Anak Tomb No. 3

Anak Tomb No. 3 is a chamber tomb of Goguryeo located in Anak, South Hwanghae, North Korea. It is known for mural paintings and an epitaph. It is part of the Complex of Koguryo Tombs. The identity of the tomb's owner is disputed due to an epitaph in the tomb bearing the name of Dong Shou, a former general of the Xianbei Murong clan in Liaodong who fled political turmoil to Goguryeo. The epitaph lists Dong Shou's various titles as well as uses the defunct Eastern Jin dynasty's era name, suggesting that Dong Shou is the tomb's owner. As a result, some scholars believe that the tomb belonged to Dong Shou while others argue that it belonged to the Goguryeo king Micheon or his son Gogugwon.

Anak Tomb 3 is the oldest and most significant painted tomb made of stone in the area. It is located on a small hillock in Yongsun, Anak, in South Hwanghae Province, North Korea. This stone tomb was first analyzed by the Korean archaeologist Toh Yu-ho (1905-1982) in 1946. It is composed of five rooms arranged in asymmetrical order, each containing a "lantern ceiling" originating from West Asia and commonly found in China. The rooms are laid out along a south-north axis followed by the main burial chamber with narrow galleries on its eastern and northern sides. By the time Toh Yu-ho surveyed the tomb, it had already been disturbed, although the murals and a few inscriptions had survived.

Anak Tomb 3 is one of the few Goguryeo tombs with epitaphs identifying their date. Among the surviving inscriptions, the most extensive piece is an ink epitaph located above a door guardian standing on the left wall leading to the western chamber. The inscription is 68 characters long, arranged in seven lines, and written in regular script with some traces of clerical script. The writing follows a Chinese template and remarks upon the life of a certain Dong Shou (289-357), his birthplace in Pingguo Prefecture (modern Gaizhou in Liaoning), and his age at the time of death. The inscription of Dong Shou states that he was originally a general of the Xianbei Murong clan in Liaodong (modern Liaoning, China). In 336, Dong Shou's master, Murong Ren, was killed by his brother Murong Huang (founder of Former Yan) in a struggle for power. Dong Shou fled to Goguryeo and was given a position in the former territory of the Lelang commandery. The epitaph and its implication for the tomb's identity, especially whether or not it can be considered "Goguryeo", and therefore "Korean" rather than "Chinese", has been the subject of controversy. Due to the epitaph and its contents, some scholars generally regard this site as the tomb of Dong Shou. According to Chinese scholar Yeh Pai, who deciphered the inscription in 1951, the Dong Shou the epitaph refers to is the same person who appeared in two Chinese histories, the Book of Jin and Zizhi Tongjian. That person was recorded to have fled from Xianbei invasions in Liaodong in 337. Yeh Pai's conclusions were accepted in the 1958 formal Korean report; however some Korean scholars still maintained that the tomb belongs to King Mi-chon. Some scholars such as K. H. J. Gardiner and Wonyong Kim believe this to be a Chinese tomb of excellent quality while North and other South Korean scholars believe that Dong Shou was an émigré official. Moreover, the quality of the paintings and the size of the tomb have been argued recently by Hwi-joon Ahn and Youngsook Pak to indicate that it is a royal tomb of Goguryeo. However the theory that Dong Shou was an émigré official has been criticized by Minku Kim based on the language used in the epitaph. Minku Kim notes that the epitaph contains no hint of Dong Shou's servility, but rather tediously lists all his various titles: magistrate of Lelang, and governor of Changli, Xuantu, and Daifang commanderies

Monument data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).