A four-sided wooden plaque found at the Seongsansanseong Fortress in Haman-gun County, Gyeongsangnam-do Province, bears a report from a village governor to the central bureaucracy apologizing about his miscarriage of the law.
“I am afraid to report this.”
“I must inform you of my stupidity.”
Those are some of the words carved onto a four-sided wooden plaque or tablet that has been excavated at the Seongsansanseong Fortress in Haman-gun County, Gyeongsangnam-do Province. The formal government record is a report from a village governor to an official in Gyeongju, the Silla capital. It says that the village governor misunderstood the law and incorrectly carried out his governing duties. This artifact lends itself to the theory that by the mid-500s, there was a strengthening and centralization of Silla power over its smaller cities and regions.
The Cultural Heritage Administration discovered 23 wooden plaques or tablets in its 17th excavation of the fortress that lasted from 2014 to 2016. These four-sided wooden “scrolls” are some of the most meaningful among the artifacts dug up, especially considering the fact that they support the theory about strong central Silla authority at the time. The strips of wood were made from pine and cut into “pages” that were 34.4 centimeters long, and 1 to 1.8 centimeters wide. A total 56 Chinese characters are carved on the four sides.
It is also noteworthy that this wooden document records legal terms of 30 days and 60 days, hinting that Silla had strict control of its lands through its yullyeong administrative system (율령, 律令).
Although historical texts say that King Beopheung (법흥왕, 法興王) (r. 514-540), the 23rd Silla monarch, established the law, specific details of the administrative system have been lost. However, these wooden tablets, which show the fear the village governor had of reporting his mistakes, perhaps make it possible to surmise the powerful effect of the law.
It’s also interesting that a mention of the rank of geupbeolcheok (급벌척, 及伐尺), a rank of a local governor that is not recorded in the “History of the [Korean] Three Kingdoms” (Samguksagi, 삼국사기, 三國史記), has been found on the newly unearthed wooden tablet.
Wooden tablets were unearthed during the 17th official excavation at the Seongsansanseong Fortress. Since 1991, some 308 such tablets or plaques have been found at the site.
Only three of the wooden tablets found were four-sided and had official reports written on them. The others were cargo notes or bills of sale. They record the name of the sender, where they live, and what and how much property they were sending.
By Kim Young Shin
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photo: the Cultural Heritage Administration
ysk1111@korea.kr
