Hanpu

Hanpu (Chinese: 函普; pinyin: Hánpǔ) or Hambo (Korean: 함보), later Wanyan Hanpu, was a leader of the Jurchen Wanyan clan in the early tenth century. According to the ancestral story of the Wanyan clan, Hanpu came from Goryeo when he was sixty years old, reformed Jurchen customary law, and then married a sixty-year-old local woman who bore him three children. His descendants eventually united Jurchen tribes into a federation and established the Jin dynasty in 1115. Hanpu was retrospectively given the temple name Shizu (始祖) and the posthumous name Emperor Yixian Jingyuan (懿憲景元皇帝) by the Jin dynasty.

Chinese historians have long debated whether Hanpu was of Silla, Goryeo, or Jurchen ethnicity. Since the 1980s, they have chiefly argued that he was a Jurchen who had lived in Silla, the state that had dominated the Korean peninsula until it was destroyed by Goryeo in 935. Western scholars usually treat Hanpu's story as a legend, but agree that it hints to contacts between some Jurchen clans and the states of Goryeo and Balhae (a state located between Jurchen lands and Silla until it was destroyed in 926) in the early tenth century. In Korea, a recent KBS history special treated Hanpu as a native Silla man who moved north and settled in Jurchen lands during the demise of Silla.

Name

Hanpu is known under different transliterations in Chinese sources. He is called Kanfu (龕福) in the Records of Things Heard in Songmo (松漠紀聞; after 1155), the memoirs of a Song Chinese ambassador who was forced to stay in Jin territory for more than 10 years starting in 1131. The Shenlu Ji 神麓記, a lost book cited in the Collected Documents on the Treaties with the North during Three Reigns (三朝北盟會編; c. 1196), refers to him as Kenpu (掯浦), whereas Research on the Origin of the Manchus (滿洲源流考; 1777) calls him Hafu (哈富).

Ancestor of the Wanyan clan

Because the early Jurchens had no written records, the story of Hanpu was first transmitted orally. According to the History of Jin (compiled in the 1340s), Hanpu arrived from Goryeo at the age of sixty and settled among the Jurchen Wanyan clan. Other sources claim that Hanpu was from Silla, the state that had ruled the Korean peninsula but was annexed by Goryeo in 935. The same story recounts that when Hanpu left Goryeo, his two brothers remained behind, one in Goryeo and one in the Balhae area. Because the Jurchens considered Hanpu to be the sixth-generation ancestor of Wanyan Wugunai (1021–1074), historians postulate that Hanpu lived in the early tenth century, when the Jurchens still consisted of independent tribes, or sometime between the founding of Goryeo in 918 and its destruction of Silla in 935.

The Wanyan clan then belonged to a group of Jurchen tribes that Chinese and Khitan documents called "wild", "raw", or "uncivilized" (shēng 生). These "wild Jurchens" lived between the Changbai Mountains in the south (now at the border between North Korea and Northeast China) and the Sungari River in the north, outside the territory of the rising Liao dynasty (907–1125) and little influenced by Chinese culture.

To resolve an endless cycle of vendettas between two clans, Hanpu managed to make both parties accept a new rule: from then on, the family of a killer would compensate the victim's relatives with a gift of horses, cattle, and money. Historian Herbert Franke has compared this aspect of Jurchen customary law to the old Germanic practice of Wergeld. As a reward for putting an end to the feuds, Hanpu was married to a sixty-year-old woman who then bore him one daughter and two sons. A lost book called the Shenlu Ji states that Hanpu's wife was 40 years old. Hanpu and his descendants were then formally received into the Wanyan clan.

Hanpu's ethnicity

Chinese scholars have debated the ethnicity of Hanpu. They usually agree that Hanpu's "coming from Goryeo" does not mean he was of Goryeo ethnicity, since the Goryeo territory was populated by several ethnic groups. The people of the time did not always distinguish between state and ethnic group, so that in modern terms Hanpu may have been a Jurchen from the state of Silla, a man of Goryeo, or a Silla man.

The History of Jin says that: "the Jin progenitor originated from the Mohe." "The Heishui Mohe resided in the old Sushen area ... the Jin state rose up there." "When the Tang dynasty began the Sumo, Heishui, both tribes, were ruled by Goguryeo." "Jin people originate out of tribes attached to Goguryeo." The Ancestral Records (祖宗实录) state these as well."The Sumo Mohe were then attached to Goguryeo and their last name was Da." Jin's progenitor, originated from the Mohe. Mohe originally were called Wuji. Wuji, on the old Sushen land.

