited by the Buddhist ritual components which remained intact in royal funerals. Buddhist rituals were mainly represented by the rite for guiding the soul to heaven (薦度齋, Cheondojae). As a Buddhist-style expression of the Confucian value of filial piety, this would have been difficult to sever from the funeral procedures. Moreover, because Confucian ideology and systems were not yet fully assimilated, there was an inherent con$ict in the funeral rituals between the public perspective of the need to lead the nation based on the Confucian ideology, and the private perspective of wishing to properly send off parents or children. Amid this discord, samhaeng and the establishment of dogam and saek provide evidence of elements from the funeral rites for Princess Noguk-daejang held in the late Goryeo period being maintained in early Joseon state funerals. This is apparent through a comparison of records on Princess Noguk-daejang’s funeral in History of Goryeo with those on Queen Sindeok’s (神德王后) funeral in the Annals of King Taejo (Taejo sillok) and those on King Taejo’s (Fig. 9) funeral in the Annals of King Taejong (Taejong sillok). The rites for the funeral of Princess Noguk-daejang were composed of “three acts,” or samhaeng, meaning they were composed of three events: the state-sponsored rite held officially by the government, the internal rite held privately within the court, and the bureaucratic rite held by the court officials making up the Supreme Council of State (Dopyeonguisa [都評議使司] or Dodang [都堂]). This tripartite system was applied for the funeral of Queen Sindeok, the first state funeral of the Joseon era. When the rites marking the second year after the death (大祥齋, daesangjae) for Queen Sindeok were held at Heungcheonsa Temple (興天寺) in Hanyang, the capital of Joseon, in 1398 (the seventh year of the reign of King Taejo), a separate ceremony was performed by the Dodang on the same day at Heungboksa Temple (興福寺). The rite of Heungboksa Temple by the Dodang corresponds to the Dopyeonguisa ceremony mentioned in History of Goryeo. In the fifth month of 1411 (the eleventh year of the reign of King Taejong [太宗, r. 1367–1422]), when the court hosted a private memorial rite (gisinjae) for the deceased King Taejo at Heungdeoksa Temple (興德寺), some meritorious subjects (功臣, gongsin) also held a separate memorial rite. It is said that some of them requested that King Taejong distribute incense to the attendants. Therefore, we conclude that the memorial rite held for King Taejo at Heungdeoksa Temple also consisted of two acts: an internal ceremony put on privately by the court and a council ceremony held by the meritorious subjects. For the state funeral of Princess Noguk-daejang, temporary organizations—four dogam (都監, special office or superintendency) and thirteen saek (色, task force)—were set up to manage the event. These temporary offices continued to be established for state funerals until the system was abolished in 1420 (the second year of the reign of King Sejong). Fig. 9. Portrait of King Taejo. 1872. Color on silk. 218 x 150cm. Gyeonggijeon The performance of Suryukjae as part of the funeral rites and Buddhist ancestral memorial rites of the court and the fact that they were comprised of three separate ceremonies are surviving Goryeo elements found in early Joseon royal funerals. However, these Goryeo-style Buddhist elements were not repeated in all funeral rites. They were stressed or deemphasized according to the times and based on the extent of the current ruler’s intention to suppress Buddhism in favor of Confucianism. The Buddhist elements surviving in Joseon royal memorial rites as traces of the royal funeral procedures of Goryeo, were simplified and incorporated into Suryukjae during the reign of King Sejong when a wide variety of systems and institutions were reorganized. They were finally excluded from royal funerals altogether during the reign of King Yeonsangun. As a rite to guide souls to heaven during the late Goryeo and early Joseon period, Suryukjae had become established within the royal funeral rites and Buddhist ancestral rites of the Goryeo court by the reign of King Gongmin at the latest. During the early Joseon period, they were recognized as the main royal Buddhist rite for guiding souls to heaven and held as an official state-sponsored ceremony. These official Suryukjae were also a rite to appease vengeful spirits. The first state-sponsored Suryukjae to be held after the foundation of Joseon were those that took place at three temples around the country in 1395 (the fourth year of the reign of King Taejo): at Gwaneumgul Grotto in Gaegyeong; Gyeonamsa Temple in Geoje; and Samhwasa Temple in Samcheok. These rites were held to appease the souls of the Goryeo royalty who were killed during the process of the establishment of Joseon. These Suryukjae were held as a rite to appease vengeful spirits and guide the souls of those who died unjustly to heaven. The state sponsorship of these ceremonies attests to the establishment of Suryukjae as the most common rite for guiding souls to heaven and appeasing vengeful spirits in the late Goryeo and early Joseon period. Conclusion During the Goryeo dynasty, Buddhist thought and faith diversified and active exchanges were held with Buddhist circles in other countries, leading to an increase in the performance of new Buddhist rites. Some of these rites were adopted as state rituals and spread to the common people over time, continuing throughout the Joseon dynasty even to the present, Suryukjae being the primary example (Fig. 10). The relationship between how Suryukjae were held during Goryeo and Joseon is important for understanding how this rite was convened in Korea. Moreover, the issue of Goryeo’s adoption and performance of Suryukjae is also significant in the context of the Buddhist exchanges between Goryeo and China and their influence. Fig. 10. Suryukjae held at Samhwasa Temple It is presumed that Suryukjae were transmitted to Goryeo from China through Buddhist exchanges with Wu-Yue during the reign of King Gwangjong, and were held as a state or royal Buddhist rite. During the reign of King Seonjong, the Suryukjae ritual text was introduced to Goryeo from the Song dynasty. The king accordingly commanded that a Suryukdang, a hall dedicated to the performance of the rite, be constructed at a temple, indicating that Suryukjae were being adapted as a Goryeo state rite. Judging by the status of the two temples at the time, the fact that King Gwangjong held a Suryukjae rite at Gwibeopsa Temple and that a Suryukdang was constructed by order of King Seonjong at Bojesa Temple indicate that the adoption and reorganization of Suryukjae during the first half of Goryeo were driven by the state as they were being held as either a state-sponsored or royal rite. In the latter half of Goryeo, changes took place in the parties holding the rite. Records show that diverse Suryukjae ritual texts were published at the time, reflecting the spread of Suryukjae to the ordinary people and the frequency of their performance. Suryukjae are also characterized by their transcendence of schools of Buddhism and the diversity of the purposes involved, for example both for combatting epidemics and for guiding souls to heaven. Suryukjae were thus adopted as a rite to guide souls to heaven and included as one of the procedures for funeral rites. This point confirms that from at least the latter part of the dynasty, Suryukjae were widely being held among the ordinary people of Goryeo. This contradicts the existing literature that suggests the ritual only became widespread during the Joseon dynasty when it was officially adopted as the Buddhist ancestral rite of the royal court and held as a state-sponsored event. During the reign of King Gongmin of Goryeo, Suryukjae had become established as both a state funeral rite and a royal rite for guiding souls to heaven. The early Joseon court later adopted it as a funeral rite and as a Buddhist ancestral rite. It was maintained in this format until the reorganization of royal funeral rites as Confucian rituals. Changes to Suryukjae during the reign of King Gongmin were first seen in the funeral for Princess Noguk-daejang, which later became the model for Goryeo royal funerals, a format that was sustained until royal funeral rites were newly organized based on Confucian principles during the early Joseon dynasty. The performance of Suryukjae as a royal court rite during the reign of King Gongmin and as a state-sponsored ritual calls attention to the role of Royal Preceptor Naong Hyegeun, who maintained a close relationship with the court at the time. Naong Hyegeun presided over many rites such as Suryukjae to guide souls to heaven, as confirmed in the writings that he left behind, and this point should be considered in relation to shifts within the Seon school of Buddhism during the late Goryeo period when the Pure Land faith was beginning to flourish.

Research on late-Goryeo Buddhist sculpture has mainly focused on the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century wooden and gilt-bronze Buddhist sculptures that are datable through an analysis of the objects inserted inside them. These sculptures have served as invaluable materials for Buddhist art history, buddhology, and bibliology given that they are exquisitely sculpted, bear inscriptions on their production and regilding, and contain sacred objects such as writings and dharani invocations. Accordingly, a wide range of investigations, including analyses on the stylistic lineages of Buddhist sculpture, their commissioners, and their production techniques, have been conducted since the 1980s, considerably broadening the study of Goryeo dynasty Buddhist sculpture. Moreover, sacred objects that had been inserted inside early-fourteenth-century sculptures of Amitabha Buddha and Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva that no longer exist have provided key data for studies on Buddhist art history, buddhology, bibliology, and costume history during the Goryeo dynasty. This article examines the characteristics and production backgrounds of the thirteenth-century Amitabha Buddha sculptures of the late-Goryeo period by focusing on the Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha at Gaesimsa Temple (開心寺) in Seosan, of which the wooden plug for inserting sacred objects has been recently investigated; the Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha sculpture at Suguksa Temple (守國寺) in Seoul, the excavated relics from which have been newly researched; the ink inscriptions on sacred objects of the Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha at Gaeunsa Temple (開運寺) in Seoul; and the Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha from Bongnimsa Temple (鳳林寺) in Gyeonggi-do Province. Wooden Seated Sculptures of Amitabha Buddha and the Ink Inscriptions on their Excavated Relics Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha at Gaesimsa Temple and the Ink Inscription on the Wooden Plug for Sealing in the Objects The Daeungbojeon Hall in the precincts of Gaesimsa Temple, located in Seosan-si in Chungcheongnam-do Province, was repaired in 1484 in the early Joseon period. It enshrines a triad made up of a Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha, Standing Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, and Standing Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (Fig. 1). The two attending Bodhisattva sculptures are presumed to have been added after the sculpting of the main Buddha figure since they are larger and differ from it in formal terms. Moreover, considering that a Daeungbojeon Hall commonly enshrines Sakyamuni Buddha as its principal figure, it appears that the Amitabha triad currently enshrined in Gaesimsa Temple’s Daeungbojeon Hall were moved when the temple was repaired. Fig. 1. Wooden Amitabha Buddha Triad of Gaesimsa Temple. Goryeo and Joseon. Research Institute of Buddhist Cultural Heritage The main image, the Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha, is sitting with his body leaning forward (Fig. 2-1). He has narrow and roundly drooping shoulders and pinches his thumb and middle finger together to make a preaching mudra (說法印). He also has a precious stone in his ushnisha (頂上髻珠) and another at the base of a hemispherical protuberance (中髻珠), which blurs the boundary between the head and the protuberance. The dignified and merciful visage of this Amitabha Buddha is marked by a broad forehead, half-open eyes, a sharp nose, a clear philtrum, soft lips, and plump cheeks. Notably, the eyes made of crystals are inserted into the front wooden block of the head from the back side. This technique of setting crystal eyes into perforated eye-sockets from within is found among wooden and dry-lacquered Buddhist sculptures from the late Goryeo and early Joseon periods. Fig. 2-1. Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Gaesimsa Temple. Goryeo, regilt in 1280. Research Institute of Buddhist Cultural Heritage The remarkable modeling of this Seated Amitabha Buddha is most clearly demonstrated in the drapery folds. The hems of the large outer monastic robe, which are folded several times over his left shoulder, the zig-zag ends of the robe over the hems, and the small omega-shaped folds of the drapery finely cascading from the shoulder are all elegantly carved (Fig. 2-2). Below its broad chest, a knot resembling the Chinese character for eight binds the inner garment. The skirt of the large outer monastic robe covering the crossed legs is folded four times and set over the ankle. More than half of the right leg is covered with the skirt of the large outer monastic robe, which is neatly and spaciously carved. From its details to the facial expression, this Amitabha Buddha sculpture at Gaesimsa Temple demonstrates the greatest sculptural maturity among the surviving wooden Buddhist sculptures from the late Goryeo period. Fig. 2-2. Detail of the Large Outer Monastic Robe over the Left Shoulder of Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Gaesimsa Temple. Research Institute of Buddhist Cultural Heritage Fig. 2-3. Right View of Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Gaesimsa Temple. Research Institute of Buddhist Cultural Heritage The specific background of the production of the Amitabha Buddha at Gaesimsa Temple remain unknown since the repositories hidden inside the sculpture have not yet been examined. However, an ink inscription on repairs made to the sculpture in 1280 (Fig. 3) was found in the inner portion of the wooden plug used to close the hole in the bottom of the sculpture through which sacred objects were inserted, providing details of this repair. Although some characters have vanished or are illegible, the inscription can be read as follows: Fig. 3. Ink Inscription on the Wooden Plug for Sealing Objects inside Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Gaesimsa Temple. Research Institute of Buddhist Cultural Heritage “至元十七年庚辰十一月 十四日別立僧齋色 修補開心社堂主 量壽如來 法回 金▣白▣ 內侍試興威衛長史宋▣ □□□內侍別雜□朴▣.” (On the fourteenth day of the eleventh month of the Gyeongjin year, a temporarily established Seungjaesaek repaired the principal [deity], Amitabha Buddha, of the [Geum]dang Hall at Gaesimsa Temple. [Participants in this project include] Beophoe, Kim [illegible]baek, [illegible], Mr. Song, who serves as Naesi and Jangsa at Heungwiwi, [illegible], and [illegible] Mr. Bak [illegible], who serves as [illegible] and Naesi.) This inscription informs that the Seated Amitabha Buddha sculpture, the main image in the Geumdang (Main Hall) at Gaesimsa Temple, was repaired in 1280 (the sixth year of the reign of King Chungryeol). In this inscription, Gaesimsa Temple is recorded as “開心社” (Gaesimsa Association) instead of “開心寺” (Gaesimsa Temple), which indicates that at least some Buddhist temples of the Goryeo dynasty were thought to bear a nature more similar to associations (社, sa). The inscription further reveals that the Amitabha Buddha was produced as the principal deity for the main hall at Gaesimsa Temple. The names of the figures who participated in the repair project are also noted. Most of these names are illegible, but at least “Beophoe” (法回), the name of a monk, can be identified. Moreover, the inscription states that the chief agent for the repairing project was a temporarily established office named Seungjaesaek (僧齋色). Seungjaesaek was mentioned in the Sutra of Daehwasu (大華手經, Skt. Kushala-mūla-wsaṃgraha sūtra; K. Daehwasugyeong), revised and republished by this Seungjaesaek in 1287 (the 13th year of the reign of King Chungryeol) and found among the excavated relics inside the Gilt-bronze Seated Amitabha Buddha at Munsusa Temple (文殊寺) in Seosan; the colophon, including “engraved by Seungjaesaek” (僧齋色刻板) in Volume 7 of the Lotus Sutra (妙法蓮華經, Skt. Saddharma-puṇḍarīka sūtra; K. Myobeop yeonhwagyeong) printed in 1288 (the 14th year of the reign of King Chungryeol); and Dharani of the Seal on the Casket of the Secret Whole-Body Relic of the Essence of All Tathagatas (一切如來心秘密全身舍利寶篋印陀羅尼, Skt. Sarvatathāgatadhiṣṭhānahṛdayaguhyadhātu karaṇḍamudrā dhāraṇī; K. Ilche yeorae sim bimil jeonsin sari nohyeopin darani) published by Seungjaesaek in 1292 (the 18th year of the reign of King Chungryeol) and found among the excavated relics inside an Amitabha Buddha created in 1302 (currently in the collection of Onyang Folk Museum). Thus, this Seungjaesaek is presumed to have been a government office established during the reign of King Chungryeol (忠熱王) that was responsible for publishing Buddhist scriptures, repairing Buddhist temples, regilding and repairing Buddhist sculptures, and performing Buddhist rituals. The inscription regarding its repair project on the Amitabha Buddha sculpture at Gaesimsa Temple provides the earliest mention of the activities of the Seungjaesaek. According to the ink inscription on the Amitabha Buddha at Gaesimsa Temple, the individuals in charge of its repair project are thought to have been a person from the Song family who held positions as a palace attendant (內侍, Naesi) and Jangsa (長史) in the central army Heungwiwi (興威衛) as well as military officers under the command of this Song. During the Goryeo dynasty, one of the many duties of Naesi included the supervision of construction laborers. It seems reasonable to surmise that a palace attendant would assume responsibility for supervising a project for repairing a Buddhist sculpture. Outside of military drilling and mobilization for the prevention of flooding, since the Heungwiwi was tasked mainly with construction projects during peacetime, it is presumed to have been responsible for repairing the Amitabha Buddha sculpture at Gaesimsa Temple. Given that the project of repairing the Amitabha Buddha sculpture at Gaesimsa Temple was supervised by the Seungjaesaek and managed by a figure who served as Naesi and as Jangsa of the central army, this project might have been connected to the royal court of the Goryeo dynasty. In 1279, a year before the implementation of this project, King Chungryeol sent his eldest son Wang Ja (王滋), whose mother was Jeongsinbuju Lady Wang (貞信府主 王氏), to Dongsimsa Temple (東深寺) in Aju (present-day Asan) in Chungcheongnam-do Province. Four years later, the king summoned him to Gaegyeong. Wang Ja, also known as Lord Gangyang (江陽公), was the eldest among the three princes sired by King Chungryeol. However, he was not a son of the Mongolian Princess Jeguk (齊國公主), the official wife of King Chungryeol, so he was ineligible to ascend the throne. King Chungryeol, therefore, dispatched him to Asan for his safety. The repair project is believed to have been conducted while Wang Ja was residing there. Thus, at the time, Aju and Seoju (present-day Seosan) must have been considered important. The temples in these regions, including Gaesimsa Temple, must have been related to the Goryeo royal court in Gaegyeong. Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha at Gaeunsa Temple and the Prayer Texts on its Creation and Regilding The Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha (Fig. 4), enshrined at Gaeunsa Temple in Anam-dong, Seoul is almost 115.5 centimeters in height, relatively large compared to other wooden sculptures from the era. A great volume of sacred objects was inserted inside, including a Goryeo-period handwritten copy of Flower Garland Sutra (華嚴經, Skt. Avataṃsaka sūtra; K. Hwaeomgyeong)) and various writings and dharanis from the Goryeo and Joseon periods. Other objects include a prayer text written by Monk Junggan (中幹) about the repairs to the Amitabha Buddha in 1274 (Fig. 5); the document on producing repositories inside the sculpture, which was written by Choe Chun (崔椿) in 1322 (Fig. 6); and a repair prayer text written by Cheonjeong (天正) and Hyeheung (惠興), monks at Chukbongsa Temple (鷲峰寺), in 1322 (Fig. 7). According to these documents, Monk Junggan funded the regilding of the damaged Amitabha Buddha in 1274 by selling a horse that he had cherished. They further state that Cheonjeong and Hyeheung of Chukbongsa Temple repaired it again in 1322. This indicates that about fifty years after Monk Junggan’s regilding, Amitabha Buddha of Gaeunsa Temple was regilt and repaired once again. Fig. 4. Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Gaeunsa Temple. Goryeo, 1274. Gaeunsa Temple. Cultural Heritage Administration Fig. 5. Monk Junggan’s Prayer Text on the Repair of Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Gaeunsa Temple. Goryeo, 1274. Gaeunsa Temple. Cultural Heritage Administration Fig. 6. Choe Chun’s Writing on Producing the Repositories inside Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Gaeunsa Temple. Goryeo, 1322. Gaeunsa Temple (Photograph by the author) Fig. 7. Prayer Text Written by Cheonjeong and Hyeheung, Monks at Chukbongsa Temple, on the Repair of Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Gaeunsa Temple. Goryeo, 1322. Gaeunsa Temple (Photograph by the author) The Amitabha Buddha at Gaeunsa Temple is seated with the body leaning forward, has narrow, drooping, rounded shoulders, and offers the preaching mudra with his hands. The hemispherical protuberance on his head is wide, obscuring the boundary between the two. His plump cheeks, long and slender half-open eyes, long, high nose with a bent ridge, and small lips are all realistically sculpted. The drapery folds of the large outer monastic robe covering the left shoulder are similar to those of the Amitabha Buddha at Gaesimsa Temple. An X-ray scan of the Amitabha Buddha at Gaeunsa Temple revealed that the sculpture was made of wood from a coniferous tree with a vertical wood grain. Moreover, it found that crystal eyes had been set into the perforated eye-sockets from within, as seen in the sculpture at Gaesimsa Temple. It was also discovered that the spiraled curls of hair were not made from wood, but of soil mixed with sawdust and glue, perhaps for its plasticity. The Buddha’s body was produced by joining multiple blocks of wood. The opening of the repair prayer text written in the fourth month of 1274 (Fig. 6) provides information on Gaeunsa Temple enshrining the Amitabha Buddha as follows: Monk Junggan in Dongsimjeop in the Goryeo dynasty in Jambudvipa offers a prayer to the disciples of the Buddha (奉 佛弟子 南贍部洲 高麗國 東深接 大師 中幹願). Here, the location of “Dongsimjeop” is not specified. However, the repair prayer text from 1322 mentions the region of Aju (牙州) in the following sentence: Cheonjeong and Hyeheung, monks from Chukbongsa Temple in Aju (present-day Asan) in the Goryeo dynasty in Jambudvipa, repair [this sculpture] with utmost sincerity and respect to the disciples of the Buddha (遺 佛弟子 南贍部洲 高麗國 牙州 鷲峰寺 依止道人 天正 惠興 懇發誠心敬修成). Hence, Dongsimjeop is presumed to have referred to the region around Dongsimsan Mountain in Asan that was marked in the Mountain and River Section of Volume 20 “Asan” of Newly Augmented Geographical Survey of Korea (新增東國輿地勝覽, Sinjeung Dongguk yeoji seungnam). The document on the production of sacred objects inserted in the Gaeunsa Temple sculpture was written by Choe Chun, who made an offering of a roll of fine hemp cloth in 1322 when the sculpture was repaired. According to this document, “Choe Chun living in 1-ri of Jinsajeong-dong in Jung-bu in the Goryeo dynasty in Jambudvipa offers [the sculpture] to disciples of the Buddha ” (奉 佛弟子 南贍部洲 高麗國 中部屬 進士井洞 一里居住 崔椿). “1-ri of Jinsajeong-dong” is thought to mean one of the 75 Ri (里) villages of the eight Bang (坊) quarters of the Jung-bu District, one of the five districts of Gaegyeong. This suggests that Choe Chun participated in the project of repairing the sculpture in Asan as a visitor from the capital Gaegyeong. However, it is also possible that Choe Chun was originally from Asan but was living in Gaegyeong at the time. The beginning of the repair prayer text (Fig. 7) written by Cheonjeong and Hyeheung, the monks of Chukbongsa Temple, states that it was not monks from Dongsimjeop but from Chukbongsa Temple who were responsible for repairing the sculpture, calling for an examination of how Dongsimjeop is related to Chukbongsa Temple. The Newly Augmented Geographical Survey of Korea records that Dongsimsan Mountain is situated 1.95 kilometers east of Aju-hyeon. Moreover, according to the Buddhist Hall Section of Newly Augmented Geographical Survey of Korea, Dongsimsa Temple was situated on Yeonamsan Mountain, 11.31 kilometers east of Aju-hyeon (present-day Sodong-ri and Dongam-ri in Eumbong-myeon). Another Chukbongsa Temple, whose name uses the different Chinese characters “縮鳳寺” is located on Dongnimsan Mountain, which is positioned 2.73 kilometers south of Aju-hyeon (present-day Seowon-ri and Gangcheong-ri in Yeomchi-eup). These records make it clear that Dongsimsa Temple and Chukbongsa Temple are set in different locations. Moreover, according to the Temple Section in the Aju Gazetteer (牙州邑誌, Aju eupji) published in the nineteenth century, “Dongsimsa Temple on Dongsimsan Mountain was ruined,” which shows that Dongsimsa Temple was located in the Dongsimsan Mountain area. A map included in the Aju Gazetteer and a provincial map produced in 1872 during the late Joseon period all mark Dongnimsan Mountain as close to Aju-hyeon on the east and place Dongsimsan Mountain to the south at the same distance as noted in the Newly Augmented Geographical Survey of Korea. This adds evidence that Dongsimsan and Dongnimsan Mountains are in fact different sites. Based on all these records, it can be inferred that either a Buddhist sculpture enshrined at Dongsimsa Temple on Dongsimsan Mountain at the foot of Yeonamsan Mountain was moved to Chukbongsa Temple and repaired around 1322 or that monks from Chukbongsa Temple participated in the repair project of a Buddhist sculpture in Dongsimjeop. In the Asan region where Dongsimsan Mountain was located, Hayangchang (河陽倉), one of the thirteen jochang (漕倉, grain-transport warehouses) of the Goryeo dynasty, was established. A jochang was a granary in which grains collected as tax were stored prior to their transport by water to the main granary in the capital. They provided an appealing target during the Mongol invasions of the Goryeo dynasty, and the Mongols indeed threatened the grain transportation route serving the national government in Ganghwa-hyeon by conquering the northern coastal area of Chungcheongnam-do Province and the western coastal area of Jeolla-do Province. Since Hayangchang in Asan was the closest warehouse to Ganghwa-hyeon, the national administration heavily defended the coastal areas of Asan. Monk Junggan’s prayer text found inside the Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha at Gaeunsa Temple records that “the damaged Amitabha Buddha of the old temple has been regilt” (塗古寺毁無量壽佛). This may denote that the Buddhist sculpture at the temple was damaged between 1256 (the 43rd year of the reign of King Gojong) and 1257 (the 44th year of the reign of King Gojong) during the fierce fighting between Goryeo and Mongol forces in the coastal areas of Asan. As noted above, the Aju region was significant for its economic linkage to Gaegyeong. King Chungryeol also sent his eldest son Wang Ja to Aju five years after the Amitabha Buddha sculpture of Dongsimjeop was repaired. His stay there lasted four years. These findings reveal that powerful people related to the Goryeo royal court were already present in the Aju region, providing a suitable living environment for Wang Ja. In any case, a close relation between the Aju region and the Goryeo royal court can be assumed. Moreover, the Dongsimjeop sculpture is one of extant images embodying the Buddhist culture of the Aju region in the late thirteenth century. Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha at Bongnimsa Temple and its Excavated Documents The Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha at Bongnimsa Temple (鳳林寺) (Fig. 8) resembles the one at Gaeunsa Temple in terms of style, but is slightly smaller. Bongnimsa Temple is located in Hwaseong-si in Gyeonggi-do Province. The section on Buddhist halls in Namyang in Volume 9 of the Newly Augmented Geographical Survey of Korea records that “Bongnimsa Temple is sited on Bibongsan Mountain” (鳳林寺左飛鳳山). The same expression can be found in Beomugo (梵宇攷), a book recording a national survey on Buddhist temples published in the late Joseon period. As a result, Bongnimsa Temple is believed to have existed since the late-Goryeo period. When this Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha was regilt in 1978, several sacred objects, including prayer texts regarding past regildings, a sarira bottle, books, documents, dharanis, beads, and scraps of cloth, were found inside the sculpture. A stupa was newly built to enshrine the sarira, but all the other items except the documents were reinserted into the regilded sculpture. Fig. 8. Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Bongnimsa Temple. Goryeo, 13th century (Photograph by the author) The Amitabha Buddha of Bongnimsa Temple is 88.5 centimeters high, which is a common height for wooden Buddhist sculptures from this period. Its merciful facial expression, including the lowered and half-opened eyes indicating meditative concentration, the sharp nose, delicate lip line, and plump cheeks, recall the appearance of an eminent monk of the Goryeo dynasty. The forms of the head and hemispherical protuberance, posture, mudra, dress, and drapery folds are not notably distinct from those of similar sculptures at Gaesimsa and Gaeunsa Temples. Only slight differences can be found in their visages, the shapes of the ears, the positions of the hands creating the mudra of turning the Wheel of Dharma (說法印, seolbeopin), and the drapery folds in the outer monastic robe. The two prayer texts concerning regilding found among the excavated relics tell that the sculpture was regilt in 1362, the 11th year of the reign of King Gongmin (恭愍王, r. 1351–1374) of Goryeo dynasty, and again in 1583, the 16th year of the reign of King Seonjo (宣祖, r. 1567–1608) of the Joseon dynasty. The document from the Goryeo dynasty does not mention the name of Bongnimsa Temple, simply recording it as “堂主無量壽如來” (Amitabha Buddha, the main deity of the hall). However, the sixteenth-century document states “Amitabha, the main deity of the hall at Bongnimsa Temple” (鳳林寺堂主無量壽). Hence, it remains unclear whether the Amitabha Buddha sculpture was originally enshrined at Bongnimsa Temple or transferred there from a neighboring temple. Other Goryeo- and Joseon-period books and writings found inside the sculpture of Bongnimsa Temple include a Diamond Sutra (金剛經, Skt. Vajracchedikā-prajñāpāramitā sūtra; K. Geumganggyeong) revised and republished using small letters in 1228 (the 15th year of the reign of King Gojong) through a commission by National Preceptor Jingak (眞覺國師) Hyesim (慧諶, 1178–1234), the second abbot of Suseonsa Temple (修禪社); Beom chongji jip (梵摠持集, Collection of Sanskrit dharanis) published using small letters; Scripture on the Great Dharani of One-Syllable Crown Wheel-King (—字頂輪王大陀羅尼經, Skt. Ekākṣa-uṣṇīṣa-cakravartin nāma-dhāraṇī; K. Ilja jeongryunwang daedarani gyeong); the small-letter version of Diamond Sutra commissioned by Gang Geumgang (姜金剛) (Fig. 9); and Scripture on the Great Dharani of the Buddha’s Usnisa Heart of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (佛頂心觀世音菩薩大陀羅尼經, K. Buljeongsim Gwanseeum bosal daedarani gyeong) (Fig. 10). Fig. 9. Small-letter Version of Diamond Sutra. Goryeo, revised and republished in 1228. Yongjusa Temple Museum Fig. 10. Scripture on the Great Dharani of the One-Syllable Crown Wheel King. Goryeo, the first-half of Goryeo. Yongjusa Temple Museum Notably, Scripture on the Great Dharani of the One-Syllable Crown Wheel-King bears a prayer text specifying that it was published with a wish for a long life and happiness for someone named Cheonghasangguk (淸河相國). An annotation on the translated version of the scripture suggests that Cheonghasangguk refers to Choe U (崔瑀, ?–1249), the Lord of Jinyang (晋陽公), who served as the central figure of the Goryeo military regime. As the most influential military leader of the time, Choe sponsored Monk Hyesim of Suseonsa Temple, honored him as a lay disciple, and encouraged his two sons Manjong (萬宗) and Manjeon (萬全) (Choe Hang, ?–1257) to enter the Buddhist priesthood as disciples of Hyesim. Hyesim was able to expand the influence of Suseonsa Temple through his close relationship with the Choe family regime by holding a Buddhist ritual called a chuksu doryang (祝壽道場) for blessing Choe U on his birthday and wishing for his longevity. He also endeavored to develop the Seon (禪, Ch. Chan) Buddhist ideology of his teacher National Preceptor Bojo (普照國師) Jinul (知訥, 1158–1210). The Amitabha Buddha sculpture at Bongnimsa Temple is presumed to have been produced around the early thirteenth century based on its stylistic qualities. The Scripture on the Great Dharani of the One-Syllable Crown Wheel-King connected to Choe U and the small-letter version of the Diamond Sutra commissioned by Hyesim appear to have been inserted in the sculpture of Bongnimsa Temple at the time of its creation. Moreover, the small-letter version of the Diamond Sutra commissioned by Gang Geumgang, a palace attendant who aided King Chunghye (忠惠王, r. 1330–1332 and 1339–1344) during his stay in Yuan dynasty China, is thought to have been placed inside the sculpture of Bongnimsa Temple at the time of its repair in the fourteenth century. This small-letter Diamond Sutra serves as a significant material for the study of the bibliology of the late Goryeo period. Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha at Suguksa Temple, the Dharani in the Gihae Year, and the Prayer Text on its Regilding The Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha (Fig. 11-1) enshrined in the dharma hall of Suguksa Temple in Galhyeon-dong, Seoul is known to have been transferred there from Simwonsa Temple (深原寺) on Bogaesan Mountain in Cheolwon in Gangwon-do Province around the time of the Korean War. A recent investigation into the repository within this Amitabha Buddha has revealed that the sculpture was produced around the thirteenth century during the late Goryeo period. The Amitabha Buddha of Suguksa Temple has been repaired and regilded several times, making it hard to precisely identify its original form. Nevertheless, in contrast to the inverted triangle shape of the faces of the Amitabha Buddha sculptures at Gaesimsa and Gaeunsa Temples, the Amitabha Buddha sculpture at Suguksa Temple has a nearly square face, small chin, and plump cheeks. It also has a short neck and slightly narrow shoulders. The ears are sculpted in a particularly fascinating manner (Fig. 11-2). The cartilage formed into the shape of a “Y” inside the auricle is identical to that of the Amitabha sculpture at Gaesimsa Temple, which indicates that both sculptures might have been produced at the same workshop, although not at the same time. Fig. 11-1. Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Suguksa Temple. Goryeo, 13th century. Suguksa Temple (Photograph by the author) Fig. 11-2. Left View of the Head of Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Suguksa Temple Among the objects placed inside the sculpture of Suguksa Temple are the record on its regilding from 1389 (Fig. 12), the prayer text concerning a regilding from 1562, a large quantity of books, documents, dharanis, reliquaries, textiles, and clothes. Notably, the record on the regilding from 1389 details the regilding of the Amitabha Buddha, an Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, and a Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva through an offering from Lady Sin of Yeongseonggun (寧城郡夫人 辛氏) in Gaeseong, including the amount of gold used. This confirms that the sculpture of Suguksa Temple depicts Amitabha Buddha and that it may originally have been flanked by Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva. Fig. 12. Document on the Regilding of Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Suguksa Temple. Joseon Dynasty, 1389. Suguksa Temple Other documents found inside the sculpture of Suguksa Temple include fifteenth-century Buddhist scriptures commissioned by the Joseon royal court: a metal-type printed version of Commentaries of Five Masters on the Diamond Sutra (金剛般若波羅密經五家解, K. Geumgang banya baramilgyeong ogahae) published in 1457 by the order of King Sejo (世祖, 1455–1468), a Lotus Sutra printed in 1422 with sponsorship from Grand Prince Hyoryeong (孝寧大君), and Scripture on the Original Vows of the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (地藏菩薩本願經, K. Jijang bosal bonwongyeong) commissioned by Grand Prince Hyoryeong and Grand Prince Anpyeong (安平大君). King Sejo had ordered Grand Prince Yeongeung (永膺大君), Kim Suon (金守溫), Monk Sinmi (信眉), and others to publish Commentaries of Five Masters on the Diamond Sutra and transfer merit to the deceased Crown Prince Uigyeong (懿敬世子). Postscripts by Sin Sukju (申叔舟), Han Myeonghoe (韓明澮), and Kim Suon were added at the end. Various Joseon documents inserted in the Amitabha Buddha at Suguksa Temple were revised and republished at Simwonsa Temple in Cheolwon, which indicates that the Suguksa Temple sculpture was originally enshrined at Simwonsa. Several dharanis were also discovered inside the Amitabha Buddha sculpture at Suguksa Temple. As a case in point, “Dharani of the Treasure Casket Mantra” (寶篋眞言陀羅尼), which is stamped with all four seals of the mantras (Fig. 13-1), has an inscription indicating that this dharani was engraved when a Buddhist lay group called a hyangdo (香從) produced sacred objects to be inserted into the sculpture (佛腹藏香徒板) (Fig. 13-2). The date of the engraving is not provided, however. As another case in point, there is the Treasure Casket Mantra of the Whole-body Relic of the Essence of All Tathagatas (一切如來全身舍利寶篋眞言, Skt. Sarvatathāgata dhiṣṭhāna karaṇḍa mantra, K. Ilche yeorae jeonsin sari bohyeop jineon) (Fig. 14). This mantra was commissioned by Prime Minister (侍中, Sijung) Choe Jongjun (崔宗峻, ?