This paper examines the research trends and characteristics of the Sinmyo Year’s article in Gwanggaeto Royal Tomb Monument. The Sinmyo Year’s article consists of the first half and the second half. The first half of the narrative is identified as “Baekje(百殘) and Silla(新羅) have been paying tribute as vassals of Goguryeo since before the enthronement of King Gwanggaeto,” and the second half of the narrative is identified as “In the year of Sinmyo, when King Gwanggaeto was enthroned, the Wae(倭) attacked Baekje and Silla by crossing the sea and made them vassals.” However, both the first and second half of the Sinmyo Year’s article were written based on fiction, not actual facts.
In the past, there has been a strong tendency to emphasize the character and status of the Sinmyo Year’s article as a supplement to the other military merit articles. However, it has a very distinctive status of its own in the narrative structure of the military merit records. Along with the Five Year’s article of Yeongnak(永樂), it plays a key role in planning a Goguryeocentered heavenly order, and it also serves as a “context-setting text” for describing King Gwanggaeto's military merits in the south-central part of the Korean peninsula.
The narrative content of the Sinmyo Year’s article is based on a fiction created by a Goguryeo-centered view of the world. The author of the inscription established the relationship with Baekje, Silla, and Wae based on the Goguryeo-centered view of the world, and then justified and rationalized King Gwanggaeto's military merits. Therefore, we must remove the parts colored by the Goguryeo view of the world to get closer to the historical reality contained in the military merit records.