In this research project, folk tales and classic novels in which Koreans and Jurchens and their countries appeared were studied. A summary of the research is as follows.
1. A comparative study on the primogenitor stories of the combination of Korean ...
In this research project, folk tales and classic novels in which Koreans and Jurchens and their countries appeared were studied. A summary of the research is as follows.
1. A comparative study on the primogenitor stories of the combination of Korean and Jurchen
This paper compared the primogenitor story of Jin(金) Dynasty in 『Jin History(金史)』 and 『Goryeo History(高麗史)』, the primogenitor story of 金 Dynasty in 『金史』 and the primogenitor story of Qing(淸) dynasty, respectively. As a result of comparing the primogenitor story of 金 Dynasty in 『金史』 and 『高麗史』, 『金史』 portrays the primogenitor and his wife from Goryeo(高麗) as outstanding and divine characters with an attitude of describing the facts. On the other hand, 『高麗史』 describes the primogenitor from 高麗, as merely an escaped monk or a son of a monk with an attitude of conveying ‘Hokwal(或曰)’. As a result of comparing the primogenitor story of 金 Dynasty in 『金史』 and the primogenitor story of 淸 dynasty, the story of 『金史』, which occurred in Jurchen(女眞), portrayed the opposing 高麗 male as a superior person. On the other hand, the primogenitor story of 淸 dynasty, which occurred in Joseon(朝鮮), portrayed the opposing 女眞 male as a superior person. It is understood that such a difference arises primarily from the dynamic relationship between the two subjects of these stories, Korean and Jurchen. When 高麗 preceded the 女眞, the primogenitor story of 女眞 said that a great figure of 高麗 became their primogenitor, while the primogenitor story of 高麗 said that even a lowly figure of their own country became the primogenitor of 女眞. Through this, each tried to inspire the pride of their own race and nation. Likewise, when 淸 preceded 朝鮮, the primogenitor story of 淸 dynasty in 朝鮮 tried to raise the pride of one's people by acknowledging the superiority of 淸 and saying that their own people made a great contribution to the founding of 淸 Dynasty.
2. Characteristics of the Norachi Tale as a National Story and the Issues between Each Version
The Norachi(노라치) tale, recorded in Korea around the 20th century, has a storyline that an otter and a Joseon woman combine to create Norachi, and Nurhachi(努爾哈赤), a son of Norachi, establishes the Qing(淸) Dynasty. The story of Song-Tai-Jo(宋太祖) in China and the story of Jung-Bu-lyeong(丁部領) of Vietnam are also similar tales to the Norachi tale, with the plot that the child of an otter and a woman becomes an emperor. A distinctive feature of the Norachi tale compared to the 宋太祖 tale and the 丁部領 tale is that the conflict between the ethnic groups is prominent. In this phase of confrontation between ethnic groups, various variations appear in each of the Norachi tales. Such variation is flowing between the extremes of punishment/tolerance for Jurchen(女眞), the superiority/inferiority of Koreans toward the Jurchen, and the greatness/littleness of influence that Koreans exerted on the founding of the Qing Dynasty. This means that the Norachi tale has become a lively discussion forum on the ethnic issues of Koreans(朝鮮人) and Jurchen among those who enjoy it.
3. The Utilization Methods of History and Significance of the Goryeo and Jurchen’s war story of <Jang-in-geol-jeon>
The Goryeo and Jurchen’s war story of <Jang-in-geol-jeon> overlaps two events fought by Koreans and Jurchen at different times in history. One is the Yun Gwan(尹瓘)'s conquest of Jurchen in the Goryeo dynasty, and the other is the King Sejong(世宗)’s pioneering of the 4 counties(四郡) 6 camps(六鎭) in the Joseon dynasty. In this way, the Goryeo and Jurchen’s war story of <Jang-in-geol-jeon> reinforces the sense of national hostility and superiority toward the Jurchen by superimposing the historical memories of Koreans defeating them in a single narrative. In addition, Yuan(元) is set as the Chinese empires instead of the Song(宋) that existed at the time of the Yun-gwan's conquest of Jurchen in the Goryeo and Jurchen’s war story. Jin(金) founded by the Jurchen defeated the Northern Song(北宋), and Mongolia defeated Jin again. Therefore, it was appropriate to set the Mongolian Yuan, not the Song, as the Chinese dynasty in order to disparage the Jurchen and raise the pride of Koreans relatively. By the way, the fact that this story insults Jurchen even by summoning Yuan, who caused great damage to Goryeo, shows that this story was more faithful to the national feelings of the Chosun(朝鮮) peoples at the time the work was produced than the Goryeo peoples. As an extension of that, it can be seen that Jurchen, the antagonist in the story, points to the Qing(淸) Dynasty at the time of creation. As such, the Goryeo and Jurchen’s war story of <Jang-in-geol-jeon> embodies the theme of psychologically overcoming the Qing and raising the national consciousness of Chosun peoples as a narrative technique that superimposes subjects and events of different time periods.