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The Village Structures of Silla in the Sixth Century based on Epigraphs and Wooden Tablets

Kyoungsup Lee 1

1동국대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the internal structures and facts of villages in Silla based on the epigraphs and wooden tablets from the sixth century. For this purpose, the study first examined the village society during the Maripgan period depicted in the “Silla Tombstone in Jungseong-ri, Pohang” and found that the local heads maintained their character-based rule in the villages but were dependent on the six Bus of Silla politically and economically in their subjugation to Silla via tributes and service. In the “Wooden Tablets of Seongsan Mountain Fortress,” the examples of Bonpa, Ana, Malna, and Jeonna were terms to refer to the internal directions and scopes of areas(zones) in the villages and marks to show the division patterns of villages clearly. They were used for the state to understand changes to the village communities and govern them. Different amounts of taxes were imposed on villages and village people according to their economic status, and common people were allowed to pay joint taxes with the elderly. These findings indicate that Silla understood the current states of villages and their political and economic circumstances to collect taxes. The disputes depicted in “Silla Tombstone in Naengsu-ri, Pohang” show that Silla was in a transitional period as the state intervened in people’s disputes over wealth and caused the community nature under the leadership of local heads to break down the internalized village society while the community-based management principles still had a strong grip over the village people. The Jeokseongyeon in “Silla Tombstone in Jeokseong, Danyang” and the wooden tablets of Seongsan Mountain Fortress indicate that the government carried out basic census on village people and applied much advanced governance to individual residents in Silla in the middle sixth century.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.