Hwandan Gogi

Hwandan Gogi (), also called Handan Gogi, is a compilation of texts on ancient Korean history. It is a bound volume of four historical records known as Samseonggi(The Annals of the Three Sacred Dynasties), Dangun Segi(The Annals of the history of Danguns), Buk-Buyogi(The Annals of Northern Buyo), and Taebaek Ilsa(Secret history of Taebaek).

The book faced direct opposition from mainstream Korean historians for its use of modern terms and its unclear origins. Hwandangogi supporters claim that one of the original copies of Samseongi has been found.

Of the 120 peer-reviewed papers written on Hwandan Gogi, 90% of them acknowledged the authenticity of Hwandan Gogi.

The book was first compiled in 1911 by Gye Yeon-su (계연수, 桂延壽; d. 1920) and supervised by Yi Gi (이기, 李沂; 1848–1909), descendant of Yi Ahm (이암, 행촌 이암), a Goryo Dynasty high official who wrote the Dangun Segi.

In 2025, President Lee Jae-myung, the 21st President of South Korea, mentioned about the Hwandan Gogi during a publicly broadcast national meeting, which sparked a controversial debate about the Hwandan Gogi and its legitimacy.

Contents

The Hwandan Gogi comprises the following four books:

• Samseonggi, a two-volume book which describes an ancient kingdom called Hwan-guk that lasted for 3301 years and Hwanung's 1565-year rule of Baedalguk (倍達國).
• Dangun Segi (), a chronicle of Gojoseon through 47 generations of Dangun rulers.
• Bukbuyeogi, a book about the six kings of Bukbuyeo (North Buyeo).
• Taebaek Ilsa, a book about the histories of Hwan-guk, Baedalguk, Samjoseon, Goguryeo, Balhae, and Goryeo; also includes the text of Cheonbu-gyeong.

Dispute regarding authenticity

Support

Some historians view the Hwandan Gogi as worthy of further scholarly scrutiny, believing that it is at least partly based on historically valuable, ancient (if not literally accurate) texts.

• The astronomical record alleging five stars had been arranged in a straight line in 1733 BCE () was confirmed by Professor Park Changbeom, who published his findings in a journal. He showed that the five stars would have been arranged in a straight line in 1734 BCE, under the assumption that Gojoseon had been established in 2333 BCE.
• Law professor Junhwan Go offered several reasons as to why he found Hwandan Gogi worthy of consideration.
• The territory of Gojoseon described in Hwandan Gogi corresponds to the distribution area of the mandolin-shaped dagger culture in Korea. The distribution area of mandolin shaped daggers are advocated by Yoon et al. and Yi Pyong-do.

Criticism

Mainstream historians in South Korea, North Korea and Japan consider the text to have been created in recent times due to the following reasons:

• The document contains modern phrases and concepts. For example, it includes references to gender equality (男女平權, 'men's and women's rights') and patriarchy (父權, 'father's rights').
• The manner in which Hwandan Gogi was first published is unclear:
• There are no historical records which support the existence of Samseonggis two alleged authors, An Ham-ro and Won Dong-jung. Also, there are unverified claims that a group of three people by the name of An Ham, Ro Won, and Dong Jung were mistaken as two individuals.
• Yi Gi could not have supervised the compilation of Hwandan Gogi in 1911, as he had already died in 1909.
• The contents of Cheonbu-gyeong could not have been included in Taebaek Ilsa before 1911, because the Cheonbu-gyeong was first discovered and known to the Daejonggyo in 1916.
• Gye Yeon-su, the person who is said to have compiled the Hwandan Gogi, may not have existed. No reliable historical records support his existence.
• Yi Yu-rip's claims - He claimed that the copy of the 1911 edition was brought down to South Korea as he fled the North during the Korean War. He lived in extreme poverty after. One day, when he left town to find work and came back after a few days, all of his belongings had been thrown out and sold by the landlord. He claimed that because he had read the material so many times he memorized the entire book word by word. And he had to "restore the Hwandan Gogi just through his own memory."

Other criticisms targeted unrealistic descriptions found in the texts, for example:

• When calculated with modern measures, the alleged territory of Hwan-guk spans from the North Pole to the South Pole.
• The rulers of Baedal-guk are said to have lived for an average of 120–150 years.
• Baedal-guk is said to have had intricate bureaucratic systems almost 6,000 years ago.
• Some records in Hwandan Gogi contradict each other.

See also

• Gyuwon Sahwa

References

• 계연수(이유립 복원본), 환단고기, 한뿌리 출판사, 2005
• 『환단고기(桓檀古記)』에 대한 새로운 이해』, Land Portal
• 정영훈(The Academy of Korean Studies 한국학중앙연구원), '환단고기' 토대로 상고사 연구 보류해야 - 검증안 된 내용 왜곡 우려, The Cheju National University Press 제주대 신문, 2004-03-31
• 김정배, 한국사 권4 - 초기국가 – 고조선.부여.삼한, National Institute of Korean History 국사편찬위원회, 1997. pp. 53
• 안창범(제주대 명예교수), https://web.archive.org/web/20070319155415/http://www.hanja-edu.com/0603_month/11.html 桓檀古記 僞書論 批判, 한국종교사연구 통권 제10호 (2002. 2)
• 이도학(한양대 강사), 桓檀古記, 민족지성 9('86.11), 民族知性社
• 조인성, 韓末 檀君關係史書의 再檢討 :《神檀實記》·《檀奇古史》·《桓檀古記》를 中心으로, 국사관논총 제3집, National Institute of Korean History 국사편찬위원회, 1969.10
• 한영우(서울대 국사학과 교수) 외, 행촌 이암의 생애와 사상, 일지사, 2002
• 이상시(변호사), 檀君實史에 관한 文獻考證, 고려원, 1990
• 송호수(Baylor Univ. a professor emeritus), 韓民族의 뿌리思想, 가나출판사, 1985
• 金庠基, 李海鶴의 生涯와 思想에 대하여, 李瑄根華甲紀念論叢, 1965
• 전병훈, 정신철학 통편(精神哲學 通編), 1919