–1246) in the Gihae (己亥) year. Choe Jongjun, a grandson of Choe Yucheong (崔惟淸, 1095–1174) who was a leading civil official during the Goryeo military regime, placed first in the national examination in 1201 (the fourth year of the reign of King Sinjong), held a post as Sangseo (尙書, Minister) at the Ibu (吏部, Board of Personnel), and served as Sijung for fifteen years during the reign of King Gojong (高宗) while the Goryeo dynasty was struggling against the Mongols. Thus, the Gihae year in which the dharani was engraved is presumed to correspond to 1239 when Choe Jongjun was serving as Sijung. Fig. 13-1. Four Treasure Casket Mantras engraved by the hyangdo Buddhist lay group that produced sacred objects to be inserted into sculptures. Goryeo. Suguksa Temple Fig. 13-2. Detail of Four Treasure Casket Mantras engraved by the hyangdo Buddhist lay group that produced sacred objects to be inserted into sculptures Fig. 14. Treasure Casket Mantra with Inscription of “the Gihae Year.” Goryeo, 1239. Suguksa Temple The Dongju (東州, present-day Cheolwon) Choe family (崔氏) to which Choe Yucheong (崔惟淸), Choe Seon (崔詵), and Choe Jongjun (崔宗峻) belonged was one of the definitive aristocratic families of the Goryeo dynasty. Simwonsa Temple located in Dongju is thought to have been closely associated with the Dongju Choe family. Treasure Casket Mantra of the Whole-body Relic of the Essence of All Tathagatas (Fig. 14), found inside the Amitabha Buddha sculpture at Suguksa Temple, is presumed to have been engraved through a commission by Choe Jongjun as a wish for peace for the country that had been devastated by warfare. Since no prayer text for the construction of the Amitabha Buddha of Suguksa Temple can be found, its exact production date is unknown. However, the presence of Choe Jongjun’s Treasure Casket Mantra of the Whole-body Relic of the Essence of All Tathagatas inside the sculpture suggests that the sculpture was enshrined at Simwonsa Temple by the family of Choe Jongjun during the era of struggle against the Mongols. Style Analysis of Amitabha Buddha Sculptures The late Goryeo Amitabha Buddha sculptures scrutinized above are all modeled in wood using almost identical visual styles. Similarities in the posture slightly leaning forward, round, drooping shoulders, drapery folds in the large outer monastic robe covering both shoulders, the skirt of the robe partially covering the right of the completely crossed legs, and the depth of the sculpted drapery folds indicate that Goryeo sculptors based these images on a highly similar model and used the same tools. Despite a few minor variations in facial expressions, the positions of the hands, and the drapery folds, these sculptures clearly belong to the same type. The objects placed inside the Amitabha Buddha at Gaesimsa Temple have not been researched, so its exact production date is unknown. Nonetheless, given that it was repaired in 1280, the production date would have to be 50–100 years prior. It could certainly extend into the twelfth century. If so, the sculpture of Gaesimsa Temple would be the earliest example among the surviving wooden sculptures of Amitabha Buddha from the Goryeo dynasty and may have served as a prototype in terms of iconography and style. Among the Chinese Buddhist sculpture of the Northern and Southern Song dynasties, which may have influenced Goryeo Buddhist sculpture, dated examples are rare. Wooden sculptures are even rarer. Among the surviving Song-period Buddhist sculptures, stone sculptures (Fig. 15) from the North Zhongshan Grottoes in Zichang County in Shaanxi Province (1067–1126) and sculptures from the Cave of Shuanglong Qingfodong in Huangling County in Shaanxi Province (1095–1115) show an exotic face with a prominent nose. Such exotic faces are believed to have been popular during the Northern Song dynasty, and they are often found in wooden Buddhist sculptures from the late Goryeo period, including the Amitabha Buddha at Gaesimsa Temple. A close examination was conducted of the heads, faces, and bodies of Chinese Buddhist images produced from the end of the eleventh century during the late Northern Song dynasty till the twelfth century in the early Southern Song dynasty. This investigation revealed that the mural painting of Sakyamuni Buddha Preaching (Fig. 16) created in 1096 during the Shaosheng reign on the west wall of Kaihuasi Temple (開化寺) in Gaoping County in Shaanxi Province depicts the Buddha with an obscured boundary between the head and hemispherical protuberance, which recalls the Amitabha Buddha sculpture of Gaesimsa Temple. Fig. 15. Stone Seated Buddha from the North Zhongshan Grottoes. Northern Song, 1067–1126 Fig. 16. Detail of the Painting of Sakyamuni Buddha Preaching on the West Wall of Kaihuasi Temple. Northern Song, 1096 The sculpture of Gaesimsa Temple with its exotic face, somewhat oval chin, and plump cheeks appears similar to the static and exquisite Bodhisattva sculptures (Fig. 17) at Huayandong Cave in Anyue County in Sichuan Province that are characterized by a fleshy face, half-opened eyes, tall nose, and softly outlined full lips. The exact production date of these Bodhisattva sculptures is unknown, but they are presumed to have been created around the late twelfth century during the Southern Song dynasty. Fig. 17. Detail of Stone Bodhisattva at Huayandong Cave. Southern Song In the city of Hangzhou, the capital of the Southern Song dynasty and a center for the exchange of cultural elements with Goryeo during the Yuan dynasty, and in the Ningbo region, a hub of trade between China and Goryeo, there are almost no sculptures directly comparable to late Goryeo Buddhist examples. However, several surviving Buddhist paintings produced in Hangzhou and Ningbo during the Southern Song and Yuan dynasties can be compared to late Goryeo Buddhist sculptures in terms of style and iconography. For example, the main deity Amitabha Buddha depicted in the painting of the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha (Fig. 18) created in 1183 and currently housed at Chion-in Temple (知恩院) in Japan is considered the epitome of Southern Song Buddhist images. This Amitabha Buddha bears similarities with the Amitabha Buddha sculpture at Gaesimsa Temple in the proportion of the head to the body, the costume, and the overall atmosphere. There is a strong likelihood that the model for a given sculpture at the time was generally another sculpture. However, the possible relation of a sculpture to a painting cannot be overlooked since sculptors may have produced works based on more easily transportable paintings. Fig. 18. Amitabha Buddha in the Painting of Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha. Southern Song, 1180. Chion-in Temple, Kyoto, Japan The hems of the outer monastic robes covering the left shoulders of wooden Amitabha Buddha sculptures at Gaesimsa, Bongnimsa, Gaeunsa, and Suguksa Temples are folded to produce two or three pleats. These pleats, in turn, create several narrow, vertical folds that cascade down in an omega shape. Such depictions can be seen in many Southern Song and Yuan Buddhist paintings, including the aforementioned Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha (1183) at Chion-in Temple. They are also present in Goryeo Buddhist paintings, such as Amitabha Buddha (1286) (Fig. 19) commissioned by Yeom Seungik (廉承益) and painted by Jahoe (自回) and Amitabha Buddha and Eight Bodhisattvas (1320) (Fig. 20) enshrined at Matsuodera Temple in Japan. Clearly, the delineations of the drapery folds of the wooden Amitabha Buddha sculptures at Gaesimsa, Bongnimsa, Gaeunsa, and Suguksa Temples were frequently employed in Buddhist sculptures and paintings during the Goryeo dynasty. Furthermore, the end hems of the inner garments and outer robes of late Goryeo Amitabha Buddha sculptures are sculpted broadly. This rendering of hems can also be found in numerous Song and Goryeo Buddhist paintings, which implies that the hems of the outer monastic robes worn by monks at the time were embroidered. Fig. 19. Detail of the Painting of Amitabha Buddha. Goryeo, 1286. Bank of Japan Fig. 20. Detail of the Painting of Amitabha Buddha and Eight Bodhisattvas. Goryeo, 1320. Matsuodera Temple, Nara, Japan Conclusion: Creation Backgrounds and Significance of Amitabha Buddha Sculptures As discussed above, most existing thirteenth-century wooden Buddhist sculptures from the late Goryeo period depict Amitabha Buddha. One of the major reasons why they were preferred is the damage inflicted on the Goryeo Buddhist world during the Mongol invasions. Over a period of warfare that lasted for more than four decades from 1231 (the 18th year of the reign of King Gojong) till 1273 (the 14th year of the reign of King Wonjong), the Mongols devastated the entire territory of Goryeo, including the coasts, islands, and even the innermost mountain regions. They also destroyed numerous temples across the country. As the temples damaged by war were restored afterwards, various Buddhist sculptures were newly created or repaired. Faith in Amitabha was already popular among devotees from the early Goryeo period prior to the Mongol invasions. Moreover, religious community movements promoted in the late Goryeo period revolved around the Amitabha faith. Jeonghwataekju (靜和宅主), the wife of Choe Chungheon, was known to have commissioned an Amitabha Buddha sculpture, enshrined it at the main hall of the Baengnyeonsa Society (白蓮社), and transcribed the Lotus Sutra in gold letters in an effort to support the Baengnyeonsa Gyeolsa (白蓮社結社, White Lotus Community) formed by Yose (了世), also known as National Preceptor Wonmyo (圓妙國師). This reflects the integration of Amitabha faith into Tiantai and the Lotus School, which provided the philosophical foundation of the White Lotus Community. Furthermore, epitaphs and documents from the late Goryeo period contain a wish for the rebirth in the pure land of Amitabha Buddha while embodying other distinct religious elements. In particular, the production of an apocryphal scripture entitled Sutra on the Manifestation of the Path to the Western Paradise (現行西方經, Hyeonhaeng seobanggyeong) resonated among devotees with the spread of Amitabha faith. This scripture presumably produced around 1298 (the 24th year of the reign of King Chungryeol) promises that chanting the name of Amitabha and reciting his mantra will lead all sentient beings in the latter days of the Buddhist law to be freed from sin and reborn in the paradise of Amitabha. This trend in late Goryeo Buddhist faith accounts for the host of Amitabha Buddha sculptures among the surviving late Goryeo Buddhist examples. The commissioners who supported the production of Amitabha Buddha sculptures were of diverse social standings ranging from aristocrats to servants. The inclusion of their names in the documents on the creation and regilding of sculptures enables us to guess the backgrounds of Amitabha Buddha sculptures from the Goryeo dynasty. The faith in Amitabha during this period led to the popularization of yeombul hyangdo (念佛香徒, Buddhist lay associations for recitation), yeombul hyangsa (念佛香社, Buddhist lay communities for recitation), and yeombulsa (念佛社, recitation societies). The formation of these religious groups can be understood as an extension of the faith in reciting the name of Amitabha during the late Goryeo period. If these religious groups were sponsoring sculptures or paintings of Amitabha Buddha out of a wish for rebirth in his paradise, demand for Buddhist sculptures would have naturally risen. Such increased demand can be presumed to have impacted the production of Buddhist sculptures. Considering the availability and efficiency of materials applicable for the production of Buddhist sculptures, wood must have been preferred over gilt bronze or stone. Late Goryeo wooden Buddhist sculptures were made using an economical multi-block technique that saved on raw materials. Moreover, since the inner areas of the wooden sculptures were hollowed out, they were relatively light, transportable, and not easily warped by changes in humidity. This would have made it possible for sculptors in the capital to produce Buddhist sculptures and transfer them to regional temples. These thirteenth-century wooden Amitabha Buddha sculptures created in almost identical styles appear to be a product of set types of Amitabha Buddha sculpture preferred by devotees as an object of worship. Furthermore, it would have been much easier for artisans to repeat the production of works in a uniform style compared to creating sculptures in a variety of forms. Accordingly, it can be suggested that the widespread of Amitabha faith among the people of Goryeo, regardless of social position, led to the production of numerous Amitabha Buddha sculptures and the standardization of Buddhist sculptural styles.

In the Korean Buddhist tradition, “bokjang” (腹藏) refers to the ritual applied for consecrating Buddhist images in order to transform a crafted image into an object of worship.1 The extant textual and visual evidence suggests that the consecration of Buddhist images as we know it today had been established by at least the mid-12th century during the Goryeo dynasty (高麗, 918–1392) (Jeong Eunwoo 2007, 55–56). A wealth of studies has noted that the distinctive composition of a bokjang deposit (腹藏物, bokjangmul) is based upon the Sutras on the Production of Buddhist Images (造像經, Josang gyeong), a ritual manual of Korean origin codified during the Joseon period (朝鮮, 1392–1910) (Taegyeong 2006; Lee Seonyong 2013). Although surviving editions and manuscript copies of the Sutras on the Production of Buddhist Images all postdate the 16th century, a prototype appears to have been formulated and circulated in the preceding Goryeo era. Taking a textual authority codified during Joseon as evidence for a Goryeo practice is clearly anachronous, as scholars have rightly pointed out. However, an analytical comparison of Goryeo bokjang deposits with this textual corpus reveals a number of notable correspondences. The objects mentioned in the Sutras on the Production of Buddhist Images and commonly found in Joseon bokjang deposits were already in use during the Goryeo period. Of particular interest are the five textile wrappings enshrined within the main container of a bokjang deposit since they correlate closely with the five treasure bottles (五寶瓶, obobyeong) described in the Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching of Visualization Methods Which Are Auspicious, Universal, Secret, and Superlative (妙吉祥平等祕密最上觀門大敎王經, Ch. Miaojixiang pingdeng mimi zuishang guanmen dajiaowang jing; T 1192), one of the major texts invariably cited in the Sutras on the Production of Buddhist Images and abbreviated here as the Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching Which Is Sublime and Auspicious. However, the five treasure bottles do not appear there in a context of image consecration, but regarding the initiation of a human practitioner known as an abhiseka using the five bottles (五瓶灌頂, obyeong gwanjeong). This correspondence appears even more intriguing given that the sutra, translated sometime between 1062 and 1066 during the Liao dynasty (遼, 926–1125), is not included in either the Khitan Canon or the second edition of the Korean Canon. This study examines this fascinating correspondence in light of the Buddhist cultural exchanges between the Liao and Goryeo dynasties. It first examines when the Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching Which Is Sublime and Auspicious, traces of which are rare outside the bokjang corpus in the Korean Buddhist tradition, might have been transmitted to Goryeo. It then considers what the abhiseka with the five bottles originally meant in the sutra and in the ritual repertoire of late Indian esoteric Buddhism. Next, it examines how Goryeoera Buddhists appropriated this ritual for the consecration of Buddhist images. Admittedly, this line of research is unable to reveal the full picture of bokjang, a highly complex ritual consisting of myriad steps and replete with symbolic meanings, given that the sutra in question is only one of the various Buddhist sutras and writings cited in the Sutras on the Production of Buddhist Images. Accordingly, it focuses on the correlation between the five treasure bottles retrieved from Goryeo bokjang deposits and those explicated in the sutra. By doing so, it reconsiders the formation of the bokjang ritual within the historical trajectory of Buddhist thought and practices prevalent in the 11th and 12th centuries, a period in which new Buddhist elements, notably esoteric influences, were introduced to Goryeo from India via Liao and reformulated into uniquely Korean expressions. Textual and Material Evidence for the Goryeo Bokjang Practice Two textual accounts are important for understanding the issues of how bokjang was regarded and what types of objects were selected during the formative phase of its practice in Korea.2 The earliest mention of the term bokjang appears in the “Eulogy and Record of the Repairs of the Bokjang of the Avalokitesvara at Naksan” (洛山觀音腹藏修補文竝頌, Naksan Gwaneum bokjang subomun byeong song) composed by Yi Gyubo (李奎報, 1168–1241) and contained in fascicle 25 of the Collection of Yi Gyubo’s Writings (東國李相國集, Dongguk Yi sangguk jip). This eulogy was composed to commemorate the repairs to the deposit placed inside a famous sculpted image of Avalokitesvara housed at Naksansa Temple (洛山寺) after their loss during the Mongol Invasions of Goryeo, most likely in 1235. Yi Gyubo lamented that although the overall form of the Water-moon Avalokitesvara image remained, the “treasures concealed in the belly” (腹中之珍藏) had been removed. Given that the eulogy was written for the rededication of the new bokjang deposit for the Naksan Avalokitesvara, the practice of enshrining objects inside images must have been performed by Goryeo Buddhists prior to the early 13th century. “Two heart-circle mirrors, five kinds of incense, five medicines, colored threads, silk pouches, and more” (心圓鏡二事及五香五藥色絲錦囊等) were