Record of the State of Garak — The Later Record駕洛國記 (後)

In the first year of Longshuo (龍朔) under King Beommin (法敏王), the thirtieth king of Silla, the year sinyu, in the third month, this decree was issued:

"Empress Munmyeong (文明皇后), daughter of Seoun (庶云) of the rank of japgan, who was the son of Lord Solu (率友公), who was the son of Sejong (世宗), the son whom King Guhyeong (仇衡王), ninth-generation descendant of the first king of the state of Gaya, brought with him when he surrendered to this country, is the one who bore me. So that first king is the founding ancestor fifteen generations back from me, young as I am. The country he ruled has already fallen, but the shrine where he was buried still stands. Let it be joined to the royal ancestral shrine and its sacrifices continued."

So an envoy was sent to the old site, and thirty gyeong of good fields near the shrine were set aside as the foundation for the sacrifices. They were named the Royal Rank Fields (王位田) and attached to that district.

Gaengse (賡世) of the rank of geupgan, a seventeenth-generation descendant of the king, received the court's intent and took charge of those fields. Every year he brewed wine and set out rice cakes, rice, tea, fruit, and the rest, and never missed a year of the sacrifices. Nor did he lose the five days of the year for the sacrifices that King Geodeung had fixed.

From the year gimyo, when King Geodeung ascended the throne and set up the shrine, down to the time of King Guhyeong, three hundred and thirty years, the sacrifices never went wrong. But after King Guhyeong lost his seat and left the country, in the sixty years down to the first year of Longshuo, the year sinyu, the sacrifices were sometimes broken off.

How admirable, King Munmu (文武王)!〔It is the posthumous title of King Beommin.〕 He first honored his ancestor. Filial, truly filial. He took up the broken sacrifices and performed them again.

At the end of Silla there was a man called Chungji (忠至) of the rank of japgan, who attacked and took the high fortress of Gimgwan (金官高城) and became its castle lord and general.

At that time Yeonggyu (英規) of the rank of agan borrowed the general's authority, seized the shrine's sacrifices, and performed them improperly. On the day of Dano, while he was making his announcement in the shrine, a beam broke and fell for no reason, and he was crushed and died.

Then the general said to himself, "By good fortune from a former life I have unworthily come to hold the sacrifices of the fortress that a holy king once ruled. I should paint his portrait and honor it with incense and lamps to repay his kindness."

At last he painted the portrait on three cheok of silk, set it on the wall, lit lamps morning and evening, and looked up to it with all devotion. After only three days, tears of blood flowed from the portrait's two eyes and pooled on the ground, nearly a mal of it.

The general was greatly afraid. He carried the portrait to the shrine and burned it. Then he called Gyurim (圭林), a true descendant of the king, and said, "Yesterday there was an ill omen. Why do they come one after another like this? Surely the spirit of the shrine is angry that my painting and honoring the portrait was not reverent. Yeonggyu is already dead, and I too was so alarmed and afraid that I burned the portrait, so I will surely receive a hidden punishment. You are a true descendant of the king, and it is right that you perform the sacrifices as before."

Gyurim carried on the sacrifices generation after generation and died at eighty-eight, and his son Ganwongyeong (間元卿) continued them with devotion.

At the Dano sacrifice at the shrine, Yeonggyu's son Junpil (俊必) also went mad, came to the shrine, cleared away Ganwon's offerings, and set out his own. Before he had finished the three offerings he fell suddenly ill, went home, and died.

The ancients had a saying, "Improper sacrifices bring no blessing, but disaster instead." Yeonggyu before and Junpil after, is this not said of this father and son?

Also, a band of robbers, saying there was much gold and jade in the shrine, came to steal it. The first time they came, a warrior in armor with an arrow on his bow came out of the shrine and shot in all directions, hitting and killing seven or eight, and the robbers fled.

A few days later they came again, and a great serpent more than thirty cheok long, with eyes flashing like lightning, came out from beside the shrine and bit eight or nine to death. Those who barely kept their lives all fell over one another and scattered.

