Goryeo (English spelling) Koryǒ

Japanese: 高麗 - こうらい（英語表記）Koryǒ

The name of the kingdom and country (918-1392) between the Unified Silla and the Joseon Dynasty (Yi Dynasty) in Korea. It is also called Wangshi Goryeo after the name of its founder. In the late Silla period, powerful clans arose in various places, but Wang Geon, who founded the state in Kaegyeong, forced Silla to surrender in 935, destroyed Later Baekje the following year, and took control of almost the entire Korean peninsula. The political foundations were solidified during the reign of King Seongjong at the end of the 10th century. However, the government officials who had become aristocrats formed factions among themselves, and rebellions occurred one after another. During this time, pressure was applied from the Khitan and Jurchen outside, and the Khitan army in particular once captured the royal capital. This internal and external political situation gradually increased the power of warriors, and the Choi clan in particular became so influential that they surpassed the authority of the king. When the Wang clan's government was controlled by the warrior Choi clan, the Mongol army invaded. In the 19th year of the reign of Gojong (1232), the Goryeo dynasty moved its capital to Ganghwa Island at the suggestion of the Choi clan, but the Mongolian army invaded the whole of Korea, forcing the king to surrender and becoming a vassal state of the Yuan dynasty. In the second half of the 14th century, when Zhu Yuanzhang (Emperor Hongwu) established the Ming dynasty in China, the Mongols fled north, but still called themselves the Northern Yuan dynasty. In the Goryeo dynasty, two factions, pro-Yuan and pro-Ming, were in conflict. At this time, pro-Ming Yi Seong-gye staged a famous coup d'état known as the "Return of the Army to Wihwa Island" and returned to the royal capital. He eventually took the throne in Gaegyeong in the 1st year of the reign of Taejo (1392) in place of King Gongyang, and the Yi Dynasty, or Joseon dynasty, was established, and Goryeo was destroyed. The social problem of Goryeo was the increasing ownership of large lands by the aristocrats and the ruling class of warriors, i.e. the creation of manors, and the measures to deal with this, which continued until the Joseon dynasty's reform of the rice field system. They also introduced the civil service examination system from China, but in reality it was dominated by families of high-ranking civil and military officials, which became the basis for the subsequent yangban (yangban) system. In Goryeo culture, Buddhism was treated as the state religion and spread to the common people as well. It is particularly famous that the Tripitaka Koreana was unveiled around the time of the Mongol invasion, and the wooden blocks from that event are still preserved at Haeinsa Temple and are a representative cultural heritage of Korea (→Goryeo Wooden Tripitaka Koreana). There is also a theory that movable type was already invented at the end of the Goryeo period, ahead of Europe. Furthermore, while they adopted Song techniques for ceramics, Goryeo's unique inlaid celadon and white porcelain, combined with high-quality clay, were produced in kilns mainly in the central and southern parts of the country, and surviving masterpieces of this type are world-famous.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

朝鮮，統一新羅と朝鮮王朝 (李朝) との間の王朝名，国名 (918～1392) 。始祖の名を取って王氏高麗ともいう。新羅末期各地に豪族が起ったが，開京に拠って建国した王建は天授 18 (935) 年新羅を降伏させ，翌年，後百済 (こうひゃくさい) を滅ぼし，朝鮮半島のほぼ全域を掌握した。 10世紀末頃の成宗時代には政治の基礎も固まった。しかし固定し貴族化した官人層は互いに派閥を形成し，反乱が相次いだ。この間に外には契丹や女真の圧力が加わり，特に契丹軍は一時王都を陥落させたこともある。こうした内外の政情は次第に武人の勢力を高め，なかでも崔氏一族は国王の権威をしのぐほどの有力者になった。王氏政権が武人崔氏によって左右されていた頃，侵入したのがモンゴル軍であった。高麗朝は高宗 19 (1232) 年，崔氏のすすめによって江華島に都を移したが，モンゴル軍は朝鮮全土を侵略したので，国王はやむなく降伏し，以後元の属国となった。 14世紀後半，中国で朱元璋 (洪武帝) が明を建てると，モンゴル人は北に逃れたが，なお北元と称した。高麗朝でも親元派，親明派の2派が対立した。このとき親明派の李成桂は有名な「威化島の回軍」というクーデターを行なって王都に帰り，やがて恭譲王に代り太祖1 (1392) 年開京で即位し，李氏朝鮮，すなわち朝鮮王朝が成立，高麗は滅亡した。高麗の社会上の問題は貴族や武人支配層による大土地所有の進行，すなわち荘園化とその対策で，それは朝鮮王朝の田制改革まで持越された。また中国から科挙制を導入したが事実上は文武高官の家柄が支配的で，次代のヤンバン (両班)制の基礎となった。高麗の文化としては仏教が国教の待遇を受け，庶民にまで行き渡った。特にモンゴル軍襲来の頃，大蔵経開板を行なったことは有名で，その板木は海印寺に現存して朝鮮の代表的文化遺産となっている (→高麗板大蔵経 ) 。また高麗末頃にすでにヨーロッパに先んじて活字がつくられていたという説もある。さらに陶磁器も宋の製法を取入れながら，上質の陶土と相まって高麗独自の象眼青磁や白磁が主として中部，南部の窯場でつくられ，その現存の逸品は世界的に名高い。

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