Abstract

Goguryeo’s orientation toward the Han period appears in its material culture during its Gungnae capital period, when the royal palace was located in the center of the royal fortress and a tomb-garden system was maintained. In addition, during the Han period the Goguryeo state’s foundation myth was formulated using Confucian thinking and given expression in a gui-shaped stone monument. Such trends continued even after the fall of the Han dynasty. This was because the Han dynasty had prospered as a unified empire, a sharp contrast to the conflict and chaos that characterized subsequent Chinese dynasties. However, such an orientation toward the Han weakened from the end of the Gungnae capital period to the Pyeongyang capital period. The domestic situation in Goguryeo made it increasingly difficult to maintain this orientation. Therefore, the central authority of Goguryeo prepared a new model following Goguryeo’s traditional foundation and the trends of China of the time. No special fortresses were placed on the outskirts of the royal palace, the tomb gardens weakened, while pillar-shaped stone monuments now recorded the state’s foundation myth based only on the traditional notion of the god of Heaven.