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An introduction to clus.sicitl Kurcan litcrnturc ; fro111

hyang,ga 10 p'ansori.: Kichung kint
p.
cnt.
''An Ec:is1 g,1tc book ."
ISBN 1 563247852 (hardcovcr : alk. paper). ISBN I 56324 7860 (pbk . ; alk. paper)
I. Korean literature- History and cri1icisn1.
I. Kirn. Kichung, 1934PL956.K4~

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& N EW Sl UDIES IN ASl/\N C ULl URc

An Introduction to

Classical Korean
Literature Kichung Kim
From Hyangga to P'ansori
II]
An East Cate Book

cJv[.E. Sharpe
Armonk, New York
London. England

What Is Korean Literature?

Why begin with such an obvious question? Isn't Korean literature
s imply all the literature produced in Korean by Koreans? But it's
nnt quite as simple as that. This question, in fact, is central in
determining both the boundaries and the character of classical
Korean literature-that literature written in Korea from the earli
est times to the end of the nineteenth century.
What makes the question a central one is the historical fact that
'1"11111un-literally '"letters of Han," that is, Chinese characters-was the wrillen language of practically all literate Koreans from
about the beginning of Korea's recorded history to the end of the
nineteenth century. 1 For this reason most of the wrillen literature
in Korea from the earliest times through the nineteenth century
was written in hanmun even though hangiil, the Korean alphabet,
had been available since the mid-1400s. How did such a situa1ion come about? The answer to this question lies in the history
of wriucn language in Korea.
Unti l 1446, when King Sejong promulgated the hunmin
clufog1/111- thc twenty-eight-letter phonetic alphabet uniformly
rcfcrrcc.l to today as hangul-the Korean people had lacked an
111digcnous writing system that represented their spoken language . There had thus developec.l two entirely different language
ystcms in Korea- native Korean for speech and Sino-Korean
h1111mun for writing. Because Korean and Chinese arc linguistically unrelated and Chinese characters are more ideographic than
phonetic, it was nearly impossible for Koreans to use Chinese
drnrnctcrs to represent their spoken language. And yet to express themselves in writing they had to first translate their
J

Cl A.t\/l'I / AllRl:AN 1111.HMV RI.

thoughts and speech imo classical Chinese. Understandab ly, therefore, they made repeated efforts 10 adapt Chinese characters to the
Korean language. Two examples are the hybrid writing systems
hyangch at and idu-bo th little more than modest cffons to add a
phonetic dimension to what was basically an ideographic writing
system. Neither was effective in representing Korean. The gross
inadequacy of such writing systems was perhaps best summed up
by King Sejong in the roya l rescript of 1446 by which he promulgated the hunmin chongum:

II/Il l I S i.fJRl:.I ;\ llTl-:NA'fUHI. '

'

11lplrnbc1. Their opposit ion, buurcssed by the forces or tradition,

could not be overcome. l:vcn the most zealous promotion of
hangUI by the king himself could not bring about widespread
ncceptancc nnd use of' the new nlphabet: 1 Dubbed1r111111m ("vulga r
letters") whereas hanmun was called c/1inslJ ("true writing "}.
hanglil was soon relegated to an interior status. h was considered
sui table ror use only by women and common people and was to
be shunned by the literati and others highly placed. And in fact
hangUI was used mosll}' by women and people of the lower
classes, and for this reason it was also called "mglil ("female
While there is a great difference between the Korean language and
tellers"). This debilitating split hetwccn the spoken and wriucn
Chinese. there are no proper lcuers that the Korean pcopk can use in
languag
es persisted in Korea until the eve of the twentieth cenwriting their language and expressing their thoughts. from the time
tury.
I
lanmun
continued to be the principal vehicle of reading
of the Silla Dynasty a system of writing known as ldu has been used
in the daily life of ordinary people as well as in government busi- and writing for practically all literate Koreans. especially men of
ness. But it is too complicated. im()Crfoct. and inconvenient a system lellcrs.
We can now relum to the original question. "What is Korean
for the Koreans 10 use freely in expressing their o"''" ideas and
thinking, because too many Chinese characters arc involved in it. literature?" That 111os1 of the wrinen litcmturc in Korea fro111 the
Korean s nrc in grca1 need of their own lcucrs with which they can earl iest times through the nineteenth century was composed in
write the Korean hmguagc.2
hanmun goes Lo the very heart of this question. Should these
hanmun works be considered Korean literature? II is a problem
The invention of hangul should have marked a turning point in uuerly unlike that ri<>sed
by the tiny fraction of English litcmture
the history of wrillen language in Korea. For hangul was a writing that was composed
in Latin. such as John Mihons Latin verses
system so simple, convenient. and accurat e that almost any Korean and Thoma s More
s Ut<>pia .
could master it in a mancr of weeks- instead of years, as in the
Let us consider a few examples that illustrate the scope or the
case of hanrnun. Hangul made it possible. for the lirst time. to problem. If we assume
that the recorded history of Korea goes
hanish the alien writing system used in Korea for more than a
back about two thousand years. then the period before the inventhousand yeMs. As it happened, however, the history of hangul
tion of the Korean alphabel- that is, from the enrlicst limes to
from the time of its creatio n until the very eve of the twentieth
1446- amounts to about 1.500 years. From th is first 1,500 years
cen1u1y was one of missed opportunilies.
of recorded Korean history only about four dozen works written
Even during the time of King Sejong the use of hanmun among
in vernacular Korean survive : twcmy -tivc Shilla poems called
the lettered classes was loo deeply entrenched to he easily dis- hy"ngga and anothe
r two dozen or so Koryo poems called Kmyr'f
placed. The lettered classes lrnd invested a great deal or time and
kayo. In con1rns1, the same period has yielded thousands of works
energy in learn ing hanmun. Their literacy in that system was among
in hanmun. both prose and poetry. One individual alone. Yi Kyuthe accom plishments that disting uished them from the lower
bo ( 116&-1241}, a scholar-statesman of the Koryo period, letl an
classes, and it gave lhcm cause to continue using hanmun excluestimated 1.500 hanmun poems, not to mco\tion many hanmun
sively and to oppose the dissemination of Sejong 's new phonetic
prose works.4 More hanglil works survive from the period be-

( 'l.1f.'\,\'l('A I. A'V HHA/>r' I l'fl:N,1Tt /HI.'

tween 1446 and the late nineteenth century- that is, the end of the
premodem period-but still the ratio of hangill and hanmun works
is hcnvily in favor of the latter. The reason. as l have mentioned,
has to do with the historical fact that even afier the invent ion of the
Korean alphabet, practica lly all litcrote men kept on writing in
hanmun because it continued to be the only proper writing system
for men of education and importance.
Given an opponunity to write in Korean, however. some men and
many women did so, composing both poetry and prose. The mo~t
important of these hangfll works were 5hUo. The single most import
ant Korcnn poetic fonn, the shijo probably originated in the fourteenth ccntUJ)' during the late Koryo period, before the invention of
the Korean alphabet. Sung and declaimed, and at first transmitted
orally, it was written down after hangiil became available. The ka.m.
a longer and open-ended hangul poetic fonn, probably originated in
the mid -liftcenth century. Hy the sixteenth century it was established among both men and women. Much of the popular prose
lic1ion was also composed in hangul. since it was written mostly for
a ICmale readership. The mos1 significant work o r epis1olary literarure. Hw!i111g11ok. hy Lady I long. for instance. was composed in
hangiil. possibly because it was originally a series of letters 10 her
family. And toward the end of the prcmodcm period popular works
or oral literature such asp 'a11sori tales were wrillcn down in hangiil
as their lilerary status increased.
But !he most gifted and best educaled men or !he Choson period
( 1392 19 10). such as Kim Shi -sup, Chong Yag-yong. and Pak Chiwon, had all written exclusively in hanmun. So for !he most part
had HlS Kyun ( 1569 1618). an important poet-scholar-stalcsman.
and his sister Ho Nansorhon. Although much of Ho Kyun's literary
legacy was lust or destroyed afte r his execution for treason. over
l ,500 hanmun poems~ and numerous hanmun prose works have
survived, compared with !he single hangul prose !ale, H0111: Kiltong
clun. at1ribu1ed to him . Most of the importnnl histories, travel jour
nals. and diaries written by men were likewise composed in
hanmun.

