Mohe people

The Mohe, Malgal, or Mogher were a Tungusic people who lived primarily in modern Northeast Asia. The two most powerful Mohe groups were known as the Heishui Mohe, located along the Amur River, and the Sumo Mohe, named after the Songhua River.^[1] The Mohe constituted a major part of the population in the kingdom of Balhae, which lasted from the late 7th century to early 10th century. After the fall of Balhae, few historical traces of the Mohe can be found, though they are considered to be the primary ethnic group from whom the Jurchen people descended. The Heishui Mohe in particular are considered to be the direct ancestors of the Jurchens, from whom the 17th century Manchu people originated.^[2] The Mohe practiced a sedentary agrarian lifestyle and were predominantly farmers who grew soybean, wheat, millet, and rice, supplemented by pig raising and hunting for meat.^[3][4] The Mohe were also known to have wore pig and dog skin coats.^[5]

Name

The Chinese exonym Mohe 靺鞨 is a graphic pejorative written with mo 靺 "socks; stockings" and he 鞨 "shoes". Mo (靺) (Middle Chinese: /muɑt̚/) is an adjective, a customary expression meaning "barbarian" or Xiongnu. He 鞨 is gal (Middle Chinese gat or /ɦɑt̚/), meaning "stone" by Mohe/Malgal, Jie/Gal language. The Jie ruler Shi Le (石勒) takes the surname shi 石 "stone" from gal. According to the History of Jin (Jin Shi), Shi Tu Men (石土門) is the prince of the Jurchen people, whose surname shi hints to a connection with the Mohe and Jie.

The ethnonym of the Mohe bears a notable resemblance to that of the later historically attested *Motgit in Middle Chinese. (Chinese: 勿吉; pinyin: mò jí; Jyutping: mat6 gat1; Korean: 물길 [Mulgil]; Japanese: もつきつ [Motsukitsu]).

The name of the Mohe also appears as "Maka" in "Shin-Maka" (Japanese 新靺鞨, しんまか) or "New Mohe," which is the name of a dance and the musical piece that accompanies it; the dance and song were introduced to the Japanese court during the Nara Period or around the beginning of the Heian Period from the Balhae kingdom. In modern Japanese historical texts, the name of the Mohe is annotated with the "kana" reading Makkatsu (まっかつ), which is probably a transliteration based on the standard Sino-Japanese readings of the Chinese characters used to transcribe the ethnonym of the Mohe.

Tribes

According to some records, there were seven/eight Mohe tribes :

Notable personalities

See also

• Balhae
• Jie people (Gal people)
• Shi Le
• Guanqiu Jian

References

See also

• History of China
• History of Manchuria
• Balhae