Page:Village life in Korea (1911).djvu/41

Rh In the year 912 A.D. a, descendant of the old royal house of Korio led a successful rebellion and soon succeeded in establishing his sway over the entire peninsula. Before this time Sil-la had swallowed up Pak-je, so that now the people of the peninsula for the first time became united in one kingdom. This man, whose name was Wang, established his capital at Songdo, where his descendants reigned for four hundred years. It was during this dynasty that books were first printed in Korea by means of wooden blocks, and that money was first coined, the metal used being iron. This coinage took place in 996 A.D.

Korea, situated as she was with the warlike nations on the north and the fighting Japanese on the south and east, was never safe in her position. When she succeeded in forming an alliance with one power and started on a peaceful career, it was only a little while till she would be attacked from some other quarter by some of the other powers which seemed always hungry to swallow her up. It is one of the wonders of history that all through these centuries, with nothing special to give her strength, she has been able, in some degree, to hold her own against all comers till within the last few years, when she has been compelled to yield to the strong and hand over her powers to Japan.

Many are the times that Japan has tried to conquer Korea, only to be driven back across the straits with little or nothing to repay her for the trouble except the most intense contempt and hatred of the Koreans. When one is reminded of the "Ear and Nose Monument" which stands to-day in Kioto, Japan's old cap-