Why Was the Ye Lord of Bujo Buried in Pyeongyang?

The silver seal of the Ye Lord of Bujo(夫租薉君), excavated from Tomb No. 1 at Jeongbaek-dong, raises the question of why the chieftain of the Okjeo(沃沮) settlement communities(⾢落) was buried not in Okjeo(Bujo), his original power base, but in the Nakrang district of Pyeongyang. This issue is to be understood in the context of Okjeo’s transfer from Hyundo Commandery(⽞菟郡) to Nakrang Commandery(樂浪郡), during which the status of indigenous elites was recalibrated and the modalities of commandery governance were reshaped. Although Okjeo was incorporated into the Han commandery system under Hyundo Commandery, local chieftains such as the Ye Lord of Bujo continued to retain a degree of autonomy. However, the administrative reorganization that followed the abolition of Jinbeon Commandery(眞番郡) and Imdun Commandery(臨屯郡), as well as the transfer of the seven eastern counties including Okjeo into Nakrang Commandery, constrained the autonomous bases of such indigenous leaders and strengthened direct commandery control. In this process, Okjeo’s settlement communities were reorganized as township units(鄕⾥) under county seats(縣城). The Ye Lord of Bujo thus appears to have stood at a transitional moment in which his status and authority were redefined. His burial not in Okjeo but near Joseon County(朝鮮縣)-the administrative center of Nakrang Commandery-suggests both a deliberate separation from his former autonomous base and his transformation into a registered figure(編⼾) incorporated into the commandery order. Tomb No. 1 at Jeongbaek-dong thus represents a key example of how the Han empire, in the course of the administrative reorganization of the Okjeo region through Changhae(蒼海), Hyundo, and Nakrang Commanderies, absorbed indigenous chieftains into the hierarchical order of the commandery system.