1. East Asian Astronomy as a Trifunctional System
The idea that the three-way configuration of Mahan, Jinhan, and Byeonhan—and of the Three Kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla—said to have been handed down from Dangun, is connected to the trifunctional systems of Greece and India has recently become, together with Dr. Kim Jeong-min's re-excavation of Eurasian ancient history, a major topic in the study of ancient history once again.[1]
The trifunctional system is the conclusion drawn as a common feature by the French structuralist anthropologist Georges Dumézil—who is said to have spoken twenty-nine languages at first—after surveying most of the civilizations of Europe and India.[2] The Trojan War of Greece began with a system in which the three functions competed: Hera of religion, Athena of politics, and Aphrodite of production and beauty. The caste system of India, too, originated in the classes of the Brahmin of religion, the Kshatriya of politics, and the Vaishya and Shudra of production. Dumézil's trifunctional myth theory was carried on by Campbell and is said to have become today the basic formula for the scenarios of Hollywood blockbusters.[3]
The trifunctional system became a major topic in East Asia because, at the time of the Meiji Restoration, it served as a theory justifying Japan's invasion of China. The trifunctional system also views China's Book of Changes and Three Powers theory as extensions of the trifunctional system, on the grounds that the Chinese had migrated from West Asia. If China migrated from West Asia, then China-centered history collapses, and even if China were to come under Japanese rule it would not violate historical legitimacy. In Japan, the trifunctional system and the theory of the Chinese people's migration are said to still be the established view regarding China.
In early modern Korean academia, which was under Japanese influence, the trifunctional system also became an issue, but it disappeared as China's influence grew, only to be re-examined again with the boom in ancient history sparked by works such as the Hwandan Gogi. Korea's Sam-Taegeuk system, which appears in texts like the Samil Singo, seemed to be the origin of the trifunctional system. Park Yong-suk of Dongduk Women's University, a leading critic of Korean art, and others long emphasized the trifunctional system, and Jeong Hyeong-jin and others provided grounds for the migration theory, but decisive evidence remained lacking.
Recently, Dr. Kim Jeong-min, by presenting materials on the trifunctional systems of Kazakhstan and Mongolia that had not been well studied in Korea, established grounds for revealing that the trifunctional system is a shared cultural heritage of the Eurasian network—not only of Korea but, like Genghis Khan's Yuan dynasty, of the wider network as well.
A distinctive research achievement concerning the trifunctional system was the idea that a hidden history of the trifunctional system lies concealed in the stories of East Asian constellations.[4] Korean astronomy, recognized by Park Chang-beom as the origin of Chinese astronomy,[5] is said to have hidden ancient history in the constellations and left it behind in the layout of the palaces of the Joseon dynasty.