So one knows that inside and outside the tomb grounds there is surely something divine guarding them.

From the first founding in the fourth year of Jian'an, the year gimyo, down to the second year of Dakang (大康), the year byeongjin, the thirty-first year of the present king's reign, is eight hundred and seventy-eight years in all. Yet the fine earth piled up has not crumbled, the good trees planted have neither withered nor rotted, and the pieces of jade set out have not broken.

Seen in this light, the words of Xin Tifou (辛替否), "From of old to this day, how could there be a country that does not fall or a tomb that does not crumble?", are borne out in that this state of Garak did fall long ago, but since the shrine of King Suro has not been destroyed, his words cannot be wholly believed.

Among these there is also a thing of play and fond remembrance.

Every year on the twenty-ninth day of the seventh month, the local people, clerks, and soldiers climb Seungjeom (乘岾), set up tents, lay out wine and food, shout for joy, and cast their eyes east and west. Strong men are divided into left and right. From Mangsando (望山島) horses gallop and race to gather on land, and boats are launched and push against one another on the water, racing north toward the old harbor.

This is a trace of the old days when Yucheongan, Singwigan, and the others watched for the queen's coming and hurried to tell the king.

After the country fell, the name it was called was not the same from age to age.

In the first year of Kaiyao (開耀), the year sinsa, when King Jeongmyeong (政明王), the thirty-first king of Silla, ascended the throne, it was named Gimgwangyeong (金官京) and a governor was placed there.

Two hundred and fifty-nine years later, after Taejo of Goryeo unified the land, it became Imhae County (臨海縣) from age to age, and a baeansa (排岸使) was placed there for forty-eight years. Next it became Imhae District or Gimhae Prefecture (金海府), and a protectorate was placed there for twenty-seven years. Then a defense commissioner was placed there for sixty-four years.

In the second year of Chunhua (淳化), Jo Munseon (趙文善), land surveyor (量田使) of Gimhae Prefecture and an official of the rank of jungdaebu, reported to the court, "The fields attached to the tomb shrine of King Suro are many in gyeol. Only fifteen gyeol should be kept as before, and the rest divided among the corvee laborers of the prefecture."

The office in charge passed on this report, and the court then sent down this intent:

"An egg sent down by heaven turned into a holy king, and he sat on the throne and enjoyed his years for one hundred and fifty-eight years. Since the Three Sovereigns (三皇) there have been few to compare with him. The fields were attached to the shrine by earlier reigns after his death, and to cut them now is truly a fearful thing."

And it did not allow it. The commissioner reported again, and the court agreed, ordering that half be left to the tomb shrine as before and half be divided as the corvee share of the people of the prefecture.

The commissioner (節使)〔This means the land surveyor.〕 received the court's intent, attached half to the tomb grounds, and divided half among the corvee households of the prefecture.

When the work was nearly done he was very weary, and one evening in a dream he saw seven or eight ghosts holding ropes and swords, who came and said, "You have a great crime, so we cut off your head."

The commissioner felt as if he had received the punishment and was in great pain, and woke with a start. Then he fell ill, told no one, and fled by night, but the illness did not mend and he died while crossing the pass. So the seal was never put on the land survey register.

After him a man came under orders to inspect the fields, and found only one gyeol, twelve bu, and nine sok, while three gyeol, eighty-seven bu, and one sok were missing. So he investigated where the rest had wrongly gone, reported to the offices inside and out, and an order was given to make it up.

This too is a thing to sigh over, then as now.

King Gimjil (金銍王), eighth-generation descendant of the first king, was diligent in government and also devoutly honored the true teaching, and he wished to pray for the blessing of Empress Heo, the ancestral mother, in the world beyond.

In the twenty-ninth year of Yuanjia (元嘉), the year imjin, he built a temple on the spot where the first king and the empress were married and named it on the tablet Wanghusa (王后寺). He sent a man to measure ten gyeol of level fields nearby and set them aside as the expense of honoring the Three Treasures (三寶).

