Silla King Munmu accomplished the so-called unification of the Three Kingdoms in 676, the 16th year of his reign. In the course of unification, major battles were raged on land, but naval battles were also given much weight. Tang sent a massive army t...
Silla King Munmu accomplished the so-called unification of the Three Kingdoms in 676, the 16th year of his reign. In the course of unification, major battles were raged on land, but naval battles were also given much weight. Tang sent a massive army to the Korean Peninsula over the Yellow Sea. Japanese forces also participated in the battle at the estuary of the Baek River on a large scale across the sea in favor of Baekje. After the Silla army defeated Tang forces in a series of naval battles, the Silla-Tang war ended with the Silla victory at Gibeolpo at the estuary of the Keum River in 676.
This study has first examined King Munmu's maritime perception. In particular, it has discussed how the King Muyeol family regarded the sea as important. In the reign of Queen Jindeok, Kim Chunchu, later King Taejong Muyeol, was sent to Tang and Japan across the sea as the Silla envoy. Following their father's policy lines, Kim Chunchu's sons, Beopmin, Inmun, and Munwang, also actively developed tributary diplomacy toward Tang. Indeed, Kim Chunchu and Kim Beopmin (King Munmu) were the first Silla monarchs who had visited China by sea. From early times, these two Silla kings recognized the importance of the sea.
In Silla, the central government had two maritime offices: the Maritime Agency and the Shipping Office. The conventional wisdom has understood the Maritime Agency, as an affiliated organization of the Department of Military Affairs, as raised to the status of the Shipping Office in 678, the 18th reign year of King Munmu. However, this study sees the Shipping Office as created separately from the existing Maritime Agency. The two existed independently of the other and had their own business. While the Maritime Agency took charge of naval forces and warships, the Shipping Office supervised civil or commercial ships and trade.
This study has also analyzed how King Munmu's funeral was related to the East Sea. The king was the first Silla monarch whose remains were cremated and the ashes were layed to rest in the East Sea. As a result of examining the cases of eight Silla kings, including King Munmu, whose remains were cremated, the study has revealed that during the “middle period” and the early “later period,” in accordance with their wills, the kings' remains were cremated for the ashes to be scattered on the East Sea. In the “later period,” however, the cremated ashes of the kings were scattered or layed to rest in the mountains. Therefore, for a certain years of the “middle period,” when the East Sea was regarded as the holy sea, the cremated ashes of the kings were scattered on the East Sea. Finally, this study stresses that the view, which the tombstone of King Munmu was erected at the Sacheonwang temple, not at the Gameunsa temple, standing right opposite to the “Rock of the Great King,” needs more detailed, further examination.