The Journal of Korean Art and Archaeology

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Specials Gaya

Gaya (42–562)1 competed with Silla (57 BCE–935 CE) for hundreds of years in the area that is now known as the Gyeongsang region of South Korea but eventually succumbed in the late sixth century. Silla’s unique historical perspective solidified over its process of unifying the Three Kingdoms and incorporating Baekje (18 BCE–660 CE) and Goguryeo (37 BCE–668 CE) in the late seventh century, which influenced its writing of history. Gaya’s history was resultingly disparaged because, from the victorious point of view, it had always been part of Silla. This is why Samguk Sagi (三國史記, History of the Three Kingdoms), the oldest canonical text on ancient Korean history, focuses mainly on Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla. Gaya is rarely mentioned, and in the few instances when it is, it is described as a trivial polity that came to be annexed by various means in the early period of Silla’s history. This has meant that Gaya’s validity as a polity remained unacknowledged for over a thousand years. On the other hand, Gaya appears under the name “任那”, “Imna” in Korean and “Mimana” in Japanese in the Nihon shoki (日本書紀, The Chronicles of Japan), which relates the history of ancient Japan. Its descriptions seem to imply that Gaya’s territory was actually part of Yamato Japan and that an institution for its governance—“Imna Ilbon-bu” (任那日本府)—was maintained. It should be taken into account, however, that these passages on “Imna” reflect the historical perspective of aristocratic Baekje refugees who had fled to Japan following the demise of their kingdom. They were also products of Japanese attempts to compensate for their defeat at the hands of Silla, which had crushed the Japanese forces that came to the aid of the Baekje Revival Movement in the seventh century. Japan’s sense of superiority over Korea following its colonization of the peninsula in the twentieth century led heavily biased accounts on “Imna” to be accepted as straightforward history. Burdened by the tag of “Imna,” Gaya territory came to be regarded as a source of embarrassment for Koreans. In 1945, the military government, led by General Douglas MacArthur in Japan and the American Military Government in Korea, undertook the task of reviewing and editing Japanese and Korean history textbooks. The first phrases to be deleted were those concerning the legend of the ancient Japanese Empress Jingu’s conquest of Samhan and the “Imna Ilbon-bu” theory. These phrases were found to promote an aggressive nature on the part of the Japanese and their discrimination against Koreans. However, rather than the restoration of its history, only silence followed on Gaya. This was exacerbated by the fact that Korean historians possessed little information on the ancient polity. The situation changed markedly in the 1970s with the excavation of Gaya tombs by Korean archaeologists, however. The nature of the artifacts recovered from these tombs, especially their quality rivaling that of artifacts from Silla, came as a welcome surprise to all. Data produced by archaeological excavations have since provided a foundation for Gaya research and have been used to address the errors found in previous studies that had been based only on textual research. As a result, it has now become possible to present new knowledge of Gaya’s history and culture. Brief Summary of the Special Articles on “Gaya” “Gaya History and Culture” provides an overview of the papers I published over roughly 30 years since 1985. Gaya history can be divided into Early Gaya history (from the first century BCE to fourth century CE) and Late Gaya history (from the fifth to sixth century CE). Gaya existed as a confederation of ten to twenty statelets. Early Gaya history was centered on Gayaguk (加耶國), a polity based in Gimhae, while Late Gaya centered on Dae Gayaguk (大加耶國) in what is now Goryeong. This provides a basic framework for a new history of Gaya. Gaya history began with the influx of refugees from Wiman Joseon (194–108 BCE) into the Gyeongsang region in the first century BCE. By the second century, approximately ten Gaya statelets (國, guk) had come to be established around Gimhae and other areas. In the third century, Gayaguk in Gimhae emerged as the head of the twelve Byeonhan statelets and began to organize the Early Gaya Confederacy. In the fourth century, a confrontation took place between Gayaguk and Silla. Gayaguk originally gained the upper hand but suffered great losses when Goguryeo forces came to Silla’s defense. In the fifth century, Banpaguk (伴跛國) developed rapidly in Goryeong, which had originally been a more backward area. Later renamed “Dae Gayaguk” or “Garaguk (加羅國),” it played a central role in establishing the Late Gaya Confederacy. In the late fifth century, Dae Gaya presented an offering of tribute to the Southern Qi Dynasty (479–502) court. It even sent