Jl'llAT IS KOREAi\' l ,JTf.'RA1'UllE7

Should this enormous body of li1cran1re written in harunun be

considered Korean literature? The answer to this question determines not only the age bul also the volume and chamc1cr of classical Korean li lcralure. For example, if we were 10 define Korean
literature as literature that has survived in vernacular Korean ei'
ther orally or in wriling, we would be limiting Korean lilerature
before 1446-thc year hangul was promulgated -10 only the
handful of vernacular poems surviving from the Shi Ila and Kory()
periods, along with an oral literature of indeterminate age . We
would in effect be excluding practically all of the literature written
in Korea be fore 1446. and also much of the literature wrincn
belwecn that year and the end of the nine1ecn1h century. More
imponant, we would beexcluding not only the works of many
gifted Choson writers but also such central works of early Korean
history, myth, and legend as the S.1mguk sagi and Samguk y1tm.
We would also have to exclude the oldest recorded version of the
Tangun myth- lhe foundation myth of the Korean people as well
as !he foundation myths of !he Three Kingdoms and the Kaya state.
During the terrible years from 19 10 to 1945 when Japan occupied Korea, Koreans felt a strong need to recover and reassert
their own nalional and cultural roots and identity as a way of
resisting the Japant:se effort to destroy everything culturally Korean. An imponant pan of this movement was a systematic. reinvigorated s tudy during !he 1920s of the Korean language and
Korean li1era1ure. 6 A number of Korean scholars and wri ters dcdica1ed themselves lo this task dcspilc harsh persecution by the
Japanese authori1ies. These scholars and writers aimed to recover
or rediscover what they bel ieved was unmistakably Korean both
in language and literature; in the process they hoped to remove
what Ibey considered foreign, as impurities are removed frorn
precious mernl. They lried, therefore, to separale whal they believed was Korean literature from what !hey believed was not.
They asked, for instance, "How could anything not wriltcn in the
language of the Korean people be considered Korean litern1ure?"
Hence, Korean literature had 10 consist only of those works writ-

<.'I.ASS/CAI. hlJN /t1lll/

f_/'/'l:HA1'{)1U~

h:n (or orally transrniued) in the Korean language. They concluded.

therefore. that literature written in hanrnun could not be included. In
1929. for example. Yi Kwang-su, o ne of the most imponant literary
figures of that period, argued that "Korean literature is that literature written in the Korean language" only, and that nothing else
could be called Korean literature.I Many others folt the same way.
Most Korean scholars and writers today regard such a definition
of Korean literature as too limited. At the time, however, it was a
perfectly legitimate and understandable response w the attempt by
a colonial power to obliterate all that was Korean. But such a
narrow definition of Korean literature ignores two essential historical facts: first, harunun was the most widely used writing system in
Korea until the end of the nineteenth century; second. Koreans
who. read and wrote in hanmun included not only the literati but
most literate Koreans, men as well as women. Excluding hanmun
works would therefore mean excluding the literature written by
most of the literate segment of premodem Korean society. Therefore, a way had to be found to include these works in the body of
Korean literat11rc. Such considerations prompted a modified definition of Korean literature: hanmun works would constitute a secondary body of Korean li1erarure, while those works written or
transmitted in vernacular Ko rean would compose the primary hody
of Koreun literature.
Still another approach was proposed by Chang Tok-sun of Seoul
National University . He argued that we should accept unconditionally all li1erarure written in Korea before 1446 as pan of Korean
literature, whether it was composed in hanmun or in a hybrid writing system such as hyangch 'al. As for hanmun works written aner
1446. Professor Chang proposed to include them only if they possessed "the spirit of Korean thoughts and sentiments."S Obviously,
the difficulty with such an approach is the impossibility of defining
to everyone's satisfaction "the spirit of Korean thoughts and se ntiments." Compounding the difficulty is the historical fact that the
promulgation or the Korean alphabet in 1446 did not appreciably
lessen the use ofhanmun by the literati and the ru ling classes.
Hanmun, though devised by the Chinese, was adopted by Ko-

WI/A T IS KO/l",fN UTl:RATIJR/i~

reans, Japanese. and Vietnamese as their literary language. just as it

had been the Iuemry language of the Chinese. It could therefore be
argued that hanmun developed into a common literary and writlen
lan&'l1agc of the East Asian peoples. Furthennore. in ;ppropriating
Chtnese characters, each of these peoples adapted them to the needs
of their _own .language. Thus, for example. though Chinese characters are 1dent1cal whether wrillen by Chinese, Koreans, or Japanese,
each people pronounced them in their own way and read them with
grammatical markers from their own language. And in the case of
Koreans, while m~~y wrote in impeccable classical Chinese style,
others such as lryon and Pak Chi-won imroduccd Korean words,
phrases. and syntax into 1heir hanmun prose. Thus, hanmun could
be considel'ed the earliest of the Korean li1erary styles. rather tJian a
strictly alien v.Titing systcm.9
Since the mid-J 960s the scholarly consensus in Korea has
s_hifted toward accepting all hamnun works as pan of Korean
literature; 111 other words, accepting hanmun simply as one of the
wntmg systems used to record Korean literature. This emerging
consensus sees class1cal Korean literature recorded in three writing systems- hangul. hanmun. and the hybrid idu and
hyangch'al- all equally Korean and rellecting the changing needs
and conditions of Korean society over the centul'ies. Addilionally, in recent years the task of translating hanmun works into
hangul has flourished and the study of hanrnun ilsclr has been
revitalized, especially among younger scholars.
Another part of Korean literature that has increasingly become
the focus of scholarly interest has ht:en oral literature. Jn Korea
too. before there was written litcralure there was ora l literature
that is, the litcralure of spoken Korean. And out of this oral
literature came the firs! written Korean literature. composed in
hanmun or o~e of the hybrid writing systems. In recent years
~~rean oral ltteralure has been vigorously researched, and today
it is studied not only as lhe literature of ordinary people but also
as the most important source of all premodern Korean literary
fonns, whether hyangga, Koryo kayo, shijo, or kasa. Indeed. classrcal Korean literature has been called an offspring or oral and

111

(I .f.t\U II At )Rf t\ I. Il l R.-4 T

f Ht:

hanmun litcrnturc.10 Thu s. t1ra l litcr

anm: the stud y of whi c~1 h11d
been neglected in the pas t-h as now
taken its right ful pla ce m the
canon of classical Korean litcn11ure.

Th e Mys tery and Lovelin ess

of the Hy angg a

~otcs

Althou gh poetry mus t have flourish ed

along with oth er art forms
in the early Korean kingdoms of Kogury
o, Paekche, and Shilla,
ver y littl e vernacu lar poe try survives
from the first thousand
yea rs of Koreas reco rded history.
We hav e reason to beli eve ,
how eve r, that the re was a considerab
le bod y of vernacula r Korean poet ry compos ed dur ing this peri
od, sinc e early chronicles,
both Chines e and Kor ean. tell us that
Koreans were a peo ple fond
of siJJging ilnd dan cing. especially
on cert ain festival days observed annually in cele brat ion of thei
r harvests and in prnpitiation
of spirits. On these occasions both you
ng and old are said to hav e
sun g and danced day and night for day
s on end. Furthermore, we
know from hisl orical records that an
ani.hology of vernacula r Korean poetry called Sam dae mok (Collec
tion from 1he Thr ee Kin g
doms) was compiled in Shi lla in 888
A.O. It incl ude d hundreds of
poe ms, not only from Shilla but from
Packche and Koguryo as
we ll. But of Sam daemo k only the title
has survived . Thu s, eve n
though ther e had bee n a considcrahl
c bod y of vernac ular poetry
by 888 A.O.. onl y the twenty-live son
gs of Shi Ila called hya ngg a
have survi ved, alon g with a lcw poe
ms in hanmun and the titles
of sev era l Korean poems. 1
Each of the 1wo dozen hya ngga that
has survived is a gem to
be valued and carefully scrutinized,
for these verses are all that
remain of a much larger body of vern
acu lar Korean poetry from
the earl iest period . T he word ltyw1gg
a literally means "na tive
son gs," that is, Korean son gs ns o ppo
sed 10 Chi nese songs . Since
Kor ean s had no writ ing system of !he
ir own dur ing the first 1,500 11

1. .t\hhough the firsl u~c of ('hincsc

charac1e~s in ~orca cannot be dalcd
rcccisely. ii is generally ai;rccd 1h:11 their
u"" wa fairl y w1dc"f1rcd by the foun
h
ur fi fl h CCllHll'Y " L)
2. Lee Sang fl.."<k. Th~ Origi11 of Han

i:m. trans. Ougald Malcolm (Seoul.