Five hundred years after this temple was founded, Jangyusa (長遊寺) was established, and the fields and firewood land given to it came to three hundred gyeol together.

Then the three chief monks of Jangyusa, saying that Wanghusa stood within the southeastern boundary of their temple's firewood land, tore down the temple and made it a farm, with a yard for the autumn harvest and winter storage and stables for feeding horses and raising cattle.

How sad.

The years of the nine generations of descendants from the ancestral founder down are recorded in detail below, and the inscription (銘) says this:

When heaven and earth first opened, the sun and moon first grew bright. The ways of men were born, but the seat of a king was not yet made.

China passed through many ages, but the eastern land had its capitals divided. Gyerim was settled first, and Garak was built after.

With no one to govern, who would look after the people? So Heaven in its deep design looked down on those people,

gave the mandate, and specially sent a spirit. In the mountains an egg came down, in the mist its form was hidden.

Within, all was vast and dim, without, all was dark. Looked at, it had no shape, listened to, it had a voice.

The crowd sang and offered, the many danced and presented. After seven days, in one moment all was at peace.

The wind blew and the clouds rolled back, the sky was blue and clear. Six round eggs came down, one purple cord hung low.

In a strange region, a foreign land, houses stood in rows and roofs joined. The watchers were like a wall, the gathered crowd like a market.

Five went back each to his own town, one stayed in this fortress. Same in time and same in trace, like younger brother and elder brother.

Truly a virtue born of Heaven, he became a pattern for the world. When he first climbed to the precious seat, the whole realm was about to grow clear.

The splendid halls followed the old, the earthen steps were still level. He began to strive at the myriad affairs, and all the works of government were carried out.

No leaning, no faction, only oneness, only devotion. Travelers yielded the road, farmers yielded the field.

The four quarters slept in peace, all the people welcomed harmony. Suddenly the dew on the leek leaf dried, and the long years could not be kept.

The breath of heaven and earth changed, court and country grieved. His footsteps were like gold, his voice like jade.

The coming shoots do not cease, the offerings laid out are fragrant. Though sun and moon pass on, his pattern will not tilt.

These are the nine kings who followed King Suro and Queen Heo.

King Geodeung's father was King Suro and his mother was Queen Heo. He ascended the throne in the fourth year of Jian'an, the year gimyo, on the thirteenth day of the third month, ruled thirty-nine years, and died in the fifth year of Jiaping (嘉平), the year gyeyu, on the seventeenth day of the ninth month. His queen was Mojeong (慕貞), daughter of Sinbo (申輔) of the rank of cheonbugyeong, and she bore the crown prince Mapum (麻品).

The Gaehwangnyeok (開皇曆) says, "The surname is Gim. Because the ancestral founder of the country was born from a golden egg, they took Gim as their surname."

King Mapum is also written Mapum (馬品), and he was of the Gim clan. He ascended the throne in the fifth year of Jiaping, the year gyeyu, ruled thirty-nine years, and died in the first year of Yongping (永平), the year sinhae, on the twenty-ninth day of the first month. His queen was Hogu (好仇), granddaughter of Jo Gwang (趙匡) of the rank of jongjeonggam, and she bore the crown prince Geojilmi (居叱彌).

King Geojilmi is also called Geummul (今勿), and he was of the Gim clan. He ascended the throne in the first year of Yongping, ruled fifty-six years, and died in the second year of Yonghe (永和), the year byeongo, on the eighth day of the seventh month. His queen was Aji (阿志), granddaughter of Agung of the rank of agan, and she bore the prince Ipum (伊品).

King Isipum was of the Gim clan. He ascended the throne in the second year of Yonghe, ruled sixty-two years, and died in the third year of Yixi (義熙), the year jeongmi, on the tenth day of the fourth month. His queen was Jeongsin (貞信), daughter of Geukchung (克忠) of the rank of sanonggyeong, and she bore the prince Jwaji (坐知).

