Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/537

 rule. But Kijun carried the institution south with him and introduced it into his new kingdom of Mahan. It existed in the mild form in the early days of Silla (57 B.C.-918 A.D.), but could not have been very common, for only murderers were condemned to slavery. Meanwhile the Kingdom of Koguryu arose in the north (36 B. C.). Slavery did not exist there until the armies began the conquest of the wild Hyungno tribe. These people were taken and made slaves. Thus we find that when Buddhism began to gain a foothold on Korean soil in the fourth century, slavery existed in a mild form throughout the peninsula.

One curious effect of Buddhism was to do away with the institution of slavery. The exaggerated notion of the value of human and animal life entertained by that cult, together with the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, aroused a decided sentiment against human slavery, and so the institution fell into desuetude throughout the peninsula in proportion as Buddhism made conquest of the country.

But after the entire peninsula was united by the first king of Koryu in 918 A.D. and Buddhism became rampant, the cult underwent a rapid deterioration. Its spirit dropped away, leaving nothing but the form. Luxury began to sap the life of the people, and slavery again lifted its head. In fact, the number of slaves increased to an enormous total, and exciting stories are told of how they revolted from time to time and fought bloody battles with their masters, only to be put down. On one occasion three hundred slaves had stones tied about their necks and were cast into a river.

When the Koryu dynasty was overthrown and the present one took its place, in 1392, there occurred a period of social house-cleaning in the peninsula; but general slavery continued up to the time of the great invasion by the Japanese Hideyoshi, 1592. This war killed off so many of the male population of Korea that when peace reigned once more, a law was promulgated forbidding the slavery of males and confining it to the gentler sex. This has continued till the present time, and the