The Wanyan Digunai (Wanyan Zhong, Esikui) Funerary Complex in Primorye

The Wanyan Digunai (Wanyan Zhong, Esikui) Funerary Complex
in Primorye

doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2024.52.1.089-098

N.G. Artemieva
Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushkinskaya 89, Vladivostok, 690001, Russia

The article outlines the findings of studies of a funerary complex beside the stone sculpture of a bixi turtle, discovered in 1893 on the territory of the mill of O.V Lindholm in Primorye. The present research is based on unpublished diaries (from 1893 and 1894) of F.F. Busse, who carried out rescue excavations of the hill under the sculpture and unearthed a stone coffin buried nearby. A rounded stele top with 20 Chinese characters was found at the same place. The translation demonstrates that the burial was that of a prominent Jurchen military leader belonging to a noble Wanyan clan— Wanyan Digunai (Chinese name Wanyan Zhong, known as Esikui/Asukui) The burial was largely neglected, because scholars focused on translating and interpreting the inscription. The burial was believed to have been looted long ago, and Busse’s diaries remained unpublished. The focus of the present study, therefore, is to describe all available sources relating to Wanyan Digunai’s funerary complex. Based on the analysis of the excavation findings, features of the funerary rite are reconstructed. The architectural design and layout of the complex are shown to have followed the local East Asian tradition.

Keywords: Jurchens, Wanyan Zhong, funerary complex, stone turtle, Jin Dynasty, Far East