reinforcements to Silla when that kingdom faced a threat from Goguryeo. In this way, Dae Gaya made its presence known on the international stage. However, a number of statelets based in the eastern Jeolla region were lost in the wake of a conflict with Baekje in the early sixth century. Dae Gaya subsequently lost the statelets composing the southeastern part of its territory to Silla, which annexed them by abusing a marriage alliance between Silla and Dae Gaya. This further weakening of Dae Gaya created an opening for Baekje to attack, and the statelets that formed the southwestern part of Dae Gaya territory took this opportunity to escape from Dae Gaya’s influence. These circumstances resulted in the weakening of Dae Gaya’s hegemony. Amidst the division of the Late Gaya Confederacy into northern and southern factions in the mid-sixth century, great effort was put into resisting Baekje and Silla attacks and maintaining independence. However, its conquest by Silla was completed in 562 CE. The economy was well developed in Gaya territory, with fishing, farming, iron production, and trade being the most prominent activities. The development of iron deposits and favorable conditions for maritime transport led to the establishment of long-distance trade, which fueled Gaya’s cultural progress. Numerous Buddhist legends are set in Gaya territory, some of which have been used to suggest links with Indian Buddhism. However, these legends appear to date back only to the waning stages of Gaya history or even to the period after Gaya’s demise. Human sacrifices as components of burials were more prevalent in Gaya compared to other regions. This is considered to be associated with the fact that Gaya remained in a transitional state and never fully emerged as an ancient state. “Gaya Armor: The Culmination of Gaya Iron Crafting” was written by Kim Hyuk-joong, a curator at the Gimhae National Museum. Made by connecting long vertical plates, vertical plate armor first came to be used around the fourth century in southern region of Korean peninsula, when social tension increased due to warfare and the development of weaponry accompanied by improvements in iron production technology. The vertical plate armor appeared in the similar time in both Silla and Gaya. Gaya armor with its distinctive bird- and fern-shaped decorations is believed to have been worn to display social standing. Helmets made with vertical plates, which were the main type of helmet in this period, were common throughout the Three Kingdoms with little regional variation observed. Examples from Gaya were fitted with sun-shades or cheek-covers with fern-design, and these greatly influenced helmets worn on the Japanese Archipelago. The infantry played a central role in the military tactics of the period in which iron armor first came into use in Gaya. The presence of lamellar armor, horse armor, horse helmets, saddles, and stirrups in Gaya tombs dating to the fifth century onward seems to indicate the adoption of heavy cavalry to a certain extent. However, it is likely that Gaya’s heavy cavalry was not equal in number to that of Goguryeo or Baekje. Upon its transmission to the Japanese Archipelago, Gaya armor developed into “Wa-style armor” starting in the fifth century. Such Wa-style armor has been found in several parts of the Gaya region, leading to the proposal of the “Imna Ilbon-bu” theory. However, it has more recently come to be regarded as the result of exchanges between Gaya and Wa (倭) in Japan or of other interactions that took place over a long period of time. Kim’s paper presents a fairly objective overview of the nature of the research that has been undertaken on Gaya iron armor to date. Unfortunately, neither Gaya’s advanced iron production technology, a key element in Gaya’s iron culture, nor its iron farming tools, weapons, or horse gear were fully addressed in this paper. This is due to the fact that Gaya archaeological research has branched out in numerous channels, making it diffcult for a single researcher to possess a specialist’s knowledge and insights on all topics. The page limit for the articles also restricted a broader overview. “Developments in the Pottery Culture of Gaya,” by Lee Jeonggeun, Chief Curator at the Gimhae National Museum, examined issues such as the emergence of grayish-blue stoneware, the Gaya pottery production system, the mass-production and distribution of jars, the diversity of Gaya pottery, and the influence of Gaya pottery technology on Japanese stoneware. Grayish-blue stoneware began to be produced around the fourth century CE. There are two hypotheses on its origins: One is that it can be traced back to the two-lugged jars of the Northeast region of China. The other is that it was an independent invention that occurred following indigenous technological innovation. Gaya pottery is generally divided into an early (the fourth century) and a late phase (the fifth to the sixth century). In the early phase, G…