Tongniunkwan. 1957). 2.
..
. .
.
). There w.s considerable oppo.<1110
11 "'llhm the c~n """I f to the new, ~lph _
a.
bc1. Scvc rl'l I high ly plncc<l court olTic
i:ils had ~~ be rcpnn~an<led. ,and al leas
t on~
miniSter Jismi><...,d. for their vehemen
t oppos111on. Sec Chang TOl<-sun . fla11
g1tk
,
/Jak su (:\ ftistory of Korco1n Litcra1
1 11111
urc) (Seoul: Tonghwn nu1nhv.. a ~a.
1987).
)51J.
4. Peier H. Lee. co1np. and ed ..

Anthvlogy f?{ K...orcu11 1Ater

otur'" rev. c:d.
(Honolulu: Uni \crsity o r Mawaii Pres
s. 1992): 37. ..
, . . ..
Yi Yi-hwa, Hli Knm iii s11e11ggak (I lo
Kyun s Thoughts) (Seo ul. Yogang
c1,-u1pansa.1991)210.
6. ,\ rcnC\\'C<l in1crcst ii'\ hangiil. SJlea
rheaded by Chu S1H-ky()ng 01nd 01hcrs..
had bee11 apparont since the 1880s.
.
7. Quoied by Kim HUng-gyu in Ho11
guk munhak .1~ngu 1mn1u,1 (An lnt~?du~
tion to the Stud y of Korean Li1cra1u1
c). ed. Hwa ng I' ;ie-gang and Cho 1
ung-11
(Seoul: Chishik sano r '"' 1982). 11.
8. Quoted in a news story about o spee
..
ch given by Professo r Chanii upon his
rctircmen1 from Seou1 Na1ional Uni
,crsity. Sec also Hanxuk. mu11hak J'6rr
gu
inu111u1. ed. li\\nng and Cho. 12.
_
.
9. Cho Tong-ii. /ta11guk m1ml1uk 1cm
,.
xsa (A Comprehensive H1s1ory of Korean Li1cr:11urc). 2nd ed. (Seoul: Chishik
ip sa. 1989 ).. I: I R.
10. Kim Hun g-g)'\I. cited in Hanguk sanl
niunhak .' Jngu 1111rtrtlfl. ed. Hwang P._ac
gang and cho rongil. 16.

s.

years o f their recorded histo ry, how were lhc wo rds o f 1hc hyangga
reco rded a nd preserved in wricin g'! T hey we re cranscribed in
hyangch 'al. a system in which certa in Chinese characccrs were used
for mea ning and ochers onl y for sound. Because Che sysccm was
very complex a nd unorthodo lt. the hya ngga poems we re nm
deciphe red u ntil the li rst hall' of chc twentie th ce ntury. In face, ma ny
of the m have yet 10 be ful ly deciphe red to everyone's sa tisfaction.
Strange as it might seem. huwevcr, it is the very difliculty of
deciphering the hyangga that accounts in part lor their mystery. resonance, and loveliness. For they can best he appreciated if unc can
participate. even vicariously. in the long and diflicult process of
deciphering. transcription. and translation of them into modem Korean. I myself can never read any o f the hy.mgga without recapitulating in my mind the process by which these ancient Korean poems.
transmitted to us in the enigmatic hy.ingch 'al. were deciphered. Each
letter. eac.h word, each phrJSC, and each line of the hyangga have
literally been decoded. much as individual sto nes of an a ncient ruin
must be excavated and individuall y restored. Just as each sto ne o r
burnt remnant of an ancient structure is unearthed, washed, laheled,
and restored. so ton are each k tter and each word o f these a ncient
poems reconstructed tJ1rough painstaking scholarship. And through
these ancie nt poems we arc g iven glimpses of a ncient Korea across the
gulf of many centuries, just as we arc given g limpses o f a vanished
world through a handful of artifocts recovered from an ancient ruin .
Ano ther key element in o ur ap1>reciation o f the hyangga is the
prose account that accompa nies the m; most of the hyangga arc
integrally related to these prose narratives. In fact. with some
hyangga it is impossible to sa y which is the ke rne l and which the
shell, because a hyangga is o fte n no mo re than one part o f an
extens ive descriptio n of irn event chronicled in the Samguk y usa
(Memorabilia of the Three Ki ngdoms). Also, s ince the prose account is writte n in standard classical Chinese. it is pe rfeccly intellig ible to anyone who can read thm la nguage. For these reaso ns the
prose acco unt constitutes the indispensable lirst step to a n understanding o f the hyangga.
With the infonnation provided by the prose account, the scholar

can begin puzzling o ut chc hyangga le11cr by lclle r. word by

wo rd. a nd phrase by phrase . The ini tiul breakthroug h in chis work
was made m 1929 by a Japa nese scho lar. Ogura S himpci. T his
stnnulated Yang Chu-dong lo du the thirteen years of research
that resulted in his landmark study of the hyangga, which was
published in 1942. 2 T his study has provided the basis fo r all
subseque nt readings of the hyangga, including Peter H. Lee's
first Engl ish translation of the poems in his Studies ;11 the
Saenae1111orae: Old Korean Poetry. published in 1959.
Of the twenty-live surviving hyangga. fourteen are found in
the Samguk y usa a nd eleven in Ky1mylf chd11 (Life uf the Great
Master Kyunyo). The hyangga are of three lengths: one four-line
stanza; two four-line stanzas: a nd two four-line stan7.as with a
two-line concluding stanza. The varying lengths of these verses
probably reflect the development of the hyangga from a simple
folk song to a carel\illy designed poetic composition. Altogethe r
they dace from approximately the sixth to the tenth centuries A.D.,
during the Three Kingdoms and United Shill a periods.
One o f the briefest but loveliest and most mysterious of che
hyangga is a four-line \'e rse ca lled "Hi\nhwa ka" (Flo wer Dedicr1
lion Song), a Shilla poem dating buck more than a thousand
years. .Because .the sett ing of the poem is essential to a proper
apprec1at.1on oft!, lee us first consider the prose account accompanying the poem m the Samguk yusa.
.The east and west coasts ol' Korea diflc r considembly in terram. Whtie the west coast slopes gently inco the Yello w Sea- the
muddy shallo ws at places stretching for mi les whe n the tide is
out- on the east coasl low hills and rocky cliffs abut the clear
waters o f the East Sea. leaving o nly e noug h room for a narrow
nbbon o f coastal road in betwee n. On this narro w coasta l road a
new provinc ial governor and his party arc travc ling 10 his ne w
post. They have probably lcfl Kyonw u. th.: Shilla capital, the day
before or very early that morning and arc now making a leisure ly
progress tu the north. They stop for lunch at the foot of a cliff.
The governor i.s on. horseback, his beautiful young wife, Lady
Suro. perhaps ndes m a carriage. a nd just before they alight they

14

C/..4SS! CAI. /;OR F.AN l .17'ERATURF.

pause to admire the splendid sccneiy. For Lady Suro it might be her
first journey out of Kyongju. She is struck by the sccnciy before
her, the sparkling East Sea and the rocky cliffa. And what is that she
sees high up on the clifl near the vciy top? A beautiful flower in
full bloom ... a red azalea perhaps? It almost takes her breath
away. "Oh, I wish I could have that flower! I would give anything,
if someone would only get it for me!'' she says out loud. The
attendants. in the meantime , mutter among themselves loudly
enough for Lady Suro to hear: "That cliff is nearly a thousand feet
high, and there arc neither trails nor animal tracks leading to where
the flower is. It is impossible for anybody to get it."
It is precisely at this point that the event celebrated in our poem
occurs. An old man appears, leading a cow. Overhearing the
governor's heautit'ul young wife, he approaches and offers to clamber up the rocky cliff and pick the flower for her:
If you would let me leave
The cattle tethered to the brown rocks,
And feel no shame for me.
I would pluck and dedicate the flowerl~
Why does he say he would climb to pluck the flower only if she
should " feel no shame for [him]"? Is it because he feels self-conscious about his age, his weathered skin cracked and scaled with
ditt, and his face blackened and wrinkled from too much exposure
to the sun?
These four lines are all we have across the silence of a thousand years, and yet what a living, breathing picture! This brief
ancient poem seems to me even more precious and wondrous
than any of the gleaming Shilla gold crowns dug up, polished,
and displayed before us. For through the words of this painstakingly restored poem we listen in on the living voices of a man
and woman, the voices of the beautiful Lady Suro and an unnamed man who though old in years is still young at heart There
is almost a mythic quality to the homage he pays her, a kind of
exemplaiy homage that has always been paid to the beautiful,
youag, and female by the ordinary, aged, and male.

