kingdom · Korea and Japan
Buyeo
Origins
Buyeo appears in Chinese sources in the 2nd century BCE as a farming and herding kingdom on the Songhua river plain around modern Jilin. Its founding legend of Dongmyeong, born of sunlight and escaping across a river on a bridge of fish and turtles, was later borrowed for the founder of Goguryeo.
Rule and society
The king shared power with four great officials named after animals: horse, ox, pig and dog, each governing a region. Kings could be blamed and deposed for bad harvests. Laws were strict, the yeonggo festival in the twelfth month honoured heaven, and nobles were buried with human victims. Buyeo usually sided with Chinese dynasties against Goguryeo and the Xianbei.
Decline and legacy
Xianbei raids under the Murong in 285 and 346 devastated the kingdom, and King Uiryeo took his own life in the first. Weakened and pressed by the Mohe, the last king surrendered to Goguryeo in 494. Baekje's later name Nambuyeo recalled the link.
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (4)
- Eastern Buyeo split from Buyeo86 BCE
- Buyeo paid tribute to Han Dynasty49 CE – 220 CE
- Buyeo paid tribute to Goguryeo410 CE – 494 CE
- Buyeo was conquered by Goguryeo494 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Buyeo. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/buyeo
- MLA
- “Buyeo.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/buyeo. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Buyeo.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/buyeo.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Buyeo’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/buyeo (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