|
|
Gimhae Kim clan - Wikipedia
Gimhae Kim
clan
The Gimhae Kim clan (Korean: 김해 김씨; Hanja: 金海 金氏) is one of the Korean
clans. This clan traces their origin to Suro of Geumgwan Gaya and his Queen,
Heo Hwang-ok, who are mentioned in the 13th-century Korean chronicle Samguk
Yusa.[2][3] King Suro was the founder of Gaya confederacy, and his
descendant, Kim Yu-sin, is renowned for unifying the Silla polity.[2][4]
More than six million present day Koreans, especially from Gimhae Kim, Heo
and Lee (Yi) clans, trace their lineage to the legendary King and Queen as
the direct descendants of their 12 children.[5][6][7] These 3 clans
associate their Bon-gwan (geo-biological lineage roots) to Gimhae, in the
South Gyeongsang Province of South Korea,[4] and these clans place
restrictions on marriage with each other due to the shared ancestors. Today,
the Gimhae Kim clan is the largest clan group among them.[4] The Gimhae Kim
and Gimhae Heo clans, descend from the two sons of King Suro who used their
mother's Queen Heo Hwang-ok's surname, instead of their father's.
According to Samguk Yusa, Heo Hwang-ok became the wife of King Suro at the
age of 16, after having arrived by boat in the Gaya Confederacy, in 48 AD,
from a distant kingdom called "Ayuta",[2][8][6][9][7] making her the first
Queen of Geumgwan Gaya. Her native kingdom is believed to be located in
India by some; there is, however, no mention of her in any pre-modern Indian
sources.[7] There are tombs in Gimhae, that are believed by some to be of
King Suro and Queen Heo,[10] and a memorial of Queen Heo Hwang-ok, in the
Hindu holy city of Ayodhya
Origin
The Gimhae Kim clan's founder was
King Suro, whose wife was Queen Heo Hwang-ok. She came to the Gaya
Confederacy in the year 48 AD to marry King Suro. She set sail from the
Kingdom of Ayuta, later arriving in the Gaya Confederacy. Some sources have
identified Ayodhya in North India as the native place of Queen Heo, while
other sources identify her being of Tamil origin, from South India.
In 2004, scientific proof demonstrated that Heo Hwang-ok was a person of
Indian origin. Two professors from the Faculty of Medicine at Seoul
University and the Faculty of Medicine at Hallym University, reported their
finding to The Genetics Society of Korea. Having analyzed remains in an old
burial mound containing what they assumed are remains of Heo Hwang-ok, they
concluded that her ancestors were not from Northern Mongolia (origination of
Koreans), but from India. These findings were based on analyses of sampled
Mitochondrial DNA.
Heo Hwang-ok bore 12 children. Two of them were given her surname, and they
were the origin of the Gimhae Heo clan. According to the Samguk Sagi, Kim
Yu-sin was the 12th grandchild of Suro.
|
|