Chinese historian Jin Yufu (1887–1962) was aware that historical documents claim that Hanpu was either from Goryeo or from Silla, and found both views worthy of consideration. Many historians have accepted the claim found in Records of Things Heard in Songmo and other sources like Ma Duanlin's Wenxian Tongkao (1317) that Hanpu was "a man of Silla". The annals of King Yejong (r. 1105–1122) in the History of Goryeo report that Wanyan Wugunai's son Yingge (盈歌; 1053-1103) considered Goryeo as his "parent country" (父母之邦) because his clan's ancestor Hanpu had come from Goryeo.

Historian Sun Jinji has claimed that Hanpu's surname was already Wanyan before he moved from Goryeo, and that he was therefore a Jurchen whose family had lived in Silla and then Goryeo before moving back to Jurchen land. Chinese historians Menggutuoli and Zhao Yongchun both argue that Hanpu's ancestors were Jurchens who had lived in Silla and had been absorbed into Goryeo after the latter defeated Silla. Furthermore, Zhao theorizes that Wanyan Yingge calling Goryeo his "parent country" may have been part of the Jurchens' diplomatic efforts to obtain Goryeo's help in fighting the Khitan Liao.

Western scholars usually consider Hanpu's story legendary. Herbert Franke explains that this Jurchen "ancestral legend" probably indicates that the Wanyan clan absorbed immigrants from Goryeo and Balhae sometime in the tenth century. Frederick W. Mote, who calls this account of the founding of the Wanyan clan a "tribal legend", claims that Hanpu's two brothers (one who stayed in Goryeo and one in Balhae) might have represented "the tribe's memory of their ancestral links to these two peoples." One Western historian of Jurchens has even proposed that Hanpu was not even from the Korean peninsula, instead what really happened was that a power on the peninsula ruled the Jurchen tribe he came from, or that he was from the Eastern Jurchens (Changbai Mountain Jurchens) who did not live in the Korean peninsula.

