함안 성산산성 221호 목간의 해독

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the graphs inscribed on Haman Seongsan sanseong(咸安 城山 山城) writing tablet(木簡) no. 221, and to decipher what the text contains. There are 68 graphs in total on this tablet : more than fifty of those are feasible for identification, of which some are only available for presumed identification.

Decipherment results indicate by a village mayor and intended for presentation to a supervising authority. The report discusses that first, the mayor had attended a military memorial ceremony, and second, he had failed to carry out the order of labor mobilization in a timely manner due to unavoidable circumstances. Hence, it can be said that the text on this writing tablet is an example of an administrative document. Because Haman Seongsan sanseong writing tablets are the oldest set of wooden tablets excavated in Korea, no. 221 tablet may well be oldest document tablet extant in Korea.

The text from the beginning to the end is written in Idu(吏讀), a type of Sino-graphic writing system. It is written in the world order of the Korean language, visibly representing grammatical forms of the Korean language and transcribing Korean native words in Sino-graphic orthography. In other words, the text on this writing tablet satisfies the three conditions dictated by conventions of written Idu. Since no other text from before the mid-6th century meet these criteria, it is suggested that the text on this tablet consists of the oldest Idu document extant in Korea.