reported by Yi to have been prepared in order to fill the belly and match what had been enshrined in the past. This list demonstrates the concept of pentad grouping, one of the prominent features of Korean bokjang deposits, which, notably, has not been found to date in objects retrieved from contemporaneous Chinese Buddhist statues (Lee Seunghye 2015). The absence of mock organs from Yi Gyubo’s list, perhaps the most distinctive feature among the objects yielded by Chinese Buddhist images, merits further attention. This lack is corroborated by the surviving deposits yielded by Goryeo Buddhist images (Lee Seunghye 2015, 40–47). The silk pouches mentioned in the list above appear to correlate with the five treasure bottles made of textiles and containing various pentads of objects that we will examine shortly. The “Record of the Marvels of the Relics [Enshrined within] Sakyamuni, the Main Buddha of the Golden Hall of Gukcheongsa Temple” (國淸寺金堂主佛釋迦如來舍利靈異記, Gukcheongsa geumdang jubul Seokga yeorae sari yeongyi gi), composed by Min Ji (閔漬, 1248–1326) and included in fascicle 68 of the Dongmunseon (東文選, Anthology of Korean literature), merits particular attention for its use of the term “eight-petaled container” (八葉筒, paryeop tong). According to this record, in 1313, the patrons of the Sakyamuni triad at Gukcheongsa Temple wished to enshrine the various objects necessary for making a bokjang, among which only relics were difficult to obtain. Therefore, one of the devotees spread black silk in front of a painting of White-robed Avalokitesvara to which he had been offering daily worship. He burned incense and paid respects three times, and then a relic grain appeared. The number of relic grains increased as several people gathered to watch in wonder. Min Ji related that the relics so manifested were first encased inside eight-petaled containers and then enshrined within the Buddha triad. When cross-checked with the material evidence, neither the text by Yi Gyubo nor that by Min Ji provides a complete list of enshrined items, which also included woodblock prints of dharanis and seed-syllable mandalas, Buddhist texts, clothes previously worn by their donors, and more. This indicates that both Yi Gyubo and Min Ji selectively recorded only those items deemed most important. Taken together, the two accounts indicate that a bokjang deposit was composed of heart-circle mirrors, five kinds of incense, five medicines, colored threads, silk pouches, relics, and an eight-petaled container in which most of aforementioned objects were enshrined. These items are commonly found in bokjang deposits from the latter half of the Goryeo dynasty and correspond closely to those prescribed in the Sutras on the Production of Buddhist Images.3 Among the extant Goryeo examples, only two bokjang deposits have been found intact without any trace of repair or theft: one from the Amitabha Buddha image of Munsusa Temple (文殊寺) in Seosan (Figs. 1, 2) and the other from a Buddha image at Anjeongsa Temple (安靜寺) in Tongyeong (Lee Yongyun 2012, 20–21; Jeong Eunwoo and Shin Eunje 2017, 259–261). The bokjang deposit from the Munsusa Temple statue, which was examined by a team of experts in 1973 and fully reported on in 1975, was removed from the statue and preserved at the Sudeoksa Museum in Yesan. Let us take the the deposit of Munsusa Temple as an example to illustrate the contents and configuration of bokjang deposits from the late Goryeo period (Kang Ingu 1975, 1–18; Sudeoksa Museum 2004, 13–67; Shin Soyeon 2015, 90–97). Fig. 1. Amitabha Buddha of Munsusa Temple in Seosan, Chungcheongnam-do Province (current whereabouts unknown). Goryeo, 1346. Gilt bronze. H. 69.0 cm Fig. 2. Eight-petaled container from the Amitabha Buddha of Munsusa Temple at the time of its discovery (before unpacking) The entire deposit was inserted through a hole in the bottom of the statue, which was then sealed with a wooden plug. The wooden seal was affixed with iron nails, covered with several layers of hemp cloth, and finished with lacquer. A bronze bell called a throat-bell (喉鈴, huryeong) was wrapped in four pieces of dharani prints and set at the neck level of the statue (Fig. 3). A lidded wooden container holding a wide variety of objects was placed at the chest level (Fig. 4). At the time of discovery, this container was wrapped in five layers of cloth, with a yellow cloth wrapper (黃幅子, hwangpokja) outermost. The entire package holding the wooden container was tied with a folded band of paper (Fig. 2). The paper turned out to be another donor inscription recording the names of a group of patrons (Fig. 5). Line drawings on the surface of the wooden container transformed it into a representation of an eight-petaled lotus flower in keeping with its appellation “eight-petaled container” as recorded in a catalogue of objects enshrined together within the statue. The eight lotus petals are drawn with cinnabar on the exterior of the container’s body, and lotus seeds are painted on top of the lid (Fig. 4). The inner side of the lid is inscribed with five Siddham characters identified as the true-mind seed syllables (眞心種字, jinsim jongja) in the Sutras on the Production of Buddhist Images (Fig. 6). Documents and copies of Buddhist sutras were inserted at the upper level of the belly, including three pieces of dedicatory prayers and a catalogue of objects (Fig. 7). Finally, fragments of textiles wrapped in two pieces of paper were inserted into the lower level of the belly. Several bunches of paper either left blank or printed with dharani were placed between the individual objects and also between the objects and the inner wall of the statue in order to protect them from damage and abrasion. Fig. 3. Throat-bell. Goryeo, 1346. Bronze. H. 7.0 cm. Discovered inside the Amitabha Buddha of Munsusa Temple in 1973. Sudeoksa Museum Fig. 4. Eight-petaled container. Goryeo, 1346. Wood. H. 7.0 cm. Discovered inside the Amitabha Buddha of Munsusa Temple in 1973. Sudeoksa Museum Fig. 5. Sealing band. Goryeo, 1346. Cinnabar on paper. D. 3.5 cm, H. 9.6 cm. Discovered inside the Amitabha Buddha of Munsusa Temple in 1973. Sudeoksa Museum Fig. 6. Imagery of an eight-petaled lotus flower painted on the body of the wooden container (left) and inscription of “true-mind seed syllables” on the inner side of a lid from the Amitabha Buddha of Munsusa Temple (right). Sudeoksa Museum Fig. 7. Texts retrieved from the Amitabha Buddha of Munsusa Temple at the time of their discovery The “Catalogue of Objects Inserted in the Bokjang of Amitabha” (彌陀腹藏入物色記, Mita bokjang ip mulsaek gi; hereafter the Catalogue) merits detailed examination since it provides a complete list of more than thirty discrete objects inserted into the Buddha image (Fig. 8). The objects are listed from right to left across three registers. The listed objects are identified and categorized as follows: (1) the five kinds of incense (五香, ohyang); (2) the five medicines (五藥, oyak); (3) the five precious substances (五寶, obo); (4) the five yellow substances (五黃, ohwang); (5) the eight-petaled container and its contents, including silks of five colors (五色帛, osaek baek), threads in five colors each with a presumed length of five meters (五色糸 五色尺, osaek sa sibo cheok), a yellow cloth wrapper, and reliquary (舍利同, sari dong), but not including the throat-bell; (6) pigments and other media used for decoration and inscription; and (7) the five different types of grain (五穀, ogok).4 A comparison of the Catalogue with the actual items found reveals that most of the objects listed were in fact used in the making of the eight-petaled container found at the chest level of the interior of the Buddha image (Figs. 4, 6). Of particular interest are the five silk pouches, referred to as the silks of five colors in group (5) of the Catalogue and corresponding to the five treasure bottles in the Sutras on the Production of Buddhist Images (Fig. 9). Each pouch seems to have contained a share of the substances listed under groups (1), (2), (3), (4), and (7) in the Catalogue (Kang Ingu 1975, 8–9). Besides these objects, the eight-petaled container featured a single relic grain encased in a silver container (corresponding to the reliquary in the list), a glass bead (corresponding to the heart jewel [心珠, simju] in the Sutras on the Production of Buddhist Images), a mirror made of nickel (corresponding to the heart-circle mirror in Yi Gyubo’s record), and a handful of dried rice. Fig. 8. “Catalogue of the Objects Inserted in the Bokjang of Amitabha.” Goryeo, 1346. Ink on paper. 35.1 × 35.9 cm. Discovered inside the Amitabha Buddha of Munsusa Temple in 1973. Sudeoksa Museum Fig. 9. Five treasure bottles (unfolded). Goryeo, 1346. Silk. Discovered inside the Amitabha Buddha of Munsusa Temple in 1973 A comparison of the Catalogue with the objects found within the eight-petaled container suggests that the items deposited outside it were deemed subsidiary at best. If the eight-petaled container was meant to serve as the symbolic heart of the Buddha, then the five silk pouches and their contents are essential components of this heart. This core of the bokjang deposit—the eight-petaled container and its contents—have only been found in Korean examples to date, suggesting a model unique from earlier and contemporaneous Chinese images with deposits. Past scholarship has noted that the five treasure bottles, the crux of the eight-petaled container, were produced faithfully according to the instructions laid out in fascicle 1 of the Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching Which Is Sublime and Auspicious. However, the five treasure bottles mentioned in the sutra do not appear in the context of enshrining consecrated deposits within Buddhist images, but in fact are found in a different ritual context, namely the abhiseka of an esoteric Buddhist practitioner. The issue is complicated by the fact that the sutra was brought from central India and translated under the Liao. The following section of this study examines the historical context in which this important text was received in the Liao dynasty and transmitted eastward to Goryeo. Reception of Late Indian Esoteric Buddhism in the Liao and Goryeo Dynasties The Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching Which Is Sublime and Auspicious is one of several Buddhist texts translated by the Indian monk Maitribhadra (慈賢, Ch. Cixian; fl. 11th century), who hailed from Magadha in central India and worked in Liao under imperial patronage during the reigns of Emperors Xingzong (興宗, r. 1031–1055) and Daozong (道宗, r. 1055–1011) (Ren Jie 1985, 34–37). Although little is known about Maitribhadra’s life or thoughts, his translations of ten Buddhist texts preserved in the Fangshan Stone Canon (房山石經, Ch. Fangshan Shijing) reveal much about both the Indian Buddhism of the time and the Buddhism developed in Liao. These ten texts can be categorized into two groups: 1) dharani sutras; and 2) an esoteric Buddhist sutra and esoteric ritual manuals engraved on stone slabs at Yunjusi Temple (雲居寺) around 1146 under the Jin dynasty (金, 1115–1234) (Chen Yanzhu 1995, 392–503). The first group indicates that Maitribhadra selected texts to translate in response to the religious needs of his imperial patrons and Liao Buddhists in general. When Maitribhadra arrived in Liao, the practice of enshrining dharma relics (法舍利, Ch. fa sheli) within pagoda crypts as the textual equivalent of bodily relics of the Buddha was already widespread. For example, Liao Buddhists placed inscriptions of dharanis inside miniature pagodas and then enshrined them within pagoda crypts (Fig. 10). Similarly, they enshrined polygonal stone pillars (經幢, Ch. jingchuang) or metal plates engraved with dharanis and the Verse of Dependent Arising (緣起法頌, Ch. Yuanqifa song) within pagoda crypts (Shen 2001). Notably, Liao Buddhists engraved combinations of multiple short dharanis onto the surface of stone pillars or metal plates. This tendency had already appeared by the late Tang dynasty (唐, 618–907) with a number of dharanis promising postmortem benefits being engraved together on stone pillars. One crucial difference is that during the Liao dynasty these stone pillars were destined for pagoda crypts, unlike their Tang precedents that were mainly erected in temple courtyards or graveyards. The monumental stone pillar enshrined at the center of the base of Chaoyang North Pagoda (朝陽北塔, Ch. Chaoyang Beita) in Liaoning Province in China, for example, demonstrates the high correlation between Maitribhadra’s selection of texts to translate and the cult of dharma relics in Liao (Fig. 11). The second and third registers of this stone pillar erected in 1044 respectively bear inscriptions of the Mahapratisara dharani (大隨求陀羅尼, Ch. Da suiqiu tuoluoni) and the Vajravidarana dharani (佛說金剛大摧碎延壽陀羅尼, Ch. Foshuo jingang da cuisui yanshou tuoluoni) as translated by Maitribhadra (Fujiwara Takato 2011, 205–206). This clearly indicates how Maitribhadra’s translations were put into practice. Fig. 10. Dharma relic pagoda. Liao, 1049. Gilt wood. H. 28.5 cm. Discovered inside the White Pagoda of Qingzhou, Inner Mongolia, China. Bairin Right Banner Museum Fig. 11. Dharani pillar. Liao, 1044. Stone. H. 5.26 m. Discovered inside the Chaoyang North Pagoda, Chaoyang, Liaoning Province, China The second group of translations represents the late period of the transmission of esoteric Buddhist texts into China (Sørensen 2011, 457–458). It includes the Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching Which Is Sublime and Auspicious, the Manual Outlining Homa of the Sutra of the King of the Great Teaching of the Visualization Methods Which Are Auspicious and Universal (妙吉祥平等觀門大敎王經略出護摩儀, Ch. Miaojixiang pingdeng guanmen dajiaowang jing lüechu homa yi; T 1194), the Ritual Manual for Secret Self-Visualization and Attainment of Buddhahood through the Yoga Which Is Auspicious and Universal (妙吉祥平等瑜伽祕密觀身成佛儀軌, Ch. Miaojixiang pingdeng yuqie mimi guanshen chengfo yigui; T 1193), and the Ritual of Cultivating Manicakra Lotus Heart Tathagata’s Method of Visualization (佛說如意輪蓮花心如來修行觀門儀, Ch. Foshuo Ruyilun lianhua xin rulai xiuxing guanmen yi; T 1090), all of which were translated into Chinese for the first time by Maitribhadra. Given the nature of the rituals prescribed in these four texts, Maitribhadra seems to have been well-versed in the esoteric Buddhist thought and practices prevalent in eleventh-century central India. Indian esoteric Buddhism is conventionally divided into three phases in accordance with the development of major sutras and tantras (Matsunaga Yukei 1990, 19). The early phase corresponds to the fourth to sixth centuries; the middle phase refers to the more systematized thought and practices centering on the teachings of the Mahavairocanabhisambodhi Sutra (大毘盧遮那成佛神變加持經, Ch. Da Piluzhena chengfo shenbian jiachi jing; hereafter MVS) and Sarvatathagatatattvasamgraha (金剛頂經, Ch. Jingangding jing; hereafter STTS); and the strand of esoteric Buddhism encompassing tantras, established from the eighth century onward, is considered the late phase. This late phase developed with a focus on the STTS corpus rather than the MVS. Notably, the Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching Which Is Sublime and Auspicious pertains to a cycle of texts closely related to the STTS corpus (Lü Jianfu 2011, 590). This sutra was well-received by Liao Buddhists following its translation in the 1060s, providing a scriptural basis for new iconographic motifs that appeared on Buddhist pagodas built in present-day Inner Mongolia and the western portion of Liaoning Province (Hang Kan 2002, 587–595; Fujiwara Takato 2013, 95–96). It should be noted that the objects retrieved from the few Liao Buddhist images so far examined have yet to show a direct connection to the teachings of the Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching Which Is Sublime and Auspicious (Lee Seunghye 2015, 49–51). The material evidence currently at our disposal for examining the issue of whether Liao Buddhists also appropriated some parts of the sutra in the consecration of Buddhist images remains scant and piecemeal at best. The preceding analysis has explained the impact of newly translated esoteric Buddhist texts upon Liao Buddhism and its visual culture. The reign of Emperor Daozong was particularly momentous for the development of Liao Buddhism. He patronized the carving of the Khitan Canon and the doctrinal study of Avatamsaka (華嚴, Ch. Huayan) and esoteric Buddhist traditions (Tang Tongtian 1994, 96–97). In 1077, he ordered the monk Jueyuan (覺苑, fl. late 11th century) to compose the Esoteric Extracts from the Presentations in the Abridged Commentary to the Vairocana-abhisambodhi-tantra (大日經義釋演密鈔, Ch. Dari jing yishi yanmi chao; hereafter Esoteric Extracts), a commentary on Yixing’s (一行, 683–727) Commentary on the Mahavairocana-abhisambodhi-tantra (大毘盧遮那成佛經疏, Ch. Da Piluzhena chengfo jing shu; T 1796). It is worth noting that Jueyuan received instruction in esoteric Buddhism from a Kasmiri acarya by the name of Mani (摩尼, Ch. Moni; fl. 11th century) (Sørensen 2011, 458). Although a lack of textual evidence hinders the identification of Mani, he must have spread a distinctive type of Buddhist scriptures in the Liao empire, classified as the esoteric class (密部, Ch. mibu). The efforts of Indian acaryas such as Mani and Maitribhadra in combination with imperial support may have resulted in Buddhist pagodas being built in the former jurisdiction of Liao under the doctrinal influence of late Indian esoteric Buddhism. If this is the case, when and how was Liao Buddhism transmitted to the Goryeo dynasty? The Liao and Goryeo dynasties maintained a close relationship during the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular, the transmission of Buddhist texts across their borders played a significant role in the cultural exchanges between the two states. The doctrinal studies of Avatamsaka and esoteric Buddhist traditions were introduced to Goryeo through the efforts of the monk Uicheon (義天, 1055–1011), who made a vow to collect commentaries on Buddhist sutras in 1073 and published his Catalogue of the Newly Complied Canon of Doctrinal Teachings of All the Schools (新編諸宗敎藏總錄, Sinpyeon jejong gyojang chongnok) in 1090. The Directorate General for Commentarial Canon (敎藏都監, Gyojang dogam) established at Heungwangsa Temple (興王寺) in the capital Gaegyeong (開京) published the commentaries collected by Uicheon up until his death in 1101. The manuscript copies of the eleven commentaries featured in Uicheon’s Commentarial Canon and now preserved at Gozan-ji Temple (高山寺) in Kyoto, Japan, include Jueyuan’s Esoteric Extracts and Daochen’s (道殿, fl. late 11th–early 12th centuries) Collection of the Perfect and Complete Buddha’s Mind Essentials according to the Manifest and Esoteric Buddhist Traditions (顯密圓通成佛心要集, Ch. Xianmi yuantong chengfo xinyao ji; T 1955), another influential text of Liao origin (Park Yong-jin 2008, 7, 17). Composed at some time between 1079 and 1089, Daochen’s