Buddhist Architecture, Politics, and Gender in the Three Kingdoms and Unified Silla

Buddhism reached Korea in the fourth century CE when the Korean peninsula was ruled by the Three Kingdoms. When Buddhism was adopted, temples were built with pagodas that changed both the urban space and the skyline of a city. Buddhist architecture of the Three Kingdoms spread to neighboring countries. A nine-story timber pagoda at Hwangnyongsa in Silla had clearer political objectives. Queen Sondok, enthroned in 632, was the first female ruler in the Silla history. The growing influence of Confucianism in East Asia strongly emphasized differentiated gender roles and a hierarchy between men and women. The most radical change in the Buddhist temple layout in Korea took place when Silla began to build twin pagodas in the mid-seventh century. While quite a few countries in East Asia built twin pagodas, no country favored them more than the Silla did and no other country built twin pagodas more frequently than Unified Silla.