TI/ M l'STE.llY AND LOYE:UNl:SS Of" THE. f/YANGGA

I.I

Although there are no significant textual problems with this

poem, there are puzzling questions as regards its content. For
instance, who is the old man? Is he more than what he appears to
be? The prose account accompanying the poem gives no clue; it
simply says that no one knew who he was. And what about Lady
Suro, the beautifol young wife of a new governor, who makes the
old man completely forget his age?
About Lady Suro the Samguk yu.rn does have more to say, for
it describes what happens as the governor's patty travels farther
north toward its destination. When the party stops for a seaside
lunch two days later, a sea dragon suddenly appears and abducts
Lady Suro, taking her into the sea. Once again an old man appears to aid the governor's party. He says that in order to recover
Lady Suro the governor must assemble the people of the area and
have them compose a song and chant it while beating the cliff
face with sticks. The song the assembled people chant, given in
hanmun in the Samguk yusa. goes as follows:
T 01toise, tottoise, return the Lady Suro.
Do you know the gravity of your sin?
If you behave against our will,
We will catch you in a net and roast you.4
When the song is chanted the sea dr.igon duly returns Lady
Suro to her husband. The Samguk yusa account adds that because
of Lady Suro 's unparalleled beauty she had been abducted several times in the past, whenever she travcled through deep
mountains and along lakes. Now what are we to make of all
this? What exactly is the relationship between the two accounts of this beautit'ul young woman whose loveliness makes
both men and dragons alike behave so extraordinarily? Do the
additional details help us better understand the Lady Suro of
"Flower Dedication Song"? And what about the old man in the
second incident? Is he in any way related to the old man in the
first incident')
There is still another intriguing detail. The hanmun tortoise

I~

C/,ASSl(';I/. KORf:AN UT/iRAHIR1'

song compelli ng the dragon to n:tum Lady Su ro is clearly un expanded versio n o f an earlier harunun song given in !he Samg11k y11sa
account of the miraculous advent o f King Suro to Karak, a kingdom
later a nnexed to Shi Ila. That earlier song goes as follows:

0 tortoise, tortoise!
Show your head.
If you do not,
We' II roast a nd eat you. $
Is there a connection between Lady Suro and King Suro? T he two
names arc written in different Chinese characters, but since they arc
ho mophonous 1hey mig ht have been the same Korean name (this
ofte n occurs in the early records). We simply do not know.
Another puzzling question has to do with the cow led by the old
man. Is it j ust a cow, or do the cow and the old man togethe r
perha ps represent an important symbo l of Siln (Zen) Budd hism.
as has been suggcstcd?6 Since neither the Samguk yusa no r a ny
othe r hi sto rical records supply satisfactory explanations to these
questions. we are left mostly to our o wn imagination. But it is partly
these unanswered and unanswerable q uestions that make this a ncient
four-line poem so appealing, for its very mysteriousness makes i1 so
much more suggestive.'
It has been suggested that mosl o f the exlant hyangga are Buddhist in theme and inspiration. But in fact they contain a broad
range of themes, perhaps hinting at a n eve n grea1er range in the
early Korean poe try that has not su rvived. The shortest o f the
hyangga sound like folk songs. perhaps popular among ordinary
people a nd ora lly transmilted for long pe riods until they came to be
wriuen down in the Samguk yus<1. I am thinking specifically of the
three four-line poems song o f Matrung," ode to Yangji," and
perhaps "Tonnorae: Dedicatio n:' There are also mov ing elegies,
some dedicated to heroic hwarang knig h1sR by their fonncr friends
and followers: " Ode To Knighl Chukchi" and "Ode To Knight
Kip'a" as well as a "Requiem" for a deceased sister. There is also a
didactic poem ("Statesmanship") . a shaman exorc ism ("'Song o f

Ch 'o yong"), and the longest piece. a Buddhist praye r-poem m

eleven verses by Great Master K yunyo.
The ~song of Ch'oyong" is perhaps one of the easiest to
d ecipher but also one of the most puzzling of the hyangga. Traditionally 1he poem has been read as a song o f exorcism supposed to be effcc1ivc in warding off evil spirits. lliis reading o f
the poem was derived from the account of Ch'oyong given in
the Samguk yusu:
King Hongang [of Shilla; r...1.0. 876-886] \0ok " pleasure trip to
Kacunp'o. When he stopped fora rest by the sea on the way back.
suddenly clouds and fog thickened so much that the king nearly
lost his way. Amazed. the king asked his subordinates what was
happening. The weather official told him that ii was the doings of
the Dragon of !he East Sea, and propitiatory offerings were in
order. The king ordered the appropriate officials 10 erect a Buddhist temple in the vicinity for the dragon. As soon as the king's
order was given. the clouds and fog cleared.... Much pleased,
\he Dragon o f the l'.1st Sea appeared before the king with his
seven sons and provided music and dance in praise o f the king's
virtue. One of the sons, whose name was Ch'oyong, remained
with the king. following him to the capital. and assisted him in the
work of governance. The king bestowed on him an official rank
3od gave him a beautiful woman in marriage in order 10 make hin1
stay. Because Ch'oyong's wife was very lovely. an evil spirit
transformed itscl f into a man, stoic into the house at night, and lay
with her. Returni ng home, Ch'oyong found them lying together in
bed. He sang and danced this song and withdrew.
Having caroused far into lhc night
In the moonlit capital,
I return home and in my bed.
Behold, four legs.
Two were mine,
Whose arc the other two?
formerly two were mine:
What shall be done now that they're taken'!

/.V

Cl.A.'iSJ(', I/, Kl/Rf.'AN l.lffRA1'URf:

Then the evi l spirit reappeared in its own shape. and kneeling
before Ch'oyong ii said: Even though I've violated your wife in lusl.
you have not shown anger. I am impressed and find you admirable. I
swear therefore 10 never violate hcnccfonh any place where even
your likeness is displayed. From this comes the custom of people's
warding off evil spirits with 1he likeness of Ch'uyong on !heir

garcs.Q
Now what does this prose account tell us about the " Song of
Ch'oyong"? Even though the Samguk yusa lies the poem to the
wondrous story about Ch 'oyong. one of the Sea Dragon 's sons, who
came on land to serve the king, the story does not explain the
mystery of the poem itself. Is it a riddle? Could it be some sort of
prehistoric incantation or formula that was inserted into the story
of the Dragon of the East Sea? Various theories have been advanced by Korean scholars. One scholar has even suggested Iha! the
Ch'oyong of the poem might have been an Islamic merchant who
came through one of Korea 's harbors on the East Sea, which were
then open to international trade. Hl
As with the other hyangga in the Samguk yusa. the "Song of
Ch 'oyong" can best be understood if read as pan of the prose account accompanying it. In his suggestive reading oflhe poem Hy<Sn
Yong-jun has identified some of the main legends and folk beliefs
that infonn the poem and its accompanying prose account:
I . an early legend concerning the origin of the place name
Kacunp'o;
2. a belief widely held by the Shi Ila people that the Dragon of the
East Sea was their guardian spirit;
J. a popular bel ief that evil spirits could transforn1 themselves
into human forms in order to ravish beautiful women, thereby
causing sickness and calamity;
4. a popular belief in the gate guardian, a deity that could ward
off all evil spirits at the entrance to a residence. 11
Profossur Hyon sees the first hair of the Samg11k y11sa prose
account woven out of the legend concerning the place name