text left an enduring impact on the Buddhist visual and material culture of the time (Zhang Mingwu 2013, 102–125). Given that it is not listed in Uicheon’s catalogue, he must have continued to collect and publish commentaries after completing the catalogue in 1090. Interestingly, Jueyuan and Daochen’s texts are cited extensively in the preface to the Collection of Spells in Indic Script (梵書總持集, Beomseo chongji jip) published at Geumsansa Temple (金山寺) in 1218. The Collection of Spells in Indic Script, most likely a text of Goryeo origin, contains dharanis culled from the MVS, STTS, and other Buddhist texts deemed important in Goryeo (Jeon Donghyeok 1990; Kim Soo-youn 2015, 2016; Nam Kwon-hee 2017). It is intriguing that the few known copies of the text were discovered within the bokjang of Buddhist statues. Considering that commentaries not included in the Catalogue of the Newly Complied Canon of Doctrinal Teachings of All the Schools were published and circulated in Goryeo, the exchange of Buddhist texts between Liao and Goryeo must have been far more vigorous than what can be identified through historical records. For instance, the Liao court sent envoys with two cases of Buddhist sutras to Goryeo in the fifth lunar month of 1100. These two sutra cases seem to have held Buddhist texts translated and published after the completion of the Khitan Canon (Kim Young-mi 2002, 71). All in all, the Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching Which Is Sublime and Auspicious seems to have been transmitted to the Korean Peninsula sometime in the late 11th or early 12th century when the cultural interchange between Liao and Goryeo was peaking. Visual and material evidence, much of which has been retrieved from bokjang deposits, further indicates that the Liao esoteric Buddhist tradition was well received by Goryeo Buddhists and played an instrumental role in shaping the development of Buddhism in that country. The five treasure bottles in Goryeo bokjang deposits suggest that Goryeo Buddhists absorbed the Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching Which Is Sublime and Auspicious among the newly imported Buddhist texts and appropriated its abhiseka with the five bottles for the creation of the bokjang ritual, as we will see shortly. The Appropriation of the Abhiseka with the Five Bottles Among the five fascicles of the Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching Which Is Sublime and Auspicious, the first is cited in its entirety in the various editions of the Sutras on the Production of Buddhist Images. When cross-checked with the surviving bokjang deposits from the Goryeo era, these passages appear to have served as the scriptural basis for the five treasure bottles. Therefore, it is imperative to first examine the procedures and meaning of the abhiseka with the five bottles as explicated in the sutra in order to understand the implications of its appropriation into the context of the bokjang ritual. The first fascicle of the Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching Which Is Sublime and Auspicious opens with a preaching assembly where Sakyamuni Buddha mentions a secret method of great samaya (摩訶三昧耶祕密內法) apart from the incredibly profound and subtle method of the Three Vehicles (三乘甚深之妙法). When Maitreya Bodhisattva asked the Buddha how to practice this teaching, the Buddha told the congregation to receive the abhiseka with five bottles, and only then would he expound on esoteric teaching. Upon entering the adamantine absorption, the Buddha emitted five rays of light from between his eyebrows, manifesting Aksobhya, Mahavairocana, Ratnasambhava, Amitayus, and Amoghasiddhi, the five wisdom buddhas of the Diamond Realm. Next, the Buddha manifested the five paramita bodhisattvas, eight great bodhisattvas, twelve offering bodhisattvas, four bodhisattvas, and ten guardian kings. The congregation sought to receive the abhiseka with five bottles after witnessing the great mandala altar manifested by the Buddha. The Buddha stated that he would empower (加持, gaji) the five bottles, powders of four precious things, water of five rivers, powders of five kinds of incense, five medicines, five types of grain, five seeds, five products of a cow, silks of five colors, leaves of five bodhi trees, five seasonal flowers, five auspicious grasses, five threads in different colors, five parasols, and three shares of rice. Of these various sets of pentads, the five bottles are deemed the most important. They are associated with the five directions, the five colors, the four precious things, the five bodhisattvas and their mantras, the five mudras, and the five transformative results of empowerment. For instance, regarding the rock crystal jewel bottle at the center, the Buddha reported that the color white symbolizes the Buddha and the bottle represents the Vajramula paramita bodhisattva (金剛根本波羅蜜菩薩). Next, the Buddha taught how to empower it by reciting the mantra of this bodhisattva one hundred eight times. When the ritual officiant finishes the empowerment of the treasure bottle and then gives the great abhiseka to an initiate along with it, the initiate can attain an adamantine body that that neither is born nor dies (T 1192, 20: 906c23–906c29). The procedures for empowering the four other bottles are structurally similar. The buddhas assigned to the center and each cardinal direction are not identified in the sutra, but they seem to have corresponded to the five buddhas of the Diamond Realm appearing at the beginning of fascicle 1. Next, the sutra provides standardized instructions for empowering other groups of five substances. It instructs the ritual officiant to empower them by reciting mantras, to divide the empowered substances into five shares, and to place a portion of each within each of the five treasure bottles. While instructing on these procedures, the sutra explicates the intricate symbolism associated with each material. Although there are variations in the mantras to be recited for empowerment and the merit to be gained as a result, the structure of each ritual step remains largely identical from the empowerment of the powders of the four precious things to that of the five seasonal flowers (T 1192, 20: 907b3–910a1). Subsequently, the sutra directs the ritual officiant to empower the threads in five colors to be used in demarcating the altar and the silks of five colors to be used in tying the openings of the five treasure bottles (加持界壇五色線 及繫瓶口五色綵) (T 1192, 20: 910a9). Having empowered the five parasols in a similar way, the ritual officiant is told to place vajras on the openings of the five treasure bottles and recite the mantras of the main buddhas and accompanying paramita bodhisattvas. When the one-hundred-eight chantings of the mantra are completed, the five treasure bottles, now fully empowered, are placed in accordance with their associated directions (T 1192, 20: 910b5–910b10). This is the only place in fascicle 1 of the sutra where it speaks of acaryas who officiate the abhiseka at the five directions. These acaryas are collectively referred to as the “dharma masters of the five directions” (五方法師, obang beopsa) in the Sutras on the Production of Buddhist Images. The lengthy description of the ritual concludes by providing instructions on empowering the three shares of rice through the recitation of mantras and the fire ritual. The abhiseka with the five bottles is a type of abhiseka ritual in which the five bottles’ empowered contents are poured over the crown of an initiate’s head. Derived from an enthronement ceremony in ancient India, abhiseka was appropriated as the ritual for attaining the Buddhahood during the Gupta period (3rd century–543) and was reorganized into an esoteric Buddhist rite during the post-Gupta period (Mori Masahide 1999, 194–208; Davidson 2011, 71–75). In the ritual programs of esoteric Buddhism, the abhiseka addresses the idea of installing a deity within a person or an image through a sequence of ritual steps, which entails the sprinkling of water, use of mantras and mudras, and a fire ritual. Pouring water from the five bottles, which symbolize the five buddhas and the five wisdoms, over the crown of the head is interpreted as an act of endowing the initiate with the Buddhahood. The five buddhas and the five wisdoms are closely correlated in the STTS corpus translated by Amoghavajra (不空金剛, Ch. Bukong Jingang; 705–774). By the late phase of Indian esoteric Buddhism, the five bottles had become firmly established as symbols of the five buddhas and five wisdoms. Moreover, the ritual steps described in the Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching Which Is Sublime and Auspicious is reminiscent of several Tang and Song ritual manuals prescribing the abhiseka with the five bottles (T 883, 18: 448b27–448b29). Interestingly enough, the Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching Which Is Sublime and Auspicious gives little explanation as to the eventual disposal of the five treasure bottles that are now fully empowered by the mantric power of acaryas. This lack of explanation may not seem surprising when it is taken into account that the ritual recipient in the sutra is not an image, but a human disciple. This issue should be considered with regard to another important ritual of late Indian esoteric Buddhism, the pratistha (Lee Seunghye, forthcoming). Originally, pratistha meant the construction (建立, Ch. jianli) of an image or stupa, but it came to connote causing the divine to reside within a receptacle, whether it be an image or stupa (Gonda 1954, 1–37). The latter is translated as “installation” (安立, allip or 安置, anchi) in Sinitic Buddhist literature but usually rendered as “consecration” in English-language scholarship. It is not a simple coincidence that the term “allip” is used consistently in the Sutras on the Production of Buddhist Images in the ritual steps of inserting empowered objects inside the five treasure bottles and, more importantly, in the final step of enshrining the completed bokjang deposit inside an image. This ritual practice is performed not only with an image, but also for religious edifices such as a monastery or stupa, or for ritual objects, including Buddhist scriptures and rosaries. Through the ritual, the image is converted into an eternal abode of the divine, or more appropriately, the divine itself. The pratistha of a Buddhist image as prescribed in the ritual manuals that appeared during the late phase of Indian esoteric Buddhism is a complex procedure consisting of multiple ritual steps including the acarya’s construction of a mandala, sprinkling water over an image, recitation of mantras, and visualization. Bottles symbolizing the deities of the mandala are placed around it and used in the performance of abhiseka for an image in order to purify and empower it. The Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching Which Is Sublime and Auspicious provides long and detailed instructions on the production of the five bottles to be used by acaryas to give a symbolic bathing to a disciple. However, Korean Buddhists from the late Goryeo period onward departed from these prescriptions by using cloth rather than precious substances in the production of the five bottles (Fig. 9). Given that the contents of the five bottles rarely deviate from the scriptural injunctions, bottles may indeed have been used instead of textile wrappings in the early phase of bokjang practice. The bokjang deposits recently retrieved from a 13th-century Avalokitesvara statue in the collection of the National Museum of Korea (hereafter NMK) lends credibility to this supposition (Fig. 12). This new discovery is part of the ongoing research into Buddhist sculpture in the NMK collection (Shin Soyeon, Yi Yonghee, and Park Seungwon 2014, 11–107; Shin Soyeon 2015, 100–107).5 Results from this important survey have been published in 2014, 2016, and 2018, providing rich resources for students of Korean Buddhist art. The bodhisattva image yielded two groups of bokjang, a bundle of objects wrapped with a cloth inscribed with the true-mind seed syllables and five-wheel seed syllables (五輪種字, oryun jongja) and another bundle of printed texts and a skein of threads in five colors inside the lower portion of bodhisattva’s body (Fig. 13). A further group of bokjang objects appears to have been inserted at the time of production inside the head of the bodhisattva. The two groups of bokjang objects retrieved from the belly of the bodhisattva had already been disrupted by the time the image was acquired by the Yi Royal Household Museum (李王家博物館, Yi wangga bangmulgwan), whose collection of pre-modern Korean art was merged into the NMK collection following the liberation of Korea. The first bundle from the belly of the bodhisattva turned out to contain five packets, each holding a miniature bottle with various contents along with a miniature mirror that symbolizes each of the five directions (五方鏡, obang gyeong) (Fig. 14). It also included a throat-bell container (喉鈴筒, huryeong tong), a new form of bokjang container that replaced the eight-petaled container from the Goryeo era during the Joseon dynasty (Fig.15). It held a heart jewel that had been split into two pieces and relic grains wrapped in a sheet of blank paper, among other items. The five miniature bottles from the first bundle, most probably a remainder of the original bokjang items from the 13th century, seem to have been re-enshrined within the inner recess of the image when a new bokjang deposit was created and dedicated in the early Joseon period (Shin Soyeon, Yi Yonghee, and Park Seungwon 2014, 105) (Fig. 16). The four bottles symbolizing the east, south, west, and north were colored on their lacquered surfaces, whereas the lacquered surface of the bottle symbolizing the center was adorned with gold leaf (Fig. 17). The five wooden bottles, colored on their lacquered surfaces according to their corresponding direction, were reported to hold grains, seeds, and medicinal herbs wrapped in blank paper, and were sealed with a wad of cotton. These miniature bottles, which are faithful to the shape and function of a conventional bottle, indicate that Goryeo Buddhists were acutely aware of the meaning of the five treasure bottles as a ritual tool to install the Buddha within the ritual recipient through the acaryas’ attainment of the three esoterica (三密, sammil) via “a ritualized replication of the body, speech, and mind of the Buddha”(McBride, 2006 [2008], 305) . Fig. 12. Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. Goryeo, 13th century. Gilt wood. H. 67.65 cm. National Museum of Korea Fig. 13. Two groups of bokjang objects found inside the lower part of the Avalokitesvar Bodhisattva in the NMK collection Fig. 14. Five treasure bottles and a throat-bell container wrapped inside a yellow cloth wrapper. Discovered inside the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva in the NMK collection Fig. 15. Throat-bell container. Joseon, early 15th century. Lead alloy. H. 3.6 cm (body); 2.2 cm (lid). Discovered inside the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva in the NMK collection Fig. 16. Five treasure bottles yielded in the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva in the NMK collection Fig. 17. Treasure bottle symbolizing the center. Goryeo, 13th century. Wood. H. 4.2 cm. Yielded in the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva in the NMK collection What differentiates Korean bokjang from consecration rituals performed in other parts of Buddhist Asia is that the five treasure bottles were permanently enshrined within an image. In other words, the key symbolic step of the ritualized watering or bathing of an image with the contents of the five bottles was entirely replaced by the installation of the five bottles inside it. When compared with the five bottles used in the pratistha from India or abhiseka of Japanese esoteric Buddhism, the function and meaning of the five treasure bottles becomes even more apparent. In the former, the five bottles are ritual tools only momentarily empowered, and they lose their capabilities outside of the temporal frame of the ritual. However, the five treasure bottles of the Korean bokjang tradition have a different ontological meaning. These five treasure bottles completed through acaryas’ making of mudras, recitation of mantras, and visualization of the unison of the Buddha and an image are an embodiment of the Buddhist cosmos imbued with the five buddhas’ empowerment. Therefore, the inner realm of the image becomes transformed into a microcosm of the Buddhist cosmos through the installation of a bokjang deposit. Conclusion This study has revisited the formation of the bokjang ritual in the context of cultural exchanges and the transmission of esoteric Buddhist teachings that took place across Northeast Asia during the Goryeo period. By examining textual records and bokjang deposits from the latter half of Goryeo period vis-a-vis the procedures of the abhiseka with the five bottles found in fascicle 1 of the Sutra on the King of the Great Teaching Which Is Sublime and Auspicious, it concludes that the heart of the image consecration ritual in Korea, which continues today, dates back to no later than the 12th to 13th century. It demonstrates that this sutra, absent from the second edition of the Korean Canon, was introduced to Goryeo from the Liao dynasty around the late 11th to early 12th century at a time when vigorous cultural interactions were occurring between the two states through the exchange of Buddhist texts. Like the pratistha of late Indian esoteric Buddhism, the bokjang ritual addresses the concept of installing the divine within a material image through acaryas’ attainment of the three esoterica. However, this ritual conception seems not to have been transmitted to Goryeo in the form of a complete ritual manual. Goryeo Buddhists appear to have instead appropriated the abhiseka ritual for an esoteric Buddhist practitioner as explicated in the sutra as a basis to formulate a unique image consecration ritual. In the Indian pratistha ritual, the image becomes one with the Buddha as it is anointed with the contents of the five bottles through a ritualized act of pouring or sprinkling. In contrast, ritualized bathing was not adopted wholeheartedly in Korean Buddhism. Instead, Goryeo Buddhists installed the five bottles within an image that was then permanently sealed. This ritual act bears the symbolic meaning of transforming the empty inner space of a Buddha image into a sealed space empowered with the Buddha’s grace and virtues. A microcosm of the image is thus made to correspond to the macrocosm of the Buddha through the enshrinement of the five treasure bottles symbolizing the five directional Buddhas of the Diamond Realm. This is a case where one of the central tenets of esoteric Buddhism, the unification of the practitioner and the Buddha through ritual practices, is appropriated for the creation of Buddhist images.

