Abbreviations are used for the following books as below:

CKS. Chōsen kinseki sōran (Keijō: Chosen Sōtokufu, 1919)

CMP: Chŭngbo munhŏn pigo (Seoul: Tongguk Munhwasa, 1964)

CWS: Chiu Wu-tai shih (Shanghia: Commercial Press, 1936)

HKC: Han'guk kŭmsŏng-mun ch'ubo (Seoul: Chungang University Press, 1968)

KS: Koryŏ sa (Seoul: Tongbang-hak Yŏn'guso, 1955)

KSC: Koryŏ sa chŏryo (Tokyo: Gakushūin Tōyōbunka Kenkyūjo, 1959)

SS: Samguk, sagi (Tokyo: Gakushūin Tōyōbunka Kenkyūjo, 1964)

TY: Ts'e-fu yiian-kuei (Hong Kong: Chunghua Shu-chü, 1960)

WH: Wu-tai hui-yao (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1937)

¹ Kim Yongdŏk, “Koryŏ Kwangjong-jo ŭi kwagŏ chedo munje (Questions Concerning the Civil Service Examination, System during King Kwang-jong's Reign of Koryo),” Chungang Taehakkkyo Nonmun-jip, IV (1955), 141–151.

² Traces indicating the Korean knowledge of the Chinese system are found as far back as the year 788 when Silla introduced the toksŏ samp'umgwa, a greatly modified form of the k'o-chü, although the attempt ultimately seems to have been a failure. Thereafter a large number of Korean students continued to go to China, many of them successfully passing the Chinese examinations there. According to one source, some fifty-eight Koreans held the T'ang chin-shih degree and an additional thirty-one, the Later (Hou) Liang (907-923) and Later (Hou) T'ang (923–936) degrees. CMP, 184, Ib; KS, 109, 27b–30a. Although the total number of Korean students in China, during this period is not available, in die year 840 alone T'ang deported as many as 105 Korean students whose officially allowed terms of stay had expired. SS, II, Ib.

³ KS, 93, 23ab, Iab, 7b–8a.

⁴ Professor Yi Kibaek took note of one suspected area (i.e., the build-up of palace guards) in this parallel development. Sec: Yi Kibaek, “Koryŏ ch'ogi e issŏsŏ ŭi Odae waŭi kwan'gye (Early Koryŏ Relations with Five Dynasties in China),” Han'guk Munhwaa Yŏn'gu-wŏn nonch'ong, I (1960), 83–85.Google Scholar

⁵ Shuang Chi's literati background is indicated by the positions he held in Later Chou, namely Wu-sheng-chOCn chich-tu hsOCn-kuan (Tcng-chou Regional Commandery Inspector) and Shih-ta-li p'ing-shih (Probationary Judicial Investigator of the High Court of Justice), as well as in the civil prestige title he held, Chiang-shih-lang (Prestige Tide No. 29, grade 9b). KS, 93, 233b. His appointments as Hallim Academician as welt as Examiner in the first three examinations in Koryŏ suggest high literary accomplishments including probable possession of the chin-shih degree. It is unlikely that a Chinese literati without a degree would indulge in propagation of the examination system in Koryŏ, as Korea then was known to have among its officialdom persons experienced and knowledgeable in the workings of the system. Besides, in mid-tenth century China the two posicions Shuang Chi held in Later Chou were often filled by degree holders. For example, in the Five Dynasties period, one can cite the cases of Chang Hang (CWS, 131, 2b) and Yang Ning-shih (CWS, 128, 4ab). For early Sung examples, see: Tsuyoshi, Kinegawa, “Sondai saishō kō (A Study on the State Councillors in Sung),” Tōyōshi kenkyū, XXIV, 4 (March 1966), 61–63.Google Scholar

