A Study on Balhae Beauty Culture

발해의 미용문화연구

Balhae was an ancient Korean kingdom that existed almost 1,300 years ago. It was a dynamic time in the Korean history when the national strength was building up in terms of politics, economy and culture, thereby called as "Haedongseongguk, the powerhouse in the East". Balhae had dominated parts of Manchuria and the northern part of the Korean peninsula between the late 7th century and the 10th century, occupying the center stage of the northern Korean history. It serves as a window to the East Asia in the present as well as in the past. Yet, due to its geography spanning from the North Korea to Kilin Province of China to part of Heilongjiang Province and to the Littoral Province of Siberia, Balhae has been the center of historical disputes among neighboring countries that insist it is part of each of their own history. China argues that it was a prefecture of the Tang Dynasty, established by the Mohe, not a successor to Goguryeo, which is a China-oriented viewpoint of history. In addition, Russia recognizes Balhae as their first-ever medieval feudal state since the Littoral Province is now under their sovereignty. Therefore, the restoration of Balhae history is in line with the veritable establishment of the ancient Korean history. For this, it is necessary to embrace inter-disciplinary achievements and to continue efforts to adopt them rather than to blame the shortage of historical documents and the difficulty of the excavation of relics. If fashion is "a visual symbol" of our society, beauty culture serve as a mirror to reflect our civilization and culture directly or indirectly. Still, it is not easy to draw similarities by analyzing and comparing the attributes of various cultures and civilizations party because the essence of culture lies in diversity. Nevertheless, it is believed that cultural liaison as well as geographical liaison can be a medium to compensate for the limits of the foreign exchange history of Southeast Asia in proving the relationship between Goguryeo and Balhae, by examining and speculating beauty culture that reflect their period. It was confirmed by various documents regarding Goguryeo out of relics, historical sites and documents. Mural paintings showed how the people of Balhae wore and accessorized themselves. They also allowed us to speculate their way of living. As the contemporary historians can assert that Balhae is part of the Korean history thanks to the realism scholars in the late Joseon Dynasty, who rediscovered the Balhae history and conducted practical researches, it is expected that researchers who study beauty culture contribute to completing the restoration of the Balhae history by thoroughly examining our history, costume and beauty culture.