Mu (Baekje)

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Korean spelling
Korean alphabet : 무왕
Hanja : 武王
Revised Romanization : Mu-wang
McCune-Reischauer : Mu-wang

King Mu (* 580 ; † 641 ) was the 30th ruler of the Kingdom of Baekje ( 백제 ), in the southwest of the Korean peninsula . He ruled the country from 600 AD until his death and had the Mireuksa temple built.

person

As a child, King Mu Seodong ( 서동 ) was named. Mu is said to have been intelligent and to have consolidated the power of the king in the kingdom of Baekje when he came to power. It is said that he had fought ten notable armed conflicts in the conflict with the kingdom of Silla ( 신라 ).

Mu made the city of Iksan ( 익산시 ) his second capital of the empire, had a second royal palace built on the area of ​​today's archaeological site of Wanggung-ri ( 왕궁리 ), a few kilometers northeast and is considered the builder of the Mireuksa temple ( 미륵사 ) in AD 639, just under 5 kilometers northwest of the palace. The reason for the second capital was that Mu wanted to strengthen his power and keep himself free from the aristocratic influence of Sabi ( 사비 ).

Mu showed great interest in Buddhism and Daoism . In the 35th year of his reign, Mu had a pond built south of his palace with a mountain in the middle of the pond, which he believed gods would reside there.

Legends

There are different stories about King Mu, on the one hand the Seodong saga , in which Seodong emerged from the union of his mother with a dragon rising from a pond. In the Korean folk tradition of its time, it was associated with the birth of a hero. Mu is said to have been called Jang as a child, but later, since he was always collecting light roots, he was given the name Seodong, which can be translated as "light root child", 'Seo' for light root and 'dong' for child. He is also said to have found gold while collecting, later married the daughter of the king of Silla, Seonhwa ( 선화 ) and on a trip with his wife to the Sajasa temple by a pond, the Mireuk triad, i.e. the Mireuk Buddha and his two Bodhisattwas , whereupon his wife expressed the wish to have a temple built on the site. King Mu thereupon fulfilled his wife's wish and had the temple Mireuksa built. The legend was used in a folk song, the Seodongyo ( 서동요 ).

In the Memorabile of the Three Kingdoms , which was written by the monk Iryeon ( 이련 ), Mu is referred to as the son of King Beop ( 법 ) (599-600).

After the finds, which were made on January 14th, 2009 in the western pagoda of the Mireuksa temple, it became clear that the initiators of the temple construction were not Princess Seonhwa, but the daughter of Sataek Jeokdeok , who came from a powerful family clan at the time. It is now not clear whether she was the king's wife or whether Princess Seonhwa provided the queen according to the legend or whether King Mu even had two wives. The finds from the pagoda only clarified the origin of the temple and the authorship. There is no doubt with the findings that the temple was built at the request of the king.

literature

  • Cho Heung Wook : Mireuk-sa and the saga of Seodong . In: The Korea Foundation (Ed.): Koreana - Korean Art and Culture . Volume 4, No. 3, autumn. Seoul 2009, p. 26-31 .
  • Republic of Korea (Ed.): Nomination of Baekje Historic Areas . For Inscription on the World Heritage List . Seoul 2015, ISBN 978-89-299-0345-9 (English, online [PDF; accessed October 17, 2015] 323 MB).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Revival and Development of Baekje . Baekje Historic Areas Conservation and Management Foundation , accessed October 22, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Nomination of Baekje Historic Areas . Seoul 2015, p.  153 .
  3. ↑ Nomination of Baekje Historic Areas . Seoul 2015, p.  68 .
  4. ↑ a b c Cho: Mireuk-sa and the legend of Seodong . In: Koreana . 2009, p. 29 .
  5. ↑ Cho: Mireuk-sa and the saga of Seodong . In: Koreana . 2009, p. 28 .
  6. ↑ Cho: Mireuk-sa and the saga of Seodong . In: Koreana . 2009, p. 28 f .
  7. ↑ Cho: Mireuk-sa and the saga of Seodong . In: Koreana . 2009, p. 31 .
personal data
SURNAME Mu
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Seodong
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of the Kingdom of Baekje
DATE OF BIRTH 580
DATE OF DEATH 641