Renowned for their elaborate forms and unique styles, Buddhist paintings from the Goryeo dynasty (高麗, 918–1392), are considered definitive examples of traditional Korean Buddhist painting for their lofty artistic and historic value. They also offer a glimpse into the clothing trends of the Goryeo period as they realistically depict the forms, textures, and materials of clothing from the era and the patterns applied. In particular, paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara (水月觀音, K. Suwol gwaneum) illustrate the quintessence of Goryeo dynasty textile arts through their sophisticated expression of both the bodhisattva’s clothing in its diverse patterns and the sheer veil that drapes the entire body. The clothing worn by Water-moon Avalokitesvara and its patterns have been subject to extensive studies by art historians and textile history researchers. However, most of the existing studies have focused on analyzing the patterns from an art history perspective, and few efforts have been directed at empirically analyzing the type of textile depicted in the bodhisattva’s clothing and the patterns visible in it through a comparison with extant textile items from the time. Approximately thirty-eight paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara have survived to this day. Among these, this article focuses on the roughly thirty examples that allow a clear understanding of the organization of the clothing and the applied patterns for a comparison with contemporaneous Chinese and Korean clothing and textiles either extant or as described in literature. The textiles featured on the paintings were compared with surviving Chinese textile items from the Song (宋, 960–1279), Liao (遼, 907–1125), and Yuan (元, 1279–1368) dynasties in order to investigate the characteristics of textile patterns from this period and the symbolism involved. Literature from the time was examined to determine if the names of patterns as currently being applied by researchers are in fact appropriate for describing them. Based on research into the weaving and patterning techniques from the Goryeo period, the types of textiles featured in Goryeo paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara and their related weaving techniques were investigated. Further, the skirt and sheer veil depicted in the paintings, signature elements of the clothing of Water-moon Avalokitesvara, were reproduced by weaving well-known types of silk from the Goryeo period, including geum (錦, compound weave silk), sa (紗, simple gauze silk), and ra (羅, complex gauze silk). This attempt to reproduce textiles featured in Goryeo Buddhist paintings based on historical research is expected to provide basic material for understanding the clothing culture of the Goryeo period and for more clearly interpreting Buddhist painting from an art history perspective. Clothing of Water-moon Avalokitesvara and Textile Patterns Organization of the clothing of Water-moon Avalokitesvara The clothing featured in paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara generally consists of an upper undergarment, skirt, overskirt, sash, and veil. Some Buddhist paintings from the late Goryeo period show a slight deviation from the traditional organization of the bodhisattva’s clothing and use of textile patterns (Fig. 1). The Water-moon Avalokitesvara housed in Toko-ji Temple (東光寺) in Oita, Japan features a standing bodhisattva who appears to be wearing an additional skirt between the skirt and overskirt. The same arrangement of clothing is seen in the Amitabha Triad housed in Daisen-ji Temple (大泉寺) in Yamaguchi, Japan. In the Water-moon Avalokitesvara in Yamato Bunkakan (大和文華館) in Nara, Japan, the bodhisattva wears a long, red, narrow strip of ornamental cloth known as a cheonui (天衣) in Korean (literally, celestial robe) instead of the upper undergarment known as a seunggakgi (僧却崎) in Korean. The red strip with its small roundel pattern is draped over the left shoulder and hangs horizontally below the chest. The skirt features round chrysanthemum patterns rather than the lotus and hexagon pattern commonly applied in many paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara. The sheer veil lacks a pattern, which is another iconographical element that differentiates this example in Yamato Bunkakan from other paintings on the same theme. Fig. 1. Clothing of the bodhisattva in Water-moon Avalokitesvar. Metropolitan Museum of Art, United States of America Characteristics of each element in the clothing of Water-moon Avalokitesvara and major patterns 1. Upper undergarment The upper undergarment, known as seunggakgi or seunggiji (僧祇支) in Korean (Skr. saṃkakṣikā), is worn horizontally below the chest and tied at the shoulder with a strap. The length of the upper garment is difficult to determine, but considering that it is worn below an overskirt, it is likely to have been worn to reach below the waist. The strap is generally tied at the left shoulder if the bodhisattva is facing left but at the right shoulder if the bodhisattva is facing to the right, as in the case of the Water-moon Avalokitesvara dated to 1310 currently housed in Kagami-jinja Shrine (鏡神社) in Saga, Japan. The upper portion of the upper undergarment is generally decorated with a band in a scroll pattern, and the same pattern appears in the shoulder strap. Among the patterns featured in the upper garment, a wave pattern is the most common, followed by a flower pattern and a lattice pattern. The scroll-pattern band features stylized scrolls within which rolled leaves stretch out. 2. Skirt In most paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara, the upper portion of the bodhisattva’s skirt is covered by an overskirt, which makes it difficult to precisely determine how the skirt was worn. Diverse bodhisattvas in Goryeo Buddhist paintings usually place a wide pleated cloth tied with a string around the waist. When Water-moon Avalokitesvara is featured seated in paintings, the skirt cannot be observed around the waist but the sidelines and hem of the skirt are seen to feature patterned bands. In the Water-moon Avalokitesvara from the late Goryeo period currently housed in Toko-ji Temple and in another example from the collection of Senso-ji Temple (淺草寺) in Tokyo, Japan, the patterned bands are seen over the front of the legs. This indicates that the skirt was fastened to the right at the front. The skirt is long enough to touch the ground, but beaded ornaments lift the hem of the skirt around the knees to reveal both feet. The sideline at the front fastened to the right droops down to the front. The skirt of Water-moon Avalokitesvara features lotus patterns topping a series of hexagons, a unique combination of patterns rarely seen in other paintings of a Buddha or bodhisattva from the Goryeo period. 3. Overskirt The overskirt, known as a yopo (腰布) in Korean, is a wide cloth worn on top of the skirt and has numerous pleats in the upper portion. A belt is tied over the overskirt and a string attached to the belt droops far downwards. It is hard to clearly identify how the overskirt was worn in paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara, but other paintings featuring standing bodhisattvas show it fastened at the right side on the front. Patterns on the overskirt are only barely identifiable in most extant paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara. The example in Kagami-jinja Shrine is unique for the visibility of its lattice patterns over chrysanthemum patterns in similar hues. 4. Sash In most paintings of Avalokitesvara, a long and narrow sash tied to the end of a necklace is draped over the arm and down the ankle on both sides of the bodhisattva. The sash is a plain white in the portions between the necklace and the arms, but is adorned with multicolored patterns where placed over the arms. Below the arms, scrolls of either a pomegranate or stylized flower motif known as bosanghwa (寶相華, Ch. bao xiang hua) in Korean are seen. In the Water-moon Avalokitesvara in Kagami-jinja Shrine, a white sash draped over the left arm shows multicolored patterns and pomegranate scrolls over the arm. These features can also be observed in the sashes depicted in two paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara in Daitoku-ji Temple (大德寺) in Kyoto, Japan as well as many other paintings on the theme. 5. Veil A sheer veil is draped from the jeweled crown through the shoulders and arms and down to the feet of the Water-moon Avalokitesvara. Generally, this veil is draped over the arms in either of two methods. In one method, a part of the right side of the veil is pulled to the left and placed over the left hand. In the other, the veil flows down from the head, splits to the left and right sides, and is placed over each hand. This second type is seen in many paintings of bodhisattvas other than Water-moon Avalokitesvara as well. The veil of Water-moon Avalokitesvara features either snowflake-and-circle patterns or brief diagonal lines without any other pattern. Over these base patterns are painted gold cloud-and-bonghwang (鳳凰, Ch. feng huang) and roundel patterns. Analysis and Naming of Major Patterns This chapter focuses on the most common and characteristic patterns featured in the clothing of Water-moon Avalokitesvara in order to analyze their elements and organization and compares them with patterns on contemporaneous textile items to investigate the main features of textile patterns of the era. Further, it examines Chinese and Korean records related to textile patterns at the time the Goryeo paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara were being produced in order to consider whether the current names applied to the patterns on the textiles featured in Goryeo paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara are appropriate. Wave pattern A wave pattern was one of the preferred motifs for decorating textiles and other craftworks during the Goryeo dynasty. This motif could be expressed in diverse shapes, including gentle waves and a long, heavy sea. Wave patterns were most commonly applied in the upper garment and outer robe of the Buddha or bodhisattvas in Goryeo Buddhist paintings (Fig. 2). Fig. 2. Wave pattern on the upper garment in Water-moon Avalokitesvara. Tanzan-jinja Shrine, Japan Gamboge ra silk with wave-and-dragon fish pattern (印雌黃水波魚龍紋羅) was originally enshrined inside a gilt-bronze Amitabha Buddha (dated to 1346) in Munsusa Temple (文殊寺) in Seosan and is currently housed in the Sudeoksa Museum. It features dragon-fish patterns over wave patterns (Fig.3). Records mentioning the use of wave patterns on textiles include “茶褐水波紋地兄兒四花襖子” (dagal supamunji hyeonga sahwa oja) meaning “dark brown female overcoat with wave and four-flower pattern” in the Original Imprint of the Nogeoldae, a sourcebook for study of Chinese language, and “茶褐水波浪” (dagal suparang) meaning “dark brown wave pattern” in the Beonyeok nogeoldae (飜譯老乞大, The Nogeoldae in Translation) published in 1510. Both “水波” (supa) and “水波浪” (suparang) were translated into Korean language as “mulgyeol” meaning “wave.” Fig. 3. Gamboge ra silk with wave-and-dragon fish pattern from the Amitabha statue in Munsusa Temple (above) and a diagram (below). Sudeoksa Museum (Diagram by the author) Lattice pattern The overskirt depicted in Water-moon Avalokitesvara at Kagami-jinja Shrine features major patterns consisting of a lotus flower inside a six-petaled frame against a background of chrysanthemum patterns (Fig. 4). This style of lattice pattern in which main motifs inside frames of particular shapes appear against background patterns is known as gwamun (窠紋, also transcribed as 科紋) in Korea, kewen in China, and kamon in Japan. A lattice pattern is among the main textile patterns from the Goryeo period under Mongol rule and in the Jin (金, 1115–1234) and Yuan periods of China. Fig. 4. Diagram of lattice pattern on the overskirt in Water-moon Avalokitesvara in Kagami-jinja Shrine, Japan (Diagram by the author) Sa silk with dragon-and-lattice pattern over scroll pattern (蔓草紋地窠龍紋紗), which was found among objects enshrined inside an Amitabha statue dated to 1302 and is currently housed in the Onyang Folk Museum, features main patterns of a dragon set inside a double-layered lozenge frame with lingzhi scroll patterns in the background (Fig. 5). The patterned neung silk (紋綾, K. mulleung) discovered inside an Amitabha statue at Munsusa Temple features similar patterns. This single-colored twill-woven silk with a secret pattern (暗花紋, K. amhwamun, Ch. an hua wen) features round-edged lozenge patterns in the background and main patterns of a dragon inside an eight-petaled frame. A dragon is one of the main motifs for lattice patterns on textile objects from the Goryeo Period. Fig. 5-1. Sa silk with dragon-and-lattice pattern over scroll pattern over scroll pattern. 1302. Discovered inside an Amitabha Statue from 1302. Onyang Folk Museum (Photograph by the author) Fig. 5-2. Diagram of Fig. 5-1 (Diagram by the author) Lotus-and-hexagon pattern In most paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva wears a reddish skirt with sparse lotus-flower patterns over hexagonal patterns in the background. In each hexagon, a small flower appears inside a white frame (Fig. 6). In most cases, the flowers and hexagons are regularly shaped, but in the Water-moon Avalokitesvara at Senso-ji Temple, the hexagons are elongated lengthwise and the small flowers inside them are vertically symmetrical (Fig. 7). Lotus and hexagon patterns are seen only in the skirt of Avalokitesvara. Background hexagon patterns are commonly found in many surviving textiles from the Goryeo and Yuan dynasties. These extant examples are significant as they provide actual examples of the hexagon patterns expressed in Goryeo paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara. Blue patterned neung silk with flower-and-hexagon pattern (靑色六角花紋綾) also originally enshrined inside the Amitabha statue from 1302 mentioned above is among these examples (Fig. 8). Fig. 6. Patterns on the skirt in Water-moon Avalokitesvara. Kōzan-ji Temple, Japan Fig. 7. Patterns on the skirt in Water-moon Avalokitesvara. Senso-ji Temple, Japan Fig. 8. Blue patterned neung silk with flower-and-hexagon pattern. 1302. Discovered inside an Amitabha Statue from 1302. Onyang Folk Museum (Photograph by the author) In general, lotus flower blossoms and leaves form symmetrical pairs in the skirt of Water-moon Avalokitesvara, but the shapes of the lotus flowers vary among paintings. In one pattern unit, a pair of lotus blossoms or a pair of lotus leaves face each other. There is no frame encircling these blossoms and leaves. The stems are intertwined to connect the blossoms and the leaves so that they form a unit of the pattern. These units are crisscrossed like courses of bricks. A similar lotus pattern can be seen in geum silk with lotus pattern (重蓮錦) from the Yuan dynasty excavated in Alar (阿拉兒) in Xinjiang Province, China (Fig. 9). As hexagons symbolize water, lotus-and-hexagon patterns in the skirt of Water-moon Avalokitesvara represent lotus flowers floating in water. Fig. 9. Geum silk with lotus pattern. Yuan. Excavated in Alar, Xinjiang, China Snowflake-and-circle pattern The bodhisattva’s veil in paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara features either short diagonal lines without any other element or geometric patterns in which circles and hexagons overlap (Fig. 10). These geometric patterns are among the typical features of paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara from the Goryeo and Chinese Ming (明, 1368–1644) periods. They are also seen in Goryeo-period Buddhist paintings of other bodhisattvas. Fig. 10. Patterns on the veil in Water-moon Avalokitesvara. Choraku-ji Temple, Japan These patterns have generally been referred to as hemp leaf patterns (麻葉文, K. mayeommun) since they were so named for Japanese art due to their resemblance to hemp leaves. The hemp leaf pattern is known to have originated in the Heian period (平安時代, 794–1185) and gained popularity during the Edo period (江戶時代, 1603–1868) in Japan, but there is no related literary evidence. The pattern on the veil of Water-moon Avalokitesvara differs from a hemp leaf pattern in that it is based on serial circles while a hemp leaf pattern is based on serial hexagons. On the veil, hexagons intersect with circles inside regularly overlapping circles, creating the appearance of a snowflake. Diverse forms of circle patterns that overlap in four or six directions are featured on the robe of the main Buddha in an Amitabha Triad in a private Japanese collection, in the Amitabha Triad (dated 1309) in Uesugi-jinja Shrine (上杉神社) in Yamagata, Japan, the Amitabha and the Eight Great Bodhisattvas (dated 1309) in Dainenbutsu-ji Temple (大念佛寺) in Osaka, Japan, and the Vairocana Triad in the Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne, Germany. In the Yingzao Fashi (營造法式, Treatise on architectural methods or State building standards) from the Song dynasty, circles overlapping in four directions are called a “quadruple circle pattern,” those overlapping in six directions are known as a “sextuple circle pattern,” and circles with a flower inside them are called a “sextuple circle and flower pattern.” A chapter on military uniforms (仗衛服條) in the Xuanhe fengshi Gaoli tujing (宣和奉使高麗圖經, Illustrated record of the Chinese embassy to the Goryeo court in the Xuanhe era) mentions the use of geum silk with a circle pattern (毬紋錦) for military uniforms. The Shu jin pu (蜀錦譜, Observations on Shu Brocade) by Fei Zhu (費著) from the Yuan dynasty references “雪花球路錦,” meaning “geum silk with snowflake-and-circle pattern.” Given that the pattern on the veil of Water-moon Avalokitesvara with its repetition of overlapping hexagons and circles resembles snow or ice crystals, this pattern can be called a “snowflake-and-circle pattern” (雪花毬紋) as described in the Shu jin pu. The geometric pattern on the veil of Water-moon Avalokitesvara differs in shape from a hemp leaf pattern. The literature above also supports the assertion that this pattern should be named the “snowflake-and-circle pattern” (Fig. 11). Fig. 11. Hemp leaf pattern (left) and snowflake-and-circle pattern (right) in Water-moon Avalokitesvara. (Diagram by the author) Round pattern The round patterns elaborately painted in gold on the veil of Water-moon Avalokitesvara are among the typical features of Goryeo Buddhist paintings (Fig. 12). Round patterns are regularly arranged across each other like courses of bricks. Generally, the patterns in the upper row are reversed compared to those in the lower row. Such an arrangement of patterns follows the trends of textile patterns from the Goryeo and Yuan periods, and was referred to as “搭子紋” (K. tapjamun; Ch. da zi wen) in contemporaneous literature. Fig. 12. Round pattern with a cloud motif in Water-moon Avalokitesvara. Metropolitan Museum of Art, United States of America Round patterns generally include clouds, lotus, or chrysanthemum motifs. The veil depicted in the Water-moon Avalokitesvara in Shojuraigo-ji Temple (聖衆來迎寺) in Shiga, Japan features round patterns consisting of three lotus leaves. Round patterns with a cloud motif (圓形雲氣紋) are common in the robe of Amitabha Buddha, as exemplified by the Amitabha Triad from the fourteenth century at the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art; the Amitabha and the Eight Great Bodhisattvas in Joukyou-ji Temple (淨敎寺), Nara, Japan; the Amitabha Triad in Kakurin-ji Temple (鶴林寺), Hyogo, Japan; the Amitabha Triad in Chion-in Temple (知恩院), Kyoto, Japan; and the Amitabha Buddha in Musée Guimet, Paris, France. This pattern has generally been referred to as a scroll pattern (唐草紋), but an analysis of its form and organization reveals that an S-shaped mass of clouds forks in different directions, just as in the cloud pattern on the clothes expressed in Goryeo Buddhist paintings. The only difference is that thin tails from the clouds, which are lowered down in the cloud pattern, are rolled upward to create a round form popular at the time. Extant textiles from the Goryeo period display round patterns made using diverse techniques including weaving, embroidery, and gilding. Sa silk with round pattern with lattice motif and colored flower pattern (團窠形紋彩花紗), which was originally enshrined inside the Amitabha statue from 1302, features round patterns applied using the janghwa technique (Fig. 13). Red ra silk with gilt flower pattern (銷金紅花羅), which was discovered within the same statue, features gilt floral medallions set against vivid red silk. The petals overlap to create round medallion patterns, which are arranged in turn like rows of bricks. The veil in the painting of Water-moon Avalokitesvara in Daitoku-ji Temple shows the same organization and arrangement of round patterns. Fig. 13. Sa silk with round pattern with lattice motif and colored flower pattern. 