⁶ From Later T'ang through Later Chou, as the successive emperors of the period gradually reasserted their imperial authority over Regional Commandants, central appointments to selected positions in Regional Commandcry as well as recruitment of central bureaucrats from provinces were increasingly made as a means of checking the independent power then exercised by the Regional Com-manderies. Frequent targets of such appointments were judicial positions like the Hsün-kuan held by Shuang Chi. The position of Hsün-kuan in the Regional Commandery followed in rank those of p'an-kuan and T'ui-kuan. Although the precise function of Hsün-kuan is indeterminable, it (like Kuan-ch'a p'an-kuan) seems to have dealt with judicial matters. Tetsuji, Morohashi, Dai Kan-wa jiten (Tokyo: Daishiikan Shotfn, 1960), IV, 335.Google Scholar Shuang Chi may very well have been a centrally appointed Inspector at Teng-chou and later recalled to the central government as the Judicial Investigator of the High Court of Justice. Gungwu, Wang, Structure of Power in North China during the Five Dynasties (Stanford University Press, 1963) pp. 177–207;Google Scholar Muronaga, Yoshizō, “Godai jidai no gunjunin to bahoin no saiban (Trails in the Chün-hsün-yüan and Ma-pu-yiian of the Five Dynasties Period),” Tōyōshi kenkyū. XXIV, 4 (March 1966), 16–38.Google Scholar

⁷ As evidence for this conclusion, see: TY, 999, 27b–28a; 972, 18a; WH, 364 and 360; Rcischauer, E. O., tr., Ennin's Diary, the Record of a Pilgrimage to China (N. Y.: Ronald Press, 1955),Google Scholar 839/8/13 (the year 839, the 8th month and thirteenth day), 840/3/2 and 24 and 4/6 and 847/ intercalary 3.

⁸ With reference to the policies of T'ai-tsu and Shih-tsung of Later Chou, the author owes much to an excellent work by Kurihara Masuo, Ransei no kōtci: Kōshū no Seisō to sono jidaj (Emperor in an Age of Disorder: Shih-tsung of Later Chou and his Age), (Tokyo: Dōgensha, 1967).Google Scholar

⁹ Wang Yung, for instance, apparently enjoyed Kwangjong's confidence as evidenced by his appointment as Examiner of the civil service examinations no less than four times during Kwangjong's reign following his mission to the Later Chou court in 955. KS, 2, 27a; 73, 13b. Other officials known to have enjoyed the king's confidence, though not necessarily emissaries to the Chinese court, were Sŏ P'il, Ch'oe Chimong, Ch'oc Haenggwi. KSC, 2, 10b–11a; KS 93, 13a; 92, 10b; Iryōn Samgukyusa, ed. by Namsŏn, Ch'oc (Seoul; Minjung Sogwan, 1958), supplement pp. 62–64.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Kim, op. cit., pp. 145–146; Yi, op cit., p. 85.

¹¹ KSC, 2, 73b; KS, 93, aiab.

¹² Yi, op. cit., p. 84.

¹³ Yukio, Takeda, “Kōrai shoki no kankai (Official Ranks of Early Koryŏ),” Chōsen gakuhō, XL (October 1966), 31 and 43fGoogle Scholar

¹⁴ KS, 73, 13ab.

¹⁵ Ibid.