King Jwaji is also called Gimjil (金叱). He ascended the throne in the third year of Yixi.

He took a hired woman as his wife and put her people into office, and the country fell into disorder. The state of Gyerim plotted to take the chance and attack.

There was a minister named Bak Wondo (朴元道) who remonstrated: "Even abandoned grass, when it grows thick, shelters the birds that roost in it. How much more so with men? If heaven collapses and the earth sinks, on what will men rely? Moreover, a diviner cast a hexagram and got Hae (解), Release, and its words say, 'Release and repent, and friends will come and there will be trust.' Will Your Majesty look at the hexagram of the Yi (易)?"

The king thanked him and said, "Right."

He put away the hired woman and banished her to Hasando (荷山島), reformed his government, and ruled the people in peace for a long time.

He ruled fifteen years and died in the second year of Yongchu (永初), the year sinyu, on the twelfth day of the fifth month. His queen was Boksu (福壽), daughter of Doryeong of the rank of daeagan, and she bore the son Chwihui (吹希).

King Chwihui is also called Jilga (叱嘉), and he was of the Gim clan. He ascended the throne in the second year of Yongchu, ruled thirty-one years, and died in the twenty-eighth year of Yuanjia, the year sinmyo, on the third day of the second month. His queen was Indeok (仁德), daughter of Jinsa of the rank of gakgan, and she bore the prince Jilji (銍知).

King Jilji is also called King Gimjil (金銍王). He ascended the throne in the twenty-eighth year of Yuanjia, and the next year, wishing to pray for the blessing of the ancestral founder and Queen Heo Hwangok in the world beyond, he built a temple on the spot where she first lived with the ancestral founder, named it Wanghusa, and gave ten gyeol of fields to support it.

He ruled forty-two years and died in the tenth year of Yongming (永明), the year imsin, on the fourth day of the tenth month. His queen was Bangwon (邦媛), daughter of Geumsang of the rank of sagan, and she bore the prince Gyeomji (鉗知).

King Gyeomji is also called King Geumgyeom (金鉗王). He ascended the throne in the tenth year of Yongming, ruled thirty years, and died in the second year of Zhengguang (正光), the year sinchuk, on the seventh day of the fourth month. His queen was Suk (淑), daughter of Chulchung of the rank of gakgan, and she bore the prince Guhyeong (仇衡).

King Guhyeong was of the Gim clan. He ascended the throne in the second year of Zhengguang and ruled forty-two years.

In the second year of Baoding (保定), the year imo, in the ninth month, King Jinheung, the twenty-fourth king of Silla, raised troops and invaded, and the king led his soldiers in person. But the other side was many and this side few, and they could not stand and fight.

So he sent his younger brother Talji ijilgeum (脫知爾叱今) to stay behind in the country, while the prince and the eldest grandson, Lord Jolji (卒支公), and others surrendered and went into Silla.

His queen was Gyehwa (桂花), daughter of Bunjilsu ijil, and she bore three sons: the first Sejong (世宗) of the rank of gakgan, the second Mudo (茂刀) of the rank of gakgan, and the third Mudeuk (茂得) of the rank of gakgan.

The Gaehwangnok (開皇錄) says, "He surrendered to Silla in the fourth year of Zhongdatong (中大通) of Liang, the year imja."

In discussion it is said this.

Looking at the Samguksa, King Guhyeong offered his land and went into Silla in the fourth year of Zhongdatong of Liang, the year imja. If so, counting from the eighteenth year of Jianwu of the Eastern Han, the year imin, when King Suro first ascended the throne, to the year imja, the last year of King Guhyeong, gives four hundred and ninety years.

If one reckons by this record, the land was offered in the second year of Baoding of the Yuan Wei (元魏), the year imo, which adds thirty more years for five hundred and twenty in all.

Both are kept here.