Five Circuits and Two Frontier Regions

Under Hyeonjong the provinces were reorganized around four protectorates and eight governorships, and a capital region (Gyeonggi) was set up around Gaegyeong; the five circuits and the two military frontier regions took shape thereafter.

Following Seongjong’s first dispatch of governors to twelve mok in 983, Hyeonjong reorganized local government in 1018, as the Khitan wars were ending, around four protectorates (dohobu) and eight governorships (mok) with prefectures, counties and garrisons beneath them, and grouped the districts around Gaegyeong into the capital region, Gyeonggi. The country came to be divided into five circuits — Yanggwang, Gyeongsang, Jeolla, Gyoju and Seohae — and the two frontier regions of the north, Bukgye and Donggye. Itinerant inspectors (anchalsa) toured the circuits, while military commissioners (byeongmasa) governed the frontier regions and their garrisons. The system is thought to have been complete only in mid-Goryeo.

Counties without a centrally appointed official (sokhyeon) outnumbered those with one (juhyeon). They were overseen indirectly from a neighbouring juhyeon, while local clerks (hyangni) such as the hojang actually collected taxes and tribute and mobilized labour. There were also special districts — hyang and bugok (mainly farming) and so (crafts and mining) — whose people, though commoners, bore heavier taxes and could not move freely; the revolt of Mangi and Mangsoi at Myeonghak-so in Gongju (1176) rose against this discrimination.