Japanese researchers such as Tsugio Mikami (University of Tokyo) and Masatoshi Ishii (University of Tokyo) have pointed out that “Goguryeo (Hanja: 高句麗)” was denoted as “高麗” in Chinese historiographies after the Sui and Tang dynasties, and viewing the official history, “高句麗” is used up to Book of Han・Book of Wei・Book of Song・Book of Liang, and Book of Zhou・Book of Sui・Old Book of Tang uses the term “高句麗” instead; the entry about “Goguryeo (Hanja: 高句麗)” in New Book of Tang is contained in VOL 145高麗伝, and 高麗記 was the origin of the New Book of Tang高麗伝, and Go jil’s son Go ja (Korean: 고자; Hanja: 高慈), who was an aristocrat of Goguryeo who surrendered to Tang wrote 高麗圀 on his grave, and there are infinite occasions where “Goguryeo (Hanja: 高句麗)” was instead written “高麗” in Japan, and 「高麗遣上部大相可婁等進調」 is written in Nihon Shoki天智紀10年正月丁末條, and Dae Muye’s message to Japan when he visited Japan in 728 said 「復高麗之舊居、有扶餘之遺俗」, and the messenger sent by Dae Heum-mu who visited Japan in 732 wrote 「高麗国王大欽茂」, and every “Goguryeo (Hanja: 高句麗)” was written “高麗” instead, and 「黒水靺鞨居粛慎地、東瀕海、南接高麗、亦附干高麗、嘗以兵十五萬衆助高麗拒唐」 is written in the beginning of the History of Jin century, but in this case History of Jin century can be assumed that it is the same as “高句麗”, not theoryeo is written as “高句麗”, so ”高麗” in the Hanpu's foundation story included in the same History of Jin century can be assumed that it is the same as “Goguryeo (Hanja: 高句麗)”, not the “Goryeo (Hanja: 高麗)” established by Wang Geon in the 10th century, and Hanpu's foundation story states that Wanyan is a descendant of Goguryeo, and that it copied its admiration of Goguryeo in its story of foundation, where Uncivilized Jurchen (Hanja: 生女真) lead by Wanyan is the true descendant of Goguryeo, and since Goguryeo was a great country that thrived in Manchuria and Korea from b.c to the 7th century for about 700 years, every people and dynasty in Manchuria after the collapse of Goguryeo all admired Goguryeo, and Balhae professed Goguryeo’s revival, and as King of Jeongan Oh Hyeon-myeong (Korean: 오현; Hanja: 烏玄明)) wrote 「臣本以高麗舊壌、渤海遣黎、保據遇」to Sung through jusen’s messenger in 981, it defined Jeongan as 「高麗舊壌」 and its people as 「渤海遣黎」, and from the fact that History of Jin 胡十門伝 states 「吾遠祖兄弟三人、同出高麗、今大聖皇帝之祖入女直、吾祖留高麗、自高麗歸於遼、吾與皇帝皆三祖之後。」, Hesuguan Jurchens (Hanja: 曷蘇館女真)’s tribe believed in its history of coming to Goguryeo, and in the end of History of Jin胡十門伝, there is the phrase 「有合住者、亦称始祖兄苗裔、但不知興胡十門相去幾従耳。」, so Hesuguan Jurchens (Hanja: 曷蘇館女真)’stribe’s 合住家 also admired Goguryeo, and chief 勗 wrote 「自先君興高麗通、聞我将大、因謂本自同出、稍稍款附」 in his national book in 1131, and tribes with jusen before the establishment of Jin understanding Wanyan’s Goguryeo history claimed that they had the same ancestor, and of course these claims are extracted from Goguryeo’s sovereignty and the orthodoxy of its roots, and it aimed to succeed Goguryeo and gain political supremacy amongst other countries, and succession of Goguryeo cannot be considered as a race succession, but this proves that Balhae, Later Balhae and Jin’s royal family’s ancestor jusen also had a Goguryeo admiring doctrine, and Tsugio Mikami (University of Tokyo) stated that “Manchurian’s creating such a strong nation within such a short time and preserving it for a long time must be a glorious history for Manchurians. This made Goguryeo to be remembered by Manchurians and has become an ancestor for all Manchurian dynasties.” “Even if this was some fiction, it is not fantasy or artificial, and must be considered as a historical concept. This contains a huge meaning. We can seek Manchurian character and its beliefs from this story. This can predict how Goguryeo had attracted and become powerful for Manchurians”, and just like Balhae, Jeongan, and Jin’s ancestor jusen extracted its sovereignty and origin from Goguryeo, Hanpu's foundation story was created as a political strategy to deal with the international situation surrounding the Jin royal family, and by connecting Jin and Goguryeo, the validity of occupying Goguryeo’s territory and historical evidence, and since Goguryeo was a famous Asian family, gaining supremacy and excellence of sovereignty by making the Jin family a god-like, the Jin family and Goguryeo was connected as an ideology to urge Jusen’s tribal union in Manchuria, and Wanyan praised Goryeo 「父母之邦 (parent country)」「祖宗出自大邦 (Ancestor’s land)」 because Goryeo and Goguryeo had the same name, had the same territory, and was established to copy Goguryeo, so Uncivilized Jurchen (Hanja: 生女真), who had an admiration towards Goguryeo said this since it regarded Goryeo as a true Goguryeo, and called themselves 「兄大女真金国皇帝」 in a diplomatic document sent by Emperor Taizu of Jin to Goryeo in March 1117, calling the king of Goguryeo ‘brother’ meant that Jin’s power was already over the glory of Goguryeo and did not require any more mental support.

Legacy

Aguda, eighth-generation descendant of Hanpu, founded the Jin dynasty in 1115

The Wanyan clan rose to prominence among the Jurchens after 1000 CE. Hanpu's sixth-generation descendant Wanyan Wugunai (1021–1074) started to consolidate the dispersed Jurchen tribes into a federation. Wugunai's grandson Aguda (1068–1123) defeated the Jurchens' Khitan overlords of the Liao dynasty and founded the Jin dynasty in 1115. By 1127, the Jin had conquered all of north China from the Song dynasty.

