Kingdoms of East Asia - Buyeo / Puyo (Korea)

The largest of the traditional early medieval 'Three Kingdoms' of Korea, Koguryo, actually lay on the southern edges of one of the other Korean states: Buyeo (or Puyo, Puyŏ, or Fuyu in earlier twentieth century works, prior to more recent retranslations of many Chinese and East Asian names).

Records concerning its creation, though, seem muddled. What is often claimed in modern sources as the foundation story for Buyeo actually concern the foundation of neighbouring Dongbuyeo, while Buyeo appears to arise quite some time before it (the span of several rulers, in fact).

According to legend it was Hae Mo-su of Joseon who founded Buyeo, presumably being remembered because he forged one or more previously tribal entities into a kingdom. This region had formerly been part of the proto-Korean Seo Dansan culture. He may not even have existed, however, possibly being a later creation.

His 'son', Hae Buru, moved his people to the east in 86 BC, creating what was or soon became a 'division' of Buyeo known as Dongbuyeo, or 'eastern Buyeo' which would survive until AD 22. After that, the earlier state was often referred to as 'Bukbuyeo', or 'northern Buyeo', in order to differentiate it.

Once the state of Dongbuyeo had been destroyed in AD 22, another splinter or surviving pocket emerged almost immediately in the form of Galsa Buyeo (or sometimes simply as Galsa, suggesting a tribe or tribal region which was temporarily dominated by Dongbuyeo's surviving nobility). This managed to struggle on until AD 68 when it was conquered by Koguryo.

There seems to be a lull in proceedings of perhaps half a century before it becomes clear that a state - a fresh one or a continuance is unclear - by the name of Buyeo still exists in the territory to the immediate north of Koguryo, pretty much where the original state had been founded.

At some point, Bukbuyeo underwent a radical change of state leadership and was renamed Jolbon Buyeo, although this may instead have referred to the royal court of Koguryo, effectively a descendant state of Buyeo. That 'radical change' would instead have been the foundation of Koguryo. Bukbuyeo itself largely collapsed in 285 and had to be rebuilt.

It suffered an even greater collapse in 346 when the Xianbei largely destroyed all but a rump state. That managed to continue until 494, largely protected by Koguryo until increasing Wuji dominance forced the population to migrate southwards into Koguryo proper.

In 538, Baekje adopted the name Nambuyeo, meaning 'southern Buyeo' to establish its own credentials as one of Korea's founding kingdoms. The names of the ruling historical dangun (in effect, king) which are shown below are in their twentieth century forms first, followed by more recently revised interpretations. The use of 'wang' is in fact a title, another effective equivalent of 'king'.

Whatever the confusions of its history, Buyeo serves as a bridge between the semi-legendary state of Gojoseon and the fully-historical 'Three Kingdoms' of Korea. The state grew out of tribal beginnings in what today is Manchuria in the far north-eastern corner of China and perhaps straddling the border with modern North Korea. It emerged in the late second century BC along with several other small tribal states at the northern extremes of Korea, Koguryo being one of these.

Buyeo, though, matured into a more coherent and organised kingdom well ahead of its southern neighbour. In fact it was a prince of Buyeo who, when fleeing Buyeo itself following a power struggle, found refuge in the Tongge river basin on the edge of the modern North Korean and Chinese border where he organised a group of five tribes or clans into the beginnings of the kingdom of Koguryo.

Far East Kingdoms

East Asia

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