rm: MYS1'" RY AND

J.(W/:'J./Nl{J.') Q/.' Tiii; llY.4NGGA

19

Kncunp o ("harbor where the mists and clouds c lear up"). There
the local people had long performed rites to placate the Dragon of
!he_Eas1 Sea so Iii.at the ~st would clear of mists and clouds.
This legend, combined with the local people's long-held belief in
the Dragon of the East Sea as their guardian spirit, had Jong since
produced the legend ofCh'oyong, who comes on land to act as a
sor~"of resident guardian of the local people. It is this legend of
C.~1 oyong at Kaeun~ 'o. that.vappropriated by the Samg11k yusa,
becomes the story of Kmg Hongang 's encounter with the Dragon
of the East Sea at Kaeunp 'o. The Buddhist and nationalistic
touches m the Samg11ky11sa version--King Hongangs command
to erec_t a Buddhist temple-were probably added by lryon. lhe
Buddhist author of the Samguk yu.<a.
What is. th~ significance o_r Ch'oyong's coming on land
10
serve the kmg. As Cho fong-d has suggcsred, assisti ng the king
in governance would naturally mean helping him strengthen lh ,
nallon and avoid ca lamities.12 And how better to do th th
e
r, d ff i ..
a1 an to
en o ev1 spinrs. especially the evil spiri1 of sickness and
cnlam1ty (the yokshill) of the poem? Now we begin to better
~nderstand the connection between the poem and the accompan _
mg prose account.
y
. According to Professor Hyon, the poem represents a shaman
ru~"of exorcism, com~i~ing. song and dance, performed by
Ch oyong at th.c most cnt1cal Jtlncture in the episode. Returning
home late at night, Ch'oyong finds his beautiful wife being assaulted~! the ~~11 sp1rll. ft is precisely at this poin1, we are told,
that .eh oyong sang and danced this song and withdrew." The
smgmg is accompan_icd by dancing and some other dramatic
movements, because ll was believed that in order for an exorcism
to be sacred and powerful it had 10 be accompancd by dramatic
measured movements such as dancing.
'
The prose passage that directly follows the poem seems to bear
out Profressor H~<l1~'s reading. Humbled by Ch'oyong's show of
grace a~1d supenonty. the evil spirit withdraws, swearing "to
n~ver vrol.~te henceforth any place where even your likeness is
displayed. And, of course, it is this pledge that brings Ch'oyong

'fl lf..' Al>1STJ:.'Rf 14;\I/) J..OYf.'l.IJ~tss (),.. 111 J()'AA'GGA

to the next stage of his career on land. Until now a guardian spiri1 of
the Shilla people. C h'oyong is now transfonncd inlo the gat.: guard
ian, whose funcrion is to safeguard the emrance to a residence,
protecting the household from all evil spirits.13
Illuminating though it is. Profossor Hyon 's reading seems to
leave one cri1ical question unanswered. Why docs Ch' oyong resort
to an exorcism Lha1 involves only a show of grace and superiority
ralher than violence or a lhreat of vio lence toward an evil spi rit
attacking his own wife-the one person he should be most anxio us
to safeguard? T he exorcism succeeds only because the evi l spirit
voluntarily withdraws. But whal if the evil spiri1 had not been so
yielding? And doesn't ii seem rather s1range thal an evil spiril
should be so yieldi ng?
Other dc1ails arc even more troublesome. According ro the
Samguk yusa. Ch'oyong "sang and danced this song and withdrew"
[emphasis added] when he found his wife bedded by the evil spiri1.
Doesn' t this passage seem to suggest resignation or, worse. admi S
sion or defoa1. rat her than detennination to expel and destroy the
evil spirit? The second stanza of the poem reads:

T\vO were mine,

Whose are the other two?
Formerly rwo were mine:
Whal shall be done now that they're taken?
These lines together with the prose passage immediately preceding
them- .. He sang and danced this song and withdrew'"- sccm to
suggest thai Ch'ilyong has Jos t his will and also his power to
protect th1: Sh ill a people from the evi l sp irit. For if he could not
protect his own wife from the evi l spirit, how could he be expected
to protect the Shilla people? As Cho Tong-ii has suggested, the
exorcism is more likely an admission by Ch'oyong of his own
defeat. which seems to bode ill for the people of Shilla, of whom
Ch'oyong is supposedly the guard ian spirit. 1 The potent ial for
national tragedy implied in the image of the weakened Ch' oyong
seellls confirmed a little Ja1cr in the Samguk y usa when we are told
that S hilla fell because its rulers continued to indulge themselves in

11

pleasures and neglected the warnings the various guardian spiri ts

hod given them.
T hough not entirely satisfactory, Professor II yon 's reading
ncvcrthclcss helps to clarify the connection between " Song of
C h'ISyong.. and iL~ accompanying prose account. Still, it is the
very mystery of this poem that continues to draw us to it. Beenusc it gives us no more than tleeting glimpses into the shadowy
world of long ago, a world whose dim outlines are veiled by
time, we arc forever drawn to this world.
Even in translation the most poetic of the hyangga possess this
exquisite suggestiveness. They seem perfectly poised between an
npparent simplicity of language and an underlying sense of mystery. The poem that perhaps best exemplifies this quality of the
hyangga is "Che mangmae ka" (Requiem). supposedly composed
by Master Wolmy<lng in remembrance of his deceased sister:
On the hard road of life and death
That is near our land,
You went. afraid,
Without words.
We know not where we go,
Leaves blown. scattered,
Though fallen from the same tree,
By the first winds of autumn.
Abide, S ister, perfect your ways.
Until we meet in the Pure Land .15
Here the uncertainty and evanescence of our lives are compared
to the leaves blown away by the first gusts of autumn. The first
two lines of the poem are especially suggestiv~"On the hard
road of life and death I That is near our land" (a more literal
translation would be something like "The road of life and death/
ls here and now").
Whal do these lines mean? That we arc constantly shadowed

rm Ml'S1'f:H I' AND

by the prospect of death, and that th is shadow of death enha

nces the
light that is our life? The poem seems perfe ctly poised
betwe en the
world it reveals and the world it veils; the feeling of
deep and
genuine sorro w it elicits is perfectly halanced by the sense
of wonder we feel for the world hidden behind the words and their
silen ce.
It is this perfect balan ce between the seen and unsee n
worlds that
gives an added poignancy as well as myste riousness to
the poem.
The sense of mystery is heigh tened by the uncertain
mean ing of
some of' the words and phras es in the origi na l.
As I peruse the original versio ns of the hyangga I see formi
dable
chasms separating the various stage s of their trans fom1a
tion from
hyan gch'a l to mode m Korean and English. Examining
each stage
of' this long, painstaking, and complex trans fonnation,
I um struck
as much by the process itself as by the final polished
versions in
mode m Kore an or English. And I canno t help but wond
er what
relation the original poems actually bear to these Korean
or Engli sh
renditions, especially since portio ns of several hyangga
still await
full deciphering. This is why an appreciation of the hyan
gga canno t
be separated from an appreciation of the process
of deciphering.
trans cribin g, and transl ating them. For only then do we
fully understand how uncertain and how provi sional these verse transc
riptio ns
and translations really are. 1 ~ These otlen enigmatic
verse s offer
only blurred glimpses of a people and world that vanis
hed more
than a thousand years ago. Yet ii is preci sely this shado
wine ss and
incomplcleness that continues 10 draw us to the hyangga.
Notes
I. C hang rok-s un, Jfung11/t. """1hak .\'t1 (A Histor
y of Korean Litcr.11ure)
(Seoul : Tonghwa munhwa sa, 1987). 3.
2. Samg11k yusa "" m11.11yejilk lwcll 'i humyt'Jng (The Sami:u
k y1a >nd Anolyse< o f Its Litera ry Value), ed. Kim Yot-gyu and Shin
Tong-uk (Seoul : S:iemun sa.
1980}, 111 :53-54.
.l. Peter H. tee. PD!m,'4fro1:n Knrea: A Hi.'Ctoricul Arrtho/tJK,,1'
{Honolulu: UnivCf'Sily rress oflfawa1i. 1974). J<>-n .
4. Pc1cr 11. Lt:..;. Kor''"'' li1c1r11111re : 7;,,,fcs und 'f ltentl'.\'
('fu..::sun: tJnivcrsiry

of 1\ri1onn Press. 19fi5). 2.