In 1136 or 1137, soon after Emperor Xizong of Jin (r. 1135–1150) had been crowned, Hanpu was given the posthumous name "Emperor Jingyuan" (景元皇帝) and the temple name "Shizu" (始祖), meaning "first ancestor." In 1144 or 1145, Hanpu's burial site was named "Guangling" (光陵). In December 1145 or January 1146, his posthumous title was augmented to that of "Emperor Yixian Jingyuan" (懿憲景元皇帝).

Family members

Hanpu's wife posthumously received the title of Empress Mingyi 明懿皇后 in 1136. The History of Jin, an official history that was compiled by Mongol scholar Toqto'a in the 1340s, lists Hanpu's family members as follows:

Children:

• Wulu 烏魯 (eldest son and successor)
• Wolu 斡魯 (second son)
• Zhusiban 注思板 (daughter)

Siblings:

• Agunai 阿古廼 (elder brother, who is said to have liked Buddhism and to have stayed in Goryeo when Hanpu left)
• Baohuoli 保活里 (younger brother)

References

Works cited

• Chan, Hok-lam 陳學霖 (2003), Perspectives on Jin and Song History 宋金史論叢, Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, ISBN 962-996-097-4. (in Chinese)
• Chen, Shu 陳述 (1960), Five Supplements to the History of Jin 金史拾捕五種, Beijing: Kexue chubanshe 科學出版社. (in Chinese)
• Franke, Herbert (1981), "Jurchen Customary Law and the Chinese Law of the Chin Dynasty", in Dieter Eikemeier; Herbert Franke (eds.), State and Law in East Asia: Festschrift Karl Bünger, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pp. 215–233, ISBN 3-447-02164-0.
• —— (1990), "The forest peoples of Manchuria: Kitans and Jurchens", in Denis Sinor (ed.), Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 400–423, ISBN 0-521-24304-1.
• —— (1994), "The Chin Dynasty", in Herbert Franke and Denis Twitchett (ed.), Cambridge History of China, vol. Volume 6, Alien regimes and border states, 907–1368, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 215–320, ISBN 978-0-521-24331-5 {{citation}}: |volume= has extra text (help).
• He, Guangyue 何光岳 (2004), History of the Jurchens' Origins 女真源流史, Nanchang: Jiangxi Education Press 江西教育出版社, ISBN 7539240288. (in Chinese)
• Jin, Yufu 金毓黻 (1969), General History of Northeast China: The First Six Chapters 東北通史：上編六卷, Taipei: Tailian guofeng chubanshe 臺聯國風出版社. (in Chinese)
• Menggutuoli, 孟古托力 (2000), "On a Few Questions Concerning the Jurchens and the Jin Dynasty's Relations with Goryeo" 女真及其金朝与高丽关系中几个问题考论", Manchu Studies 满族研究, 2000/1: 64–76. (in Chinese)
• Mote, Frederick W. (1999), Imperial China (900-1800), Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-44515-5.
• Sun, Jinji 孙进己 (1987), History of the Jurchens 女真史, Collectanea on Northeastern History 东北史丛书, Changchun: Jilin Wenshi chubanshe 吉林文史出版社. (in Chinese)
• Tillman, Hoyt Cleveland (1995), "An Overview of Chin History and Institutions", in Hoyt Cleveland Tillman; Stephen H. West (eds.), China Under Jurchen Rule, Albany, NY: State University of New York, pp. 23–38, ISBN 0-7914-2273-9 (hardback). ISBN 0-7914-2274-7 (paperback).
• Wang, Minxin 王民信 (2010) [1985], "On the Thirty Jurchen Clan Surnames in the History of Goryeo" 高麗史女真三十姓部落考", Collected Articles by Wang Minxin on the History of Goryeo 王民信高麗史研究論文集 (in Chinese), Taipei: National Taiwan University Press 臺大出版中心, pp. 247–284, ISBN 9789860259094. Originally published in the Bulletin of the Institute of China Border Area Studies 邊政研究所年報 16 (1985): pp. 67–94.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• Zhao, Yongchun 赵永春 (2006), "On the Ethnicity of Hanpu, First Ancestor of the Jin Dynasty" 金朝始祖函普族属考辨", Manchu Studies 满族研究, 2006/1: 68–74. (in Chinese)

Further reading

• Kim, Alexander (2011), "On the Origin of the Jurchen People (A Study Based on Russian Sources)", Central Asiatic Journal, 55 (2), (subscription required): 165–76, JSTOR 41928587.