1302. Discovered inside the Amitabha Statue from 1302. Sudeoksa Museum (Photograph by the author) There is no consensus regarding what this type of pattern was called during the Goryeo period. A record from the 32nd year of the reign of King Munjong (1078) in the Goryeosa (高麗史, History of Goryeo) mentions a “disc pattern with cloud-and-crane motif” (盤毬雲鴈細) as the pattern on some multi-colored geum silk (雜色川錦). The Jeungbo munheon bigo (增補文獻備考, The revised and enlarged edition of the comparative review of records and documents) mentions a “textile with gold and silver lines and disc pattern with a dragon-and-net motif” (金鋃線織成黃盤龍罽褥). The “Military uniforms” section of the Xuanhe fengshi Gaoli tujing records “elite soldiers of the Dragon-tiger Guards (龍虎上超軍) wear a uniform with a gilt disc pattern with a flower motif and embroidery, and junior seamen of the same guards (龍虎下超軍) wear a uniform with an embroidered disc pattern with an eagle motif.” It also notes “soldiers of the Capital Patrol (金吾仗衛軍) wear a uniform in patterned ra silk with a few large floral medallion patterns.” Therefore, round patterns appear to resemble the disc patterns (盤紋) or large floral medallion patterns (大團花) which are frequently mentioned in records from the Goryeo period. Pomegranate-and-bead pattern In paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara, pomegranate-and-bead patterns are featured on the sashes and at the edges of the skirt of the bodhisattva, as best illustrated in the Water-moon Avalokitesvara in Kagami-jinja Shrine (Fig. 14). In this painting, pomegranate flowers are depicted similarly to a bosanghwa flower. The flowers expressed on the edges have their petals rolled inside while those on the sashes have petals rolled outwards and a line of bead-like arils pouring out of an ovary. The stem of the flower is connected to exaggeratively stylized scrolls. Another good example of pomegranate-and-bead pattern can be found in the Amitabha Buddha in Jenrin-ji Temple (禪林寺) in Kyoto, Japan. Fig. 14. Diagram of pomegranate-and-bead pattern on the sash in Water-moon Avalokitesvara in Kagami-jinja Shrine, Japan (Diagram by the author) The Yingzao Fashi classifies rolled petal flowers (卷叶花) into pomegranate flowers, boahwa flowers (寶牙華, Ch. bao ya hua), and bosanghwa flowers and provides related illustrations. This means that it distinguishes pomegranate flowers from bosanghwa flowers. A pomegranate flower here refers to a flower from which beads are pouring out, as depicted in paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara and other Buddhist paintings from the Goryeo period. In China, pomegranate patterns were applied on textiles from the Liao and Yuan dynasties, but they featured only the arils. The image of beads pouring out of flowers can be seen only in craftworks from the Goryeo period. Pomegranate-and-bead patterns were frequently applied on the clothing in Buddhist paintings and scriptures. This type of pattern, termed pomegranate-and-bead pattern (石榴寶珠紋) in this article, has commonly been referred to as the bosanghwa flower scroll pattern. However, this name fails to consider the beads pouring out of the ovary of a pomegranate flower, and therefore should be reconsidered. The patterns expressed at the edges of the clothing in paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara include beads, a significant symbol in Buddhism, and should be renamed pomegranate-and-bead pattern. Types of Textiles and Method of Applying Patterns During the Goryeo period, textiles were produced mainly by government-commissioned artisans, rural craftspeople, or Buddhist monk artisans. Types of patterns and techniques for applying them were both imported to and exported from Goryeo through active exchanges with the Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties in China. Patterns were applied to textiles by weaving patterned textiles or through variegation, resist dyeing, embroidery, or gilding. No textiles have been excavated from Goryeo-period tombs. The surviving examples were all originally enshrined inside Buddhist statues or pagodas, handed down in ancestral shrines, or held by Buddhist temples. Most of these are only fragments, but they generally retain their original colors and physical characteristics, thereby providing sources for investigating the textile arts during the Goryeo period. This section analyzes the textiles and patterns depicted in the skirt and veil, the most characteristic elements of the bodhisattva’s clothing, in paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara. Geum silk for the skirt The skirt of Water-moon Avalokitesvara features lotus-and-hexagon patterns in various colors, including red, white, and green. Patterned silk from the Goryeo period includes gi (綺), neung (綾), geum (錦), and jikgeum (織金). Among them, only geum silk can express patterns in diverse colors. Geum silk is a polychrome compound weave created using pre-dyed thread in multiple colors to allow lavish patterns. The aforementioned Yuan-period textile with lotus patterns similar to those on the skirt of Water-moon Avalokitesvara is also made of geum silk (Fig. 9). Another Yuan-period textile in geum silk with a lattice-and-hexagon pattern (六角形地窠紋錦) was excavated from Jin ning lu (集寧路) in Inner Mongolia. This suggests that the bodhisattva’s skirt in paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara must be a depiction of geum silk. In the Goryeo period, geum silk was produced by designated artisans known as gapjang (錦匠). It was stored in a warehouse in Gyeongju dedicated to storing silk known as geumjik gapbang (錦織甲坊). Documents from the Goryeo period mention diverse types of geum, including honggeeum (紅錦, red geum), chaegeum (綵錦, figured geum), paegeum (貝錦, nacre geum), japsaek cheongeum (雜色川錦, multi-colored high quality geum), ungeum (雲錦, cloud geum), mungeum (紋錦, figured geum), rangeum (鸞錦, geum with a mythical ran bird pattern), junggeum (重錦), seogeum (瑞錦, auspicious geum), yeonjakmungeum (練鵲文錦, geum with a shrike pattern), and gumungeum 毬文錦 (geum with a ball pattern), which together indicates how geum silk of the time was produced in a range of patterns. Extant geum silk items from the Goryeo period include geum silk with lotus pattern (瑞花紋錦) dated to the twelfth century, which was discovered from inside a pagoda known as Bongseoritap Pagoda (鳳棲里塔) in Bongseo-ri in Mungyeong and is currently housed in the Daegu National Museum (Fig. 15). This textile is a weft double weave made by using 1/2 twill weave. Sky blue, violet, yellow, light brown, and green colors were applied. The background is triple woven and the portions with stamen patterns are quadruple woven to express the designs. Fig. 15-1. Geum silk with auspicious flower pattern. 12th century. Excavated from Bongseoritap Pagoda, Mungyeong. National Museum of Korea (Photograph by the author) Fig. 15-2. Organization of geum silk (Diagram by the author) Sa and ra silk The veil of Water-moon Avalokitesvara is thin and transparent. It is flowing, but remains stiff enough to not to adhere to the body. The bodhisattva’s veil appears to be made of silk. Raw silk is as stiff as ramie cloth, but it can be softened through refinement. Compared to ramie cloth, silk is easier for producing superfine fibers, and it is therefore likely that the transparent veil of Water-moon Avalokitesvara was made of silk. This veil has generally been referred to as a sara (紗羅), which means translucent gauze. Both sa and ra are gauze silk, but the details of their weaving differ and each is therefore called by a unique name according to the features of its weave. Among the veils of Water-moon Avalokitesvara, those with a snowflake-and-circle pattern are thought to be made with a patterned sa silk (紗, simple gauze silk) known as munsa (紋紗). Those without patterns beyond diagonal lines are thought to be made of an unpatterned ra silk (羅, complex gauze silk) known as mumulla (無紋羅). Four strands of the warp are twisted to weave ra silk. The twisted parts are crossed at the top and bottom and form lozenge patterns through a repetition of the crossing. The veils depicted in paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara demonstrate that their painters possessed a credible knowledge of the organization of ra silk and expressed its features in refined drawing. The Goryeo era marked the peak period for ra silk production when diverse types of ra silk were created and used. Records show that the skill of weaving ra silk was considered highly valuable and artisans dedicated to the production of this textile were designated by the state. The Goryeosa frequently mentions diverse types of ra silk, including patterned ra (紋羅, mulla), embroidered ra (繡羅, sura), gilt ra (金箔羅, geumbangna), gold ra (織金羅, jikgeumna), and raw ra (生羅, saengna), which indicates that advanced techniques of ra weaving were available. Since the Three Kingdoms period, ra silk was used for the official attire of kings, civil and military officials, and military uniforms, and this tradition continued through to the Goryeo period. Records from the Goryeo era mentioning ra silk, including patterned ra silk and resist-dyed ra silk, indicate that diverse types of ra silk were used at the time. The Xuanhe fengshi Gaoli tujing states that high quality patterned ra silk was skillfully woven in Goryeo. The Samdobu (三都賦, Rhapsody of three provinces) by Choe Ja (崔滋, 1188–1260) includes a phrase noting “In Gyerim (鷄林) and Yeongga (永嘉, present-day Gyeongju and Andong), people breed silkworms and spin silk to weave a refined ra silk as soft as smoke or fog that could float away if blown.” This description recalls the appearance of the sheer veil depicted in Goryeo Buddhist paintings. Extant textiles from the Goryeo period include non-patterned ra silk in various colors. The yellow ra silk (黃色素羅) discovered inside the aforementioned Amitabha statue from 1302 is roughly woven using superfine fibers and shows a veil-like transparency (Fig. 16). Fig. 16-1. Detail of Goryeo-period ra silk. 1302. Discovered inside the Amitabha Statue from 1302. Onyang Folk Museum (Photograph by the author) Fig. 16-2. Diagram of Fig. 16-1 (Diagram by the author) The veil with snowflake-and-circle pattern in paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara appears to be a depiction of patterned sa silk with a double weave warp. Such patterned sa silk came into wide use from the late Goryeo period when drawlooms with heddles for weaving sa were created. Extant examples of patterned sa silk from the Goryeo period include two-colored sa silk with four leaves and lattice over scroll pattern (四葉窠草花紋二色紗) (Fig. 17), which was enshrined within the Amitabha statue in Munsusa Temple in 1346. The warp is white raw silk woven with light yellow boiled silk threads to give a soft but crisp feel. The background is a double-woven warp with plain threads, and the parts with patterns are plain woven. Fig. 17. Two-colored sa silk with four leaves and lattice over scroll pattern (left), detail (middle), and a diagram (right). 1346. Discovered inside the Amitabha Statue in Munsusa Temple. Sudeoksa Museum (Photograph and diagram by the author) Expression of gold round pattern on the veil In paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva’s veil is lavishly decorated with gold round patterns, including a cloud-and-bonghwang motif. During the Goryeo period, gold patterns were expressed on textiles by weaving in golden threads, embroidering with golden threads, or gilding. Weaving and embroidering with golden threads are not likely to be able to express the intended transparence of a sheer veil due to the weight and volume of the threads. It is therefore likely that paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara depict gilded or gold-painted patterns on the veil. Advanced gilding techniques had been developed by the Goryeo era, and records indicate that many textiles with gilt patterns were sent to China. A record from the sixth month of the 26th year of the reign of King Munjong (1072) in “Sega” (世家, Chronicles) 8, the ninth volume of the Goryeosa, reads, “Among the articles dispatched to the Song dynasty through envoys are a king’s robe and yellow flannel jacket (黃罽衫) wrapped in a red double-layered cloth with a gilt pattern (銷金紅羅裌複) and king’s red flannel casual clothes, also wrapped in the same kind of cloth. They were all placed inside a silver-inlaid black lacquered box.” It also includes a passage reading “Two gold boxes were placed inside a double-layered flannel pouch (罽裌袋) and wrapped in a ra silk with gilt and red plum-blossom patterns (銷金紅梅花羅) and then covered by a double-layered ra silk cloth with a red plum-blossom pattern (紅梅花羅裌帕).” These records indicate that gilt patterns were preferred for decoration of ra silk during the Goryeo period. The word “sogeum” (銷金), literally meaning “melted gold,” was used to refer to gilding or gilt patterns during the Goryeo period and the Song, Liao, Jin, and Yuan periods of China. The Amitabha Buddha statue from 1302 mentioned above included two textiles with a gilt pattern. Among them, red ra silk with gilt flower pattern (鎖金紅花紋羅) features gilt floral medallion patterns over a non-patterned red ra silk with a quadruple weave warp that appear nearly identical to the patterns on the bodhisattva’s veil in paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara (Fig. 18). Fig. 18. Red ra silk with gilt flower pattern (left) and detail (right). 1302. Discovered inside the Amitabha Statue from 1302. Onyang Folk Museum (Photograph by the author) Reproduction of Fabric Depicted in Paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara Reproduction of geum silk Geum silk includes a warp-faced compound silk known as gyeonggeum (經錦), which features patterns applied using several colored warp threads, and also a weft-faced compound weave silk known as wigeum (緯錦), which displays patterns applied using several colored weft threads. The abovementioned geum silk with auspicious flower pattern discovered from inside Bongseoritap Pagoda in Mungyeong is identified as weft-faced compound weave silk with a 1/2 twill weave. Based on the analysis of this textile, the bodhisattva’s skirt with a lotus-and-hexagon pattern featured in paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara was reproduced using weft-faced compound weave silk. The size of the pattern was determined by taking into account the size of the skirt and the proportions of the body of the bodhisattva in the Water-moon Avalokitesvara at Kagami-jinja Shrine. The density of the textile and the thickness of the threads were based on geum silk with auspicious flower pattern housed in the Daegu National Museum. The size of the repeated pattern is approximately 3.8 centimeters wide and 4.5 centimeters high (Fig. 19). Fig. 19. Reproduced lotus-and-hexagon pattern. Research Institute of Traditional Textile Restoration (Photograph by the author) During the Goryeo period, geum silk was produced using a drawloom that required a weaver and a draw boy to control and lift the figure harness. The textile for the reproduction of the bodhisattva’s skirt was woven using a semi-manual jacquard loom. Reviving a ra weaving technique and the reproduction of ra silk Ra silk is woven with four warp threads and one weft thread crossed, as if making a net. The sets of four warps and one weft are repeated alternating left and right. This raises the porosity and creates a transparent gauzy texture. Ra weaving requires a special heddle system that allows the twisting of the warp, and the reed used for weaving ordinary textiles cannot be applied in ra weaving. As the tradition of ra weaving was interrupted in the mid-Joseon period (朝鮮, 1392–1910), the details of the technique are difficult to identify. In addition, as ra silk cannot be woven on modern automatic looms, it is virtually impossible to weave ra silk today. Therefore, to reproduce the veil of Water-moon Avalokitesvara, a heddle system that allows the weaving of ra silk was invented and an appropriate loom was devised. After two years of preparation, ra silk was finally recreated. Parts of a traditional loom that are used to lift warps were modified for ra production. As modern metal heddles could not be used, heddles were manually crafted using threads. Three types of heddles were created: one for the right twist, one for the left twist, and one for the ground (Fig. 20). Fig. 20. Weaving ra silk (left) and reproduced ra silk (right). Research Institute of Traditional Textile Restoration (Photograph by the author) Reproduction of sa silk with a snowflake-and-circle pattern A veil with a snowflake-and-circle pattern was reproduced using sa silk with a double warp twist. To allow a flowing softness but still a slight stiffness that would prevent the veil from adhering to the body, raw silk was used for the warp and boiled silk was used for the weft. The base textile was woven as sa silk with a double warp twist and the patterns were woven in a plain weave to give a transparent appearance to the veil. Round patterns with a cloud motif were gilded onto the veil with its snowflake-and-circle pattern. For the gilt patterns, a woodblock was produced for impressing round patterns 11 centimeters in diameter, proportionate to the round pattern seen on the veil in paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara. First, patterns were drawn and copied onto the woodblock for carving with a chisel and burin. The chisel was used to remove broad areas such as edges, and the burin was used to carve relief pattern. Fish glue was applied to the woodblock with its carved patterns and then pressed onto the fabric. After a time, gilt was spread over the fabric and rubbed. When the gilt was well attached to the fabric, the residual gilt over the unglued parts was brushed away so that only the gilt patterns appeared on the fabric. Round gilt patterns were arranged across each other in the same manner as on the veil in paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara (Fig. 21). Fig. 21. Reproduced sa silk with a round gilt pattern and snowflake-and-circle pattern. Research Institute of Traditional Textile Restoration (Photograph by the author) Conclusion This article investigated the patterns visible on the clothing of the bodhisattva in paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara based on surviving textiles and records from the Goryeo period. It also inferred from these paintings the materials depicted in the clothing of the bodhisattva and reproduced the relevant textiles. The study revealed that a wide range of patterns were applied in the clothing of Water-moon Avalokitesvara. The motifs include wave, lattice, circle, lotus and hexagon, scroll, snowflake and circle, disc, floral medallion, and pomegranate and bead patterns. Based on the findings, this article suggests renaming several of these patterns. A pattern on the bodhisattva’s veil previously known as hemp leaf pattern was renamed snowflake-and-circle pattern. It was found that the scroll pattern on the edges and patterned bands of the skirt that was previously known as a bosanghwa scroll pattern would be more accurately dubbed a pomegranate-and-bead pattern. The patterns depicted on the bodhisattva’s clothing in paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara and their methods of expression indicate that the paintings realistically depicted contemporaneous textiles. The skirt appears to be made of geum silk, a richly patterned compound weave silk. As for the veil, versions with no pattern other than diagonal slashes were determined to be made of a non-patterned complex gauze silk known as ra rather than ramie fabric as previously believed. The veil with a snowflake-and-circle pattern is thought to be made of a patterned simple gauze silk known as sa. In this study, the skirt with a lotus-and-hexagon pattern was reproduced based on an analysis of surviving Goryeo examples of weft-faced compound weave silk known as geum. The two types of veils were reproduced respectively using non-patterned ra silk and sa silk with snowflake-and-circle pattern. The ra weaving technique, which had been unknown due to the discontinuation of the tradition, was recovered and applied in order to weave the non-patterned ra silk. A veil with a snowflake-and-circle pattern was reproduced using patterned sa silk for a transparent look, and round patterns with a cloud motif were applied. In this manner, the veil of Water-moon Avalokitesvara, which had been known and studied only as an element of Buddhist painting, was recreated using actual materials in order to physically illustrate the aesthetics applied in images of Water-moon Avalokitesvara. The study revealed that the bodhisattva’s clothing and the patterns applied in Goryeo-period paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara were not simply painterly expressions. They were in fact realistic depictions of the characteristics of textiles from the period and the main features of the patterns applied to them, including their formal features and composition. The geum and ra silk depicted in Goryeo-period paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara were textiles of excellent quality woven using the most advanced techniques of their time. In particular, ra silk was among the definitive textiles of Goryeo. It required considerable time and effort for its production and was well known as far away as China. Its transparent appearance left a brilliant and mysterious impression. These textiles woven using techniques advanced for their time were depicted in religious art such as paintings of Water-moon Avalokitesvara. The sophisticated depiction of the bodhisattva wearing clothing of exquisite beauty conveys the devout prayers of the Buddhist monk painters who attempted to ideally represent a Buddhist utopia.