l .OVEIJNf.SS OF 1'111; llYANC i(iA

}J

5. Ibid .. 2.
6. Cilc<l in Sarnguk yu.<u wo munyej6k kach , hocmyiing.
ed. Kim Yol-gyu
ond Shin Tong uk. 1:10.
7. rh:u 1hc poem has ~ stirred 1hc i1nagination of its render
s is aucstcd 10
by rhc rnuny twcnricth-ccntury pocnls and s1orics b3s.cd on
it. rhc mosa provocative example is perhaps SO Chong-ju' poem "Noin hi\nhw
a ka" (An Old
Man 's Flo'Acr Dedication Song). \Vhich hos been 1ranslat
cc.J into English both
by David McCann, o f Corne ll University, an<l by Urother
Anthony, ofSOgang
Univenily in Seoul.
8. H\;arant; knight s were young n1en from eli1c Shilla fnmilic
s v.ho. after
long tntining periods, bccurnc military and aniscic leader
s of the 11acion .
9. My Englis h translation of this passage i based on the revised
edition of
Yi Pyung-dos Korean trttnsl:uion of the Sa1nguk .vrt.
'ill (Seoul : Kwnngjo sa,
1979), 256- 57. The translation o f the poc1n itself is by Peter
H. Lee: this latc<t
version is qUOtcJ by permis.<ioo of 1he translatoc. Then: is
some dcbacc as to
ho\Y the senten
ce .. He ~ang 1nd danced this song and wi1hdrc\\,.. should
be
read. Is it ( 'h'Oyo ng 'A'ho 'vi1hdrev._ or did he succeed
in n1aking the evil spirit

withdraw'! On<:'s reading of lhis pa!l<agc would depend. I

think. on how one
interprets the entire cpiso"lc gi\cn in the Sum1;uk,\ 'J1,fu,

10. Yi Yongh<hn, "('h'oyong s<Uh\\'il Qi ii koch':.I''

(/\ ('onsideration of
the ( 'h'oyong), Kr111gmru1h11k 111111111u11sif11 (Sclccccd Essays
on Korc;in Literatun:)(~ul: Miniung s<>gw-JO. 1977). t:31 4-19.
11. ltyOn Yong-jun. ~fusuk sJilnltua H'U 1111111hi i11 shi11J11
vu {Sha1nan t\.1yths
an<l Recorded My1hs}. (Seoul: Chimmundang. 199 1), 371)-4
19.
12. Cho T011g-il. Hun1111k m1mlwk 10.1i:r a. 2nd ed. (Seoul
: Chishi k sanop

"'' 1989), 1:214.

13. HyUn. ;lvfusok sltinlina h'a n1111rJ11'h1 shinh\'"'- 3
79-4 19. rhis pan of
Professor ll)'Un s reading is espcc1olly helpful in explaining
the maskc<l-<la" "
version of 1hc ('h'Oyong stor)' th<H appcari:: l;ucr in KoryO
and Chos() n coun

1nosic.

t 4. Cbo Tong-ii. Ha111111k 1111ml1uk 1'ooxso. 1:215.

15. Tral\~ . Pc1cr H. Lee in Anthology c~f Korean l lterau1rr.
19.
16. Sec Rich:ird Ruu 's comn1 c1us on 1hc hyan g~n in
hi~ fascina1 in~ essay
on the IUl'Ura11g. "flow er Boys or Shilla." Tran..tur1io1Lt
: Kf)Yt-11 Bront'h of tltt
lloyul Asio1i<' S<>ei<'fV, 3~ ( 191.1 }: esp. 51 52.

4
Notes on the Samguk sagi and Sa111guk yusa
Two of the oldest and most important works containing Korean
hanmun prose literature are the Samguk sagi (History of the
Three Kingdoms) and Samguk yusa (Memorabilia of the Three
Kingdoms). T he first is an official history of the Three Kingdoms
in annalistic form compiled in 1145 by Kim Pu-shik (10751151 ). The second, as the title implies, is an unofticial chronicle
of historical occurrences, myths, legends, and folklore compiled
in 1281 by the Son (Zen) priest lryon (1206- 1289). The Samguk
yusa has long been valued far more than the S11111g11k sagi by
Korean scholars of literature. For while the Samguk sagi concerns itself mostly with dynastic histories and biographies of
kings and other persons of historical importance, the Samguk
yusa is a repository of the earliest Korean legends, folklore, and
myths. most notably the Tangun myth as well as the other foundation myths of the Korean people, all recorded for the first time
in this volume. One could easily devote a lifetime of study to
these two early histories. What follows arc some brief observa1ions based on my initial readings of them.
While the two works are very different, they do have some
similarities. Roth are histories of the Three Kingdoms by Koryo
men of learning who believed the Kory(> dynasty to be the inhcril o r of the Shilla. rather than Koguryo, tradition. This is why in
content as well as in sympathy both histories appear heavily
we ighted in favor of the Shi Ila. For example, not only does the
Samguk sagi begin with the founding of the Shilla kingdom.
J9

/'Ill~'

claiming Shilla to be the most ancient of Ko rea's Three Kingdoms:

it a lso includes more Shi Ila lives in its ytY/c/1011 (biographical) section than any other. Of the eighty-six lives. Iifly-six are from Shilla.
ten from Kngury6. and only three fro m Packche .1 Th e prepondera nce o f the Shilla material is even greater in the Samguk y11.,a.
since most of its Buddhist legends and folklore derive from the
Shilla period and Shilla sources. (An obvious reason for this
pre pondcrn ncc is the grea t disparity umong the docume ntary resoun.:es surviving at the time the two his1ories were written . Documents for Sh illa we re much more plentifu l; the his1orica l
record s for Koguryo and Packche had mostly been destroyed in
the fall of those kingdoms.)
Another similarity is that both histories appear to ha\lc many
sources in common. particularly the now lost Ku Samg11k so (Old
History o f the Three Kingdoms) along with other Korean and Chinese histories. Besides, it is evident tha t lryon, compile r of the
Sa111g11k y11.w1. drew on the Samguk sagi. especially for comparison
and conuost, as he compiled his own history.
Cons ide r. for example. the acco ums of the fall of King Uija.
the last king of Packchc. given by the two histories. Both accounts
emphasize the moral decline and misrule of King Oija. who had
been exemplary as son and crown prince. Both detai l the same
omens o f the impending doom of the Paekche kingdom : a
Cassandra-like ghost that appears in the royal palace and cries
out, "Pac ke hc will fall' ..; a white lox tha t sits in the s pot reserved
for one o f the ministers; a chicken tha t copulates with a s parrow:
a tortoise whose back bears an inscription say ing that Paekche is
like the full moon-and therefore about to wane- while Sh illa is
like the new moo n; and finally King Oija 's execution of the
shaman for h is honest but unwelcome reading of the inscription.
an act c learly showing that the king, self-indulgent in his delusion, is unable to con front the tmth . The similarities in this account suggest that both the Sa111g11k sagi and Samguk yu.m not
only relied on a common source but a lso s hared a pro-Shilla b ias,
since both histories attribute the fall o f Paekc he principally to the
moral failure of its last king while downplaying external pres-

SAf\iGUK SACil AiV I) Sl\1\.1CiUK YUSA

J/

s urcs brought o n by the united mi litary power of T'ang China and

Shi Ila.
But the differe nces between the two histories are even greater
and more significant. Because Kim Pu-shik, principal compiler2
of the Samg11k .rngi. was a Confucian scho lar-statesman while
lryon was a Son Buddhist priest. tl1ey looked i11 history very
differently. Whereas Kim Pushik was a Sinophilc and a rationalist. lryo n, a devoted 13uddhist and a fervent nationalist, had a
more religious and mythopoeic approach to history. T he two men
appear also to have differed markedly in their understanding of
Ko rea's relation to China. Kim Pu-shik's was a S ino-centric
world view intellectually. morally. and culturally, lryon's a Buddhist and Korca-centcrcd world view.
T hese were significant differences. From a Buddhist's point of
v iew, unlike a Confucianist's, both China and Korea be lo nged to
the larger Buddhist world and hence were more or less equal
members of the wo rldwide Buddhist community. Furchcrmorc.
because lryon lived at a time when Korea 's very cxistcnc.e was
imperiled by Mongol invasions, he felt a deep need to assert
Korea's cultural independence and worthiness. Hence his lifelong
e ffort to rediscover and promote all that was Korean. and his
decision to put the founding of the earliest Korean kingdoms on
an equal footing with that of the Chinese kingdoms. Perhaps this
was also his reason fo r beginning the Samguk yuso with the Tangun myth- the foundation myth of Korea- which had been left
out of the Sa111g11k sogi.
lryi:in's inclusion of the Tangun myth in the Samguk yusu
forms an implicit chal lenge to Kim Pu-s hik 's exclusion of it in
the Sa111g11k .mgi. lryon includes no t only the Tangun myth but
also the various other native myths and legends. and in particular
the Buddhist legends and tales left out of the Samguk .mgi altogether. He even sought out local legends and tales by making
on-site visits and investigations.> His inclusion of native myths
and legends therefore posed a nationalistic and Son Buddhist
challenge to Kim Pu-shik 's Sino-centric and Confucian-rationalist view of history.