¹⁶ The two successful candidates of the first examination in 958 were Ch'oc Sŏm and Yu Chin'gyŏng. Ch'oc Sŏm'sm Silla aristocratic origin is evident from his surname. The other, though the name itself docs not appear in the Koryo sa, apparently was Yu Chin'gyŏng. In the inscription on Chin Kwangin's (1128–1186) tomb stone (dated 1186), his ancestor Chin Kŭng is said to have passed the examination with honor (kap-kwa) in the Hsien-te ?th year (the character for the year is effaced) during the reign of King Kwang-? (the second character is effaced). HKC, 176–177. Since Hsien-te (954–959) was the Later Chou reign title under Shih-tsung, the year in question must have been the Hsien-te fifth year, the only year of the Hsien-te period in which the examination was held in Koryŏ, and King Kwang-? none other than Kwang-jong (r. 949–975); hence Chin Kŭng was the other successful candidate. The inscription also says that the Chin clan had “earlier” come from a place called “Tae-?” (the second character effaced), which this writer presumes to be “Tae-bang”, an archaic name for present Namwŏn, where a certain Chin clan was among its old local clans. Chōsen Chūsūin, Sōtōkufu, Kōtei Seisō jit-surokjt Chirishi (Revised Monograph on Geography in the Veritable Record of King Sejong) (Keijo: Konozawa Shoten, 1938), 201f.Google Scholar The Chin clan of Namwŏn claims as its progenitor Chin Hamjo, a state councillor under King Hyŏnjong (r. 1009–1031), whose dates are a bit too late to be of assistance in determining the clan's pre-Koryŏ social background. CMP, 53, 12b; KS, 3, 37a; 4, 27b, 32a; 5, ia, 16a. There is, however, another Yu clan in Kigye (near Kyŏngju), which lists as its first successful candidate of the kwagŏ examination (date unspecified) the name of Chin'gyŏng. This writer contends that Yu Chin'gyŏng and the other Chin Kŭng were the same person for the following reasons: (1) The character chin in both cases is the same; although the second characters are written differently, hfing is probably mistaken for kyōng by the copyist two characters. If so, the characters kyōng and Ky&ocaron;ng are variations in transliteration —a practice not uncommon during this period in the writing of proper names. (2) If Chin K&ucaron;ng was Chin Ky&ocaron;ng, this writer surmises further that it was not a full name, as made out to be in the inscription, but rather a given name—that is, Chin'gy&ocaron;ng—from which his descendants at some point apparently adopted the first character Chin for their surname—again a commonly observable practice in the Korean surnames of this period. If this was the case, the Chin clan of Namw&ocaron;n branched out from the Yu clan of Kigye at some point and adopted Chin for its surname. This is further supported by the facts that the Yu clan became a sajok, under Kory&ocaron; due to Chin'gy&ocaron;ng's successful examination, that his son Y&ocaron;hae had five sons, trom whose generation on the clan began to prosper in government service, and that the clan had a branch in Namw&ocaron;n (this writer has thus far been unable to obtain the genealogical record of this clan). CMP, 50, 22a. More importantly, Chin'-gyong's grandfather Yu &Ucaron;isin was the holder of the Silla Ach'an rank (6th grade) and was demoted to the position of hojang in Kigye because of his refusal to support the new Kory&ocaron; Dynasty when it replaced Silla in 935. CMP, 50, 22a. This suggests that the Silla aristocratic descendant Chin'gy&ocaron;ng was a contemporary of the other Chin K&ucaron;ng and was also young enough to take the examination in 958, thus rendering further support to the assertion that the two were the same person.

¹⁷ KS, 73, 14b–15a; HKC, 176.

¹⁸ KS, 2, 27b.

¹⁹ KS, 93, 2a–22a.

²⁰ KS, 73, 14a.

²¹ KS, 94, la.

²² When Kwangjong introduced the four color official garb in 960, he assigned the highest garb (purple) to officials of the Wŏnyun rank (senior 5th grade) and above, the next highest (crimson) to the officials above the Chungdan-gyŏng, the third highest (red) to those above the Tohang-gyŏng, and the last and lowest garb (green) to those above the So-jubu. KS, 72, 9b. As it is evident in the chŏnsi-kwa (official stipend scale) of 976, no service distinction was applied to the officials of die highest garb whereas such distinction was implied with respect to the other three garbs (this is implicit in the use of the rank Wŏnyun as the cut-line for the highest group and three civil administrative position titles for the lower three groups). If the use of the official garb signified participation in the conduct of government, as it must have, the use of the civil position titles as the base cut-lines in the lower three groups implies the exclusion of the military officials from such participation. Since the significance of the four-fold official garb lies in its functional meaning, the exclusion suggests deprivation of functional privilege for military officers of rank lower than Wŏnyun, making privilege the monopoly of the civil officials as far as the officialdom below senior 5th grade is concerned. When considered in the context of Kwangjong's larger policy of official bureaucratization, the implied discrimination suggests the creation of a new order of authority in the Koryō officialdom. In this sense the step taken by the introduction of the four color official garb was an important move in the transformation of the central officialdom into a civil bureaucracy. KS, 72, ia; Takeda, op. cit., pp. 33'35; Yasukazu, Suematsu, “Korai shoki no ryo-han ni tsuite (On the Two Services of Early Koryo),” Seikyu Shisō (Tokyo, 1964), I, 150–152.Google Scholar The same article also appears in the Tōyō gakuhō, XXVI, 2 (September 1953), 1–31.Google Scholar

²⁴ KS, 2, 28ab. The title of Chunhong's official position appears in the CKS, I, 223. Naebong-sŏng was the predecessor to Sangsŏ tosŏng. SS, 40, 20a.

²⁵ KS, 2, 28ab; 93, 10b; Kim, op. cit., p. 146. One suspects some causal relationship between the massive purge of the Meritorious Subjects, who were mostly powerful generals, and the formalization of the four color garb by Kwangjong. Being a part of the king's scheme to strengthen the royal power, the new order of authority symbolized by the four color garb system had probably been resisted by the affected in-group.