The gold buckle (National Treasure No. 89) excavated from Seogam-ri Tomb No. 9, the oldest gold artifact crafted using the granulation technique to be discovered to date on the Korean Peninsula, is estimated to have been produced during the first or second century. Found at the waist level of the body interred in the tomb (indicating that it formed as part of a belt), this gold buckle stands out for its sumptuous decoration and fine crafting. Both archaeological and art historical research on the buckle have been conducted through the collection of morphological information based on naked-eye inspection and comparison with similar items excavated and preserved in China and other countries. However, the exact provenance of the buckle remains unknown. It has been suggested that it was made on the Korean Peninsula in a place such as the Nangnang (alternatively, Lelang) Commandery, under the influence of central China and the Xiongnu (also known as the Hunnu) or other northern nomadic peoples from what is now Mongolia. Identifying the buckle’s region of production is a matter of importance since it could provide clues about the origins of the granulation technique in Korea and the state of foreign relations at the time it was made. To this end, scientific analysis of the materials and techniques used to create the buckle is a key, and a scientific investigation was carried out to determine the metalworking techniques used in the production of the gold buckle from the Seogam-ri tomb. First, X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF) analysis was performed to confirm the material composition of the gold sheet, gold wires, gold granules, and inset materials. Next, the conditions in the buckle’s interior and the manner of joining of the parts were examined through radiography, and the state of the buckle’s surface and structural details were confirmed using a stereoscopic microscope. After this, scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS) analysis was applied to investigate the finer details of the gold granules and how they were bonded. Based on the chemical composition for the gold buckle and the results of the analysis of its structural details obtained through this process, a further integrated study of the buckle was accomplished. Method of Analysis XRF Analysis Using an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, the material composition of the gold sheet, gold wires, gold granules, and inset minerals used to create the gold buckle were analyzed in a non-destructive manner. The analysis conditions are shown in Table 1 below. Table 1. XRF analysis conditions Equipment Analysis Conditions Voltage Current Time Collimator Portable μXRF Spectrometer, ArtTAX, Röntec, Germany 50kV 600μA 200s 200μm To confirm the purity of the gold, standard certified reference materials (CRM) produced by Bruker AXS Korea—Gold 1 (Au 84.71 wt%, Ag 10.30 wt%, Cu 4.99 wt%), Gold 2 (Au 89.80 wt%, Ag 9.13 wt%, Cu 1.07 wt%), and Gold 3 (Au 76.83 wt%, Ag 20.25 wt%, Cu 2.92 wt%)—were used. The calibration curve of each element was drawn and normalized to 100%. The CRM analysis results are listed in Table 2. Table 2. Results of XRF analysis of gold by standard certified reference materials (unit: wt%) Reference Material Chemical Composition Au Ag Cu Gold1 1 84.67 10.17 5.17 2 84.60 10.29 5.11 3 84.93 9.90 5.18 Average 84.73 10.12 5.15 Gold2 1 90.09 8.75 1.16 2 90.04 8.78 1.18 3 89.97 8.79 1.24 Average 90.03 8.77 1.19 Gold3 1 77.19 20.22 2.59 2 77.11 20.22 2.66 3 77.03 20.27 2.71 Average 77.11 20.24 2.65 Radiography Radiography (EX-300GH-3, Toshiba, Japan) was performed to investigate the state of the buckle’s interior and the joining of the parts. The imaging conditions are shown in Table 3. Table 3. Radiography conditions Voltage (kv) Current (mA) Time (mim.) Fucus Film Distance (mm) Film 130 5 4 100 Agfa D7 Stereoscopic Microscope Analysis The state of the gold buckle’s surface and structural details were analyzed using a stereoscopic microscope (M205-A, Leica, Germany). This type of device allows the sample to be enlarged from 5 to 100 times and is thus useful for the examination of parts that cannot be easily scrutinized with the naked eye. The analysis was carried out by varying the magnification according to the area of investigation. SEM-EDS Analysis To study the bonding points of the gold granules and their finer details, SEM-EDS analysis was conducted under the conditions shown in Table 4. To confirm the purity of the gold, standard certified reference materials (CRM) produced by European Reference Materials—EB506 (Au 58.56 wt%, Ag 3.90 wt%, Cu 35.65 wt%, Zn 1.89 wt%), EB507 (Au 75.10 wt%, Ag 3.02 wt%, Cu 14.69 wt%, Ni 4.99 wt%, Zn 2.11 wt%), and EB508 (Au 75.12 wt%, Ag 24.90 wt%)—were used. The calibration curve of each element was drawn and normalized to 100%. The CRM analysis results are listed in Table 5. Table 4. SEM-EDS analysis conditions Equipment Analysis Conditions Voltage Current Time S-3500N, Hitachi, Japan/X-maxN, Horiba, Japan 20kV 60–70μA 100s Table 5. Results of SEM-EDS analysis of gold standard certified reference materials (unit: wt%) Chemical Composition Reference material Au Ag Cu Ni Zn EB506 1 59.65 3.81 34.39 - 2.16 2 59.76 4.10 34.11 - 2.03 3 59.79 3.56 34.32 - 2.33 Average 59.73 3.82 34.27 - 2.17 EB507 1 76.40 2.77 13.70 4.89 2.24 2 75.14 3.58 14.01 4.63 2.64 3 75.92 3.63 13.90 4.81 1.74 Average 75.82 3.33 13.87 4.78 2.21 EB508 1 74.91 25.09 - - - 2 74.87 25.13 - - - 3 74.48 25.52 - - - Average 74.75 25.25 - - - Analysis Results Composition of the Gold Buckle The analysis positions for the composition analysis of the gold sheet, gold granules, gold wires, and blue minerals used to produce the gold buckle are shown in Fig. 1, and the results for each position are listed in Table 6. The gold sheet had an average composition of Au 94.87 wt%, Ag 5.08 wt% with a purity of around 22.8K. The extra gold sheet appended to some parts had an average composition of Au 99.31 wt%, Ag 0.60 wt%, with a slightly higher purity at 23.8K. Using radiography and stereoscopic microscopy (as described in Metalworking Techniques), it was confirmed that an additional gold sheet of higher purity has been applied in some areas. The average composition for the gold granules was Au 99.32 wt%, Ag 0.55 wt%, and Au 99.31 wt%, Ag 0.60 wt% for the gold wires, and both the granules and wires had a similar purity at around 23.8K. The thin, flat gold wires surrounding the inset blue minerals proved to have a similar gold composition to the granules and other wire. The purity of the clasp is around 22.8K, and the purity of the wire holding the clasp in place is around 23.6K. The purity of the gold clasp is similar to that of the gold sheets, which indicates that the material is different from that used to form the granules and gold wires. The major composition detected in the blue mineral inset in the foreheads and bodies of the dragons decorating the surface of the buckle were Cu, Al, P, Zn, and Fe, which indicates that the mineral is likely to be turquoise [CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8·5H2O]. Fig. 1. Analysis positions Table 6. Composition of the gold buckle (unit: wt%) Chemical Composition Analysis position Au Ag Cu Purity Gold granules 1 99.27 0.61 0.12 23.8K 2 99.33 0.50 0.17 23.8K 3 99.22 0.70 0.08 23.8K 4 99.44 0.39 0.18 23.9K Average 99.32 0.55 0.14 23.8K Gold wires 5 99.35 0.54 0.12 23.8K 6 99.16 0.62 0.23 23.8K 7 99.36 0.60 0.03 23.8K 8 99.26 0.65 0.08 23.8K 9 99.32 0.52 0.17 23.8K 10 99.29 0.64 0.08 23.8K Average 99.28 0.60 0.12 23.8K Thin, flat gold wires 11 99.51 0.45 0.04 23.9K 12 99.32 0.64 0.03 23.8K Average 99.42 0.55 0.04 23.9K Gold sheet 13 95.17 4.78 0.05 22.8K 14 95.45 4.52 0.03 22.9K 15 94.32 5.61 0.07 22.6K 16 94.53 5.41 0.06 22.7K Average 94.87 5.08 0.05 22.8K Added gold sheet 17 99.23 0.63 0.15 23.8K Clasp 18 95.10 4.71 0.18 22.8K Wire fixture for clasp 19 98.46 1.37 0.17 23.6K Blue mineral 20 Cu, Al, P, Zn, Fe As analysis of the minute details on the dragons is not possible with XRF, the purity of the gold wires forming the nose was analyzed using SEM-EDS (Fig. 2, Table 7). The results showed that the gold wires used to express the noses on the seven dragons had an average gold composition of Au 97.18 wt%, Ag 2.37 wt%, and a purity slightly lower than that of the gold wires applied in other areas on the buckle. Fig. 2. Analysis positions of the gold wires used to express the dragons’ noses Table 7. Composition of the gold wires used for the dragons’ noses (unit: wt%) Chemical Composition Analysis position Au Ag Cu Purity Gold wires 1 96.85 3.15 0.00 23.2K 2 96.59 3.37 0.03 23.2K 3 96.88 3.12 0.00 23.3K 4 97.45 2.55 0.00 23.4K 5 97.04 2.96 0.00 23.3K 6 97.71 2.29 0.00 23.5K 7 97.77 2.17 0.05 23.5K Average 97.18 2.37 0.02 23.3K Metalworking Techniques Observed in the Gold Buckle Gold sheet The analysis performed indicated the gold sheet to be 0.3–0.7 millimeters thick and to possess a purity of 22.8K. The large dragon and the six smaller dragons surrounding it on the surface of the buckle were formed using the repoussé technique, which involves hammering a metal sheet from the reverse side. The bodies of the dragons, their outlines, and the edges of the buckle are decorated with gold granules and gold wires. Repoussé is a metalworking technique in which a gold, silver, bronze, or other type of metal sheet is hammered from the reverse side in order to cause the surface to bulge outwards and produce a design in low relief. In East Asia, repoussé gold and silver artifacts have been excavated on rare occasions from Inner Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur region, which were inhabited by nomadic peoples from the fourth century BCE to the third century BCE. Using a microscope and radiography, the addition of a supplemental gold sheet to a section of the side of the buckle could be confirmed (Fig. 3). This added gold sheet (analysis position 17) has a purity of 23.8K. As the reinforced section is surrounded by decorative gold wire, it is presumed that the additional sheet was applied to address a defect that occurred during the production process. However, the possibility that the defect occurred at some other point cannot be ruled out. Fig. 3. Reinforced section Gold Wires The three-section border around the entire buckle, the bodies of the dragons, and other surface decoration are expressed in gold wires. The outermost part of the border is made from two wires twisted together that are discontinuous at one point (Fig. 4). The central section of the border is decorated with a pattern of regular triangles created using a total of five strands of gold wire (Fig. 5). The inner side of the triangle design is finished with a border made with two strands of gold wire (Fig. 6). Fig. 4. Discontinuous point in the gold wire of the outermost border Fig. 5. Parts of the central border design where the gold wires meet Fig. 6. Parts of the innermost border where the gold wires meet The gold wires used to form the noses of the dragons (Fig. 7 (a)) has an average purity (23.3K), slightly lower than that of the wires used in other parts of the buckle (23.8K). According to experiments regarding the hardness of gold according to its purity, the hardness of 24K gold is 30Hv while that of 22K gold is 52Hv. A reduction in purity of 2K results in more than a 70 percent increase in hardness. This means that the dragons’ noses were made with harder wire than that used on other parts of the buckle. Fig. 7. Gold wires used to decorate the large dragon’s nose, horns, teeth and tongue The bodies of the dragons and the wave design on the surface of the buckle are made with 23.8K gold wires (Fig. 8). The horns, teeth and tongue of the large dragon in the center are formed from thick and thin gold wires (Fig. 7 (b)), but these features were omitted from the six smaller dragons (Fig. 8 (b)). Fig. 8. Gold wires used in dragon’s body and surface design, and faces of smaller dragons Production and Bonding of the Gold Granules Measurements taken of the granules on the gold buckle indicated that they can be classified into three groups: small, medium, and large. The largest granules measured 1.4–1.6 millimeters in diameter and served to decorate the top of the largest dragon’s head, body, and feet. The medium-sized granules, measuring 0.9–1.2 millimeters in diameter, were applied as decoration for the bodies of both the large dragon and the smaller ones. The small granules, measuring 0.3–0.5 millimeters in diameter, ornament the dragons’ ears and bodies and the surface of the buckle (Fig. 9). Fig. 9. Sizes of the gold granules Known methods of bonding gold granules include soldering, copper diffusion, and welding. An analysis of the bonding points of the granules and traces of exfoliation on the fine details using SEM-EDS was performed to identify the composition of the bonding points and confirm the bonding methods used (Fig. 10, Table 8). When a bonding point was compared with the base gold, little difference in the composition of Au and Ag was noted but the Cu content was found to be 0.43–1.51 wt%, higher than the corresponding figure in the gold sheet, gold granules, and gold wires. In addition, traces of reinforcement were detected, meaning in sum that it is highly probable that copper diffusion was used to bond the granules to the gold buckle. Fig. 10. SEM images of bonding between gold granules Table 8. Results of EDS analysis of bonding between granules (unit: wt%) Chemical Composition Analysis Position Au Ag Cu 1 Bonding point (join between gold granule-gold granule) 99.05 0.52 0.43 2 Bonding point (join between gold granule-gold granule) 99.18 0.05 0.77 3 Bonding point (join between gold granule-gold granule) 98.35 0.14 1.51 4 Signs of exfoliation (join between gold granule-gold sheet) 93.72 5.14 1.14 Most of the gold items with granulated decoration excavated to date on the Korean Peninsula were made using soldering as the bonding method. Some examples are the Gold Earrings with Large Rings (National Treasure No. 90) discovered in Bubuchong (Tomb of Husband and Wife) in Bomun-dong in Gyeongju, the Gold Earrings with Small Rings and Gold Earrings with Large Rings (Treasure No. 557) in the collection of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, and the Gold Wind Chime that was found at the bottom of the inner sarira reliquary of the Eastern Three-Story Stone Pagoda at the site of Gameumsa Temple from the Unified Silla period. Aside from these granulated works, the Gold Necklace excavated from the Tomb of King Muryeong in Gongju was soldered using an alloy of gold, silver, and copper, and the Gold Cone-shaped Filigree Ornament discovered at a temple site in Neungsan-ri, Buyeo is known to have been soldered with an alloy of gold and copper. No report has yet been made of a gold granulated item found on the Korean Peninsula bonded using the copper diffusion method with a copper compound. However, the use of this copper diffusion technique has been identified in some gold ornaments from the tombs at Duurlig Nars in Mongolia. Red Pigment Inset Traces of a red pigment were detected around the eyes of the seven dragons decorating the gold buckle (Fig. 11). Most of it has flaked off and become difficult to identify with the naked eye, but these traces suggest that all of the dragons’ eyes were once tinted red. It was already known that red pigment remained in the eye area of the large dragon and the small dragon immediately below it, but this study confirmed that red pigment had been applied to the eyes of all seven dragons. XRF analysis of the pigment detected Hg and S, indicating the pigment involved to be cinnabar/vermillion (HgS). Fig. 11. Traces of red material In Korea, inset red pigment has mainly been found in items related to royalty, as in the case of the king’s earrings (Fig. 12), sword, dagger, and crown ornaments excavated from the Tomb of King Muryeong in Gongju. Cinnabar/vermillion pigment was also applied on the sarira enshrinement record written on the gold plate and the gold cap-shaped ornaments for curved jade pieces discovered at the Mireuksa Temple site in Iksan. On these gold cap-shaped ornaments, green and blue copper pigment was used along with cinnabar/vermillion, reflecting an expansion and diversification of the use of color. Moreover, it was confirmed that a gold ornament excavated from Seobongchong Tomb (Tomb of the Auspicious Phoenix) in Gyeongju dating to the Silla Kingdom features inset cinnabar/vermillion and black pigments. Fig. 12. Earrings from the Tomb of King Muryeong Conclusion Through an analysis of the composition of the gold buckle excavated from Seogam-ri Tomb No. 9 and the metalworking techniques used in its creation, it was possible to reach the following conclusions. Filigree Technique (Wirework and Granulation) All but the gold sheet used to make the buckle were found to have a purity level of 22.8K. The seven dragons were formed by hammering out their design in low relief using the repoussé technique, and their bodies, outlines and the buckle border were decorated with gold wires and gold granules. A portion of the buckle at the side was reinforced with an added 22K gold sheet. The gold wires used to decorate the border, bodies and outlines of the dragons was found to be highly pure at around 23.8K and was applied either as a single strand or as two strands twined together. The wires used to form the dragons’ noses was found to have a slightly lower level of purity than that of the wires used in other parts of the buckle, and consequently increased hardness. This harder wire was presumably applied as a means to ensure that the wire spirals forming the noses of the dragons maintained their shape over time. The gold granules used to decorate the bodies of the dragons and the buckle’s surface can be divided into small, medium and large groups. They were found to possess a high purity level at 23.8K. The elevated Cu content detected in the gold at the bonding point indicates that the copper diffusion method of bonding was used to attach the granules to each other and the surface. Fig. 13. Gold ornament from Seobongchong Tomb in Gyeongju Characteristics of the Decoration Techniques Aside from filigree wire and granulation work, inset gemstones and pigments were applied to decorate the gold buckle. Blue turquoise stones were inset in the forehead and bodies of the dragons and cinnabar/vermillion pigment was inset in the eyes of all seven dragons. The other gold items discovered on the Korean Peninsula featuring inset red pigment have mainly been excavated from sites related to Baekje royalty. Further research into this point could produce informative results. The results of this study are significant in two aspects. First, it provided basic information central to identifying the provenance of the gold buckle, which has still not been categorically determined. With the accumulation of research materials on metalworking techniques in the region where it is hypothesized the gold buckle was created and further scientific analysis of buckles of similar types, it is anticipated that the place of production of the Seogam-ri gold buckle can eventually be clearly identified. Second, it has been confirmed that the copper diffusion method was used for bonding the gold granules on the gold buckle. The same method has been found in gold ornaments excavated in Mongolia, which can be applied as objective material for investigating where the gold buckle was made.