~1

C'I A .t.~I< 'A l Kl JHl-:rt 1\ l 11'RATll HI:."

An ess.: ntial pan of lryo n's natio nali sm

was his bel ief 1hat
Koren, too. was a Buddhis t holy land . rhc sacr
ed ground of many or
the Bud dha' s earlier incarnations. From this
convicrio n had natu rally follo wed his beli ef that Korea was one
of the Buddha- land s
whe re many bodhisaltvas and miracles wou
ld appear, as fore 1old in
Buddh is1 lege nds and folkl ore. For lry<Sn. earl
y Korean myths such
as the Tan gun foundatio n myth were therefor
e no less real than this
won drous Hud dh ist lore . In hi s pre face
to the secr ion on the
"srra nge and wondrous,- whic h begins the
narrative part of the
Samg11k yusa, lryon expl ains the strange and
wonderous occurrences that accompanied the founding of the
Korean natio n:
The rise of emperors and kings, accompanied by
heavenly signs, is
di ffere nt from that of ordin ary men... . Thus
, there is nothing
Slrange about the founders of the Three Kingdom
s having been born
in a supernalurn I 1nunncr. Such ls the 1ncaning
of the strange ntystcr
ics set forth at the start of these char ters. '
For, as Iry<Sn points o ut in the snm e passage,
hadn ' t the founding
emperors of Chin a had supcmatur.1! birrh
s'! If one believed this.
then why noi believe the sam e for the foun
ders of the Kog uryo,
Paekche, and Shilla kingdoms'>This was reas
on enough for Iryon to
believe that the founder of the Kor ean natio
n was just as god like as
the founders ol' the Chinese king dom s. In
fact, he !races Tan gun ' s
lineage directly to heav en, thus making him
a son of Heaven.6
We can perhaps bett er sec the diffe renc es in
focus and emp hasis
between the S11mguk .<agi and S11mguk yusa
by exam ining how they
deal with n com mon subj ect For exam ple.
Kim Yu-s hin is clea rly
1hc most exemplary patriot-warrior-sta tesm
an of Shi lla for both
Kim Pu-s hik and lryon. Yet his life is dea lt
with very differently in
the two hisrorics . Not only does the y1Ylchr'f11
(biographica l) sect ion
of the Sa111g11k sagi begin with the life of
Kim Yu-shin, it also
devo tes the mos t spac e to him - an extr aord
inar y amount of space ,
in fact, com pare d with that aIIocated to the
othe r lives . Whereas a
single chap ler of the yt'Jlcho11 typicaIIy inclu
des from two to half a
doze n lives. three who le chap ters arc devo
ted to the life of Kim

rm: SAMGIJK SAGI

A.VO SAMGUK YUSA

J.1

Yu-shin, although thes e chapters also inclu

de details abour his
sons and grandson s.
What makes these chapters so extr aordinar
y are the vividly
re-c reated eris odcs of Kim Yu-s hin 's long
Ii fo, during which he
was calle d upon so ofte n 10 lead the Shilla
nation in times of
extreme crisi s. In one striking vignette, for exam
ple. Kim returns
to 1he capi lal from two consecutive military
expedirions to repe l
1he enemy, bu t even before he can return hom
e he is orde red once
again to marc h o ut 10 battle. As he and his
troops pass by his
residence the mem bers of his hous ehol d are
lined u1> in from of
the gate 10 welcome him . But he marches on
withoul a backward
glance. Fifty steps later he stops and sends
a man to fotch water
from his house. "'Th e water at my hous e taste
s rhc same as bcfore,"7 he is reporrcd to have said before
marching on lo the
western front.
In rcnecting Kim 's scin ess devo tion 10 the caus
e of his nation,
the biography show s him to be a sple ndid warr
ior-statesman and
a wise and shrewd humun being. It is a mul
tidimensional portrait
of a clearly extraord inary man. But above all
else the portrait sets
up Kim as a model of dedi cation to the Shil
la nalion, warriorstatesman for all to emulate. cspe ciaIIy for
the strife-tom Kory il
aristocrats of Kim Jlu-s hik's own time .
By comparison the s~cti on on Kim Yu-shin
in the Sa111g11k
yusa is brie f, cons isting mostly of an accounr
of hi s resc ue by
three local guardian spirits of the Shill a eoun
rrys ide from a Imp
set by a Kog uryo agent. It is probable , as mos
t Korean scholars
have conj ectured, thal Iryo n included in his
account only wha t
had been le ft out of the Sa111g11k .rngi account.
But that couldn ' t
be the whole stor y. lrylS n must have chosen
thi s specific anecdote
not so muc h for its wondrousn~ss as for
its efle ctiv enes s in
illustra1ing both halves of an important them
e enunc iated in the
Samguk yu.rn : not only was Shilla protected by
the godJ, but
Koguryo, on the contrnry- as was Paekche
und er King Uija was doomed to destruction by the moral failu
re or its king and
queen . The rescue of Kim Yu-shin thro ugh
the intercess ion of
Sh iIla 's three local gu.~rdian spirits iIIustratc
s the first hal f of this

J4

1'/lf: SAMGUK S1\GI ANIJ SMWUK YUSI\

C'lAS.\'ff'A/ , A.'{JHJ:'AN l./Tt:Htf'r/./llH

theme. On the other hand, !he part ol' 1hc account that deals with the
Kogury0 shaman Ch 'unam, who is put 10 death for revealing unnal
uml sexual bchavior between the Koguryo king and queen. seems 10
illustmlC the Other half of lhe Iheme, lhal is, the incvirnbilily of
Kogu rylS's foll because of lhe mora l degeneration of its leaders.
According to the Samguk yusa, just before C h ' unam was pul lo
death he s wore he would be re born a s a Shilla general in o rde r 10
destroy Koguryo. And in a dream lhal very night the Koguryl\ king
saw lhe unjustly executed shaman e nler the body of Kim Yu -shin 's
mother.8
Both the Samguk sagi and lhc Samguk yusa include lives. legends, a nd stories that defy categorizatio n as either history or literature. Some seem more literature than history. Bui howewr we
regard them they are significant because !hey deal in one way o r
ano1her with lifo 's central questions. such as the nature of justice.
love, loya lly, responsibility. true wisd()m, and so on. If the re is one
essential difference, however. between lhc lives, legends. and s to
rics of the Samg11k sagi and those of' the S11111g11k yu.rn, ii is in the
degree o f mora l and religious bias. The accounts in the Sa111g11k
yusa have clear-cul mo ral and religious-that is, Buddhist
themes. O n the other hand. the Samg11k .mgi accounts are clearly
not religious. a nd while many of !hem lrnvc a didac1ic ring, it is no1
always c lear w hat their message is. T his may be in part because the
Samgllk .rngi must keep faith nol only with lhe moral vis ion of its
compilers hut also wilh their sense of lideli1y to historical truth. As
one scholar has put it, we enter a world of myths and legends in Lhc
Samg uk yusa, but in the Sa111g11k sagi we e nler a world of his1ory.Q
Although most of the lives. legends, and stories in !he Samguk
sugi ar~ found in the y11lcho11 section. a few of !hem appear in the
annals section. Although they are supposedly historical accounts,
some seem woven as much out o f imagination as out of historical
fac1s. The best known of these accounts is perhaps the tragic s tory
of Princess Nangnang (in Chinese, Princess Lo-tang ) of the
Nangnang colony and Prince Hodong of Koguryo. The brief' passage in lht: annals section reads as follows:

55

Jn Apri l when l'rincc Hodong was travcling in 1hc Okcho area,

Ch oc I. governor of Nangnang Colony. saw him while on one of
his ou1ings.
"Judging by )'our focc, you're not an ordinary person. Arc you
by any chance the son of King Shin of the Norlhcrn Kingdom'?"
And the governor IO(>k him home and gave him his daughter in
1narriagc.