²⁶ Wang Yuk, a brother of Wang Sin, was Wang Kōn's cousin. KS, I, 18b, 19b.

²⁷ KS, 2, 28b-29a; KSC, 2, 9ab.

²⁸ KS, 94, 1a.

²⁹ KS, 2, 28b–29a.

³⁰ KS,93, 7b–8a.

³¹ KS, 73, 13ab. In the CMP, Cho Ik's immediate ancestor, Tarn, is said to have been a state councillor. The fact that Tam's name does not appear in the Koryŏ sa docs not in itself preclude the possibility that he held such a position, as omissions of this kind arc common in the early Koryŏ source. Cho Ik himself, Hallim Academician that he was, appears once in the Koryŏ sa in connection with his appointment as Examiner of the kwagŏ. KS, 73, 13a. Wang Yung's ancestors arc not identified in the sources. It is possible, however, that his immediate ancestor was a man of such political importance as to become a recipient by grant of the royal surname Wang. There is, in fact, little other deduction that can be drawn from the information we have of his family. Since Wang Yung was not by blood Wang Kŏn's immediate descendant, the princely reference made to him in the Chinese source on the occasion of his mission to the Later Chou court in 955 (WH, 361) was most probably owing to the grant of royal surname, just as it was in the case of Wang Sinil and others. WH, 360–361. Wang Sinil was a state councillor under Wang Kŏn and his original surname was Han. KS, 1, 13a; WH, 359.

³² CMP, 47, 32b; HKC, 132-133; KS. 2, 29a; 73, 13a; 74, 3a.

³³ KS, 93, 24b–26a; CMP, 49, 18b.

³⁴ HKC, 133; TY, 972, 18a; CMP, 47, 32b.

³⁵ KSC, 2, 9b.

³⁶ KS, 2, 17b; 88, 7b–8a; 92, 15b–16a.

³⁷ KS, 2, 28b, 29b.

³⁸ KS, 2, 29b–30a.

³⁹ KS, 93, 8a, 12b–13a.

⁴⁰ Among die critics subjected to banishment were Kim Chinyu and Kim Sŭngŭi. Kim Munbac, Karak sega (Kurye, 1933), 22b.Google Scholar The Koryŭ sa makes no mention of Kim Chinyu and his son, Sŭngŭi, but Monk Hyegŭ's (d. 974) appointment as National Preceptor (Kuksa) in 968 is in KS, 2, 29b–30a.

⁴² KS, 2, 30a; 92, 12b–13a.

⁴² KS, 92, 10b.

⁴⁸ Iryŏn, op. cit., pp. 62 and 64.

⁴⁴ KS, 92, 10b.

⁴⁵ Iryŏn, op. at., pp. 62–66. For English translation of the Kyunyŏ chŏn (The Biography of Kyunyŏ), see Lee, Peter H., Studies in the Sacnaennorae, Old Korean Poetry, Scric Oricntalc Roma XXII (Rome, 1959), Appendices pp. 149–174.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Chaeyŏn, Yang, “Kyunyŏ Taesa yŏn'gu (A Study of the Grand Preceptor Kyunyŏ),” Chungang Tachakkyo nonmun-jip, IV (1959), 81–88;Google Scholar Iryŏn, op. at Iryŏn,., pp. 56–68;Google Scholar Lee, Peter H., “The Importance of the Kyunyŏ chŏn (1075) in Korean Buddhism and Literature—Bhadra-cari-pranidhana in Tenth Century Korea,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, 81“4 (December 1961), 409–414.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ CKS, I, 265.

⁴⁸ Ibid.

⁴⁹ CKS, I, 265–267; KS, 93, 26ab; 73. 15ab.

⁵⁰ Most of the new appointees under Kwangjong were recruited through channels other than that of the examination system. In addition to Ch'oe Haenggwi and Han Ŏn'gong, Yu Chin (KS, 94. 8ab.) Chang Yu (KS, 94, 15b- The father of Chang Yŏnu. CMP, 50, 2a.), and Pak Mi (Pak, ssi sŏnivŏn pu, I, 11a.) appear in the sources.

⁵¹ KS, 2, 26b.

⁵² Lee, Studies in …, op. cit., p. 164.