Some lime al1erwurds Hodong rcrumcd to his own country and

lhrough a sccrc1 messenger senl word lo <.iovcrno1 Ch'oc's
daughlcr: "Unless you enter lhc armory of your counlry and destroy 1hc drum and horn [musical ins1rumcnts of lhc military]. I
will not receive you as my wife."
This was lx.-causc lhc mysterious drum-and-hom SCI in Nangnang Colony sounded by itself at lhc approach of enemy soldiers.
The governor's daugh1cr, entering the annory wi1h a sharpened
knife, destroyed both 1hc drum and horn. and sent word 10
Hodong. Hodong advised lhc king 10 launch a s udden anack on
Nangnang Colony. Ch' oc I, 1hc governor, was caught comJ>lc1ely
by surprise beemisc lhe drum and horn had not sounded. Only
when the Koguryii forces suddenly appeared al the foot of the
fortress did he realize lhc dnim and horn had been destroyed. So,
after pulling his daughter to dcalh, he came out and surrendered.
In November Prince Hodong commincd suicide. Hodong was
1hc king's secondary conson, 1h.a1 is, born of1hc granddaughter of
King Kalsa. Hodoni; was handsome and much loved by 1hc king.
Thai was why he was called Hodong [literally. "handsome lad").
The queen. fearing 1hc king migh1 make Hodong his heir instead
of her own son. folsely accused Hodong: "Hodong docs not !real
me with courtesy, and I fear he probably intends to violate me."
TI1c king replied, " Isn't ii that you hate him because he is born
of my other wife'!"
The queen, fearing calamitous consequences since the king did
not believe her words, said to him weeping. "I request that your
highness observe us in secrecy. and if my words should prove
baseless, I'll gladly acccp1 punishment." Al this the king could
not help but suspect Hodong, and he planned to punish him.
A certain person asked Hodong why he did no1 vindicate him
self. The prince replied, "If I should vindicate myself, it would

1'1/E S/\f\1GUK SAGI A1\11J

Jn

( 1.ASSl("AI A'ORF:tl1\'

SA~t GU K VUSA

57

t.ll'l~'HATtilO,'

cold manipulation and loses everythi ng for nothing. Interestingly.

the S(lJ11g11k sagi account balances the tragic story of Princess
Nangnang with the tragedy that ovcnakcs Prince Hodong. In the
first half of the account Hodong, victorious in Jove and war,
appears 1n gain the upper hand in the succession slrnggle. But ii
Whal is !he meaning ofihis story, which seems based as much on is precisely
his successes thal seem lo sow the seeds of his own
poetic imagination as on historical facts? For example. according to destruction.
for they mobilize his rivals to bring him down . I! is
Yi Pyong-do, respected historian and a translator or the Samguk this juxtaposi tion of his
in itial success with his subsequent fall
sagi. Ch"oc I docs not appear in any or the Chinese historical re- that seems
to bring into focus the question about the meaning of
cords.11 What, moreover. do we make or !he drum and bugle that !his
stol)'. On 1he surface the story appears to be part of the
supposedly had the magical power of forewarning the approach of chronology of events
during the reign of King Tacmushin or
an enemy? Do they represent supernat11ral powers 1>rovided by the Koguryo (A.U. 18-44).
a story of how the Koguryo forces vanguardian spirits of Nangnang Colony? And why do Ihey have 10 he quished Nangnang Colony
and how in jockeying for power
destroyed by none other than the governor's virgi n daughter, who Prince
Hodong wos undermined by hi s own successes.
falls in love with a handsome prince from a neighbori ng but host ile
Although the Sm11g11k sagi account does not explicitly connect
nation? The story seems richly suggestive but its message is not Princess Nangnang's tragedy
to Prince Hodong's, the connection
entirely clear.
seems to be suggested in the series of events that lead 10 his
Obviously. Prince Hodong is clever but also brutally manipula- suicide. True, there is no suggestion in !he account
that the queen
tive. Born of a secondary conson- like Edmund in King lear h<.: is anything like a moral agent of Heaventhe "scourge of
has to be more clever and scheming in order Lo have a chance al !he God"'-aveng ing the wrongs done to Princess Nangnang
by
succession. At firs! he is successful but in the end he is outsmaned Prince Ho<long. But most of us as we read this story are moved to
by the queen . What is puu.ling is that he should resign himself feel, as Cho Tong-ii has suggested, 1ha1 '"while Ho<long's death is
meekly to the queen's stratagem: ii seems out of character for one sad and regretful in one sense, by the same token ii is appropriate
who had so cruelly exploited Princess Nangnang's Jove-born weak- in another sense. Princess Nangnang must bear responsibility for
ness. Wouldn't such a man have fought back and tried to outmaneu- her own tragedy. and the same is !rue of Hodong and his tragedy.
ver lh<.: <1ucen? For I lodong is a person who would have had to be While we pity Princess Nangnang 's error. Hodong's deserves our
driven 10 suicide by superior force, and not by a sense of filial condemnation.'"12
obl igation to his father, and especially no! in deference to a queen
As I have mentioned, however. the Samguk sagi account docs
who is not his mother.
not make a clear moral connection between the two tragedies.
Doesn' t !he stOI)' seem to raise moral questions 1ha1 transcend One could very well argue !hat the story is simply a factual
pol itical and military success or failure, questions that go lo the accoum of the Lriumph of the clever. strong, and unscn1pulous
heart of human relationships? Prince Hodong succeeds by taking over the naive and weak. The queen snc.rifices Hodong for her
advantage of Princess Nangnang's love for him 10 advance his pros- own ends jusl as Hodong sacrificed Princess Nangnang for his.
pects for success ion to the Koguryo throne and make up for being There seems 10 be neither a triumph of good over evil nor a clear
the son of a secondary conson. Princess Nangnang, on the contrary, moral theme, but only a sort of grim historical reality where
had failed utterly in her love and duty to her father as well as her evcms arc played oul to !heir inexorable end. Although Kim P11nation. A fool ish woman, she falls easy prey 10 Prince Hodong's
then expose the queen's evil, thus adding to the king's many cares.
How could that be consistent with a son's filial duty'" And soon
aOcrwards he killed himself by falling on his own sword . 10

j,I

l'l.ASSll"AI. IW/lf:AN

u n :11,nw11;

shik is unhappy enough with the bc ha vior o r the Koguryo king and
Prince Hodong to append his own criticism to the historical :iccount, the narrative itself seems to ackJ1owlcdge the helplessness of
men and women caught in the amoral procession of histo1y. Perhaps it is this helplessness lhi1t invests the accoum of P1inccss
Nangnang and Prince Hodong with a sense of the tragedy of li fe.
'!lie y<YlchiJn section of the Samguk sagi gives an even stronger
sense of this inexorableness of human history. For example, even in
the lire of the splendidly triumphant Kim Yu-shin we find a strangel y
disturbing episode about bis second son. Won-sul. Toward the end or
Kim Yu-s hin's glorious career Won-sul is involved in a losing battle
against the T'ang forCl'S and returns home alive but in dishonor. The
account makes it clear that it was through no fouh of his own that
Won-sul had failed lo die in defeat he had been prevented from doing
so by his attendant so that he might vindicate himself on another day.
Nevenbelcss. Kim Yu-shin advises the king that Won-sul should be
beheaded since he has disgraced not only the nation but also his own
family. Understandably. the king pardons him instead. But Won-sul's
own parents are unable 10 forgive him and they disown him irrevocably. Eve n after his father's death Won-s ul' s mother refuses to sec
him. Vindication finally comes years later when Won-sul di stinguishes himself in another banlc, but still his mother refuses to sec
hin1. Because of the shame he has brought on his parents, Won-sul
withdraws pcnnancntly lrum public lifo.
Though this episode seems oddly out of place in the biography of
the hero ic Kim Yu-shin . it is understandabl e in a way. For Kim
Yu-shin is presented throug hout his long life as an utterly selness
patriot and public servant: his public life does not exist except in
the service o f !he nationa l good . Besides, the code of the warrior
stipulated that one should never retreat in battle, and Won-sul, son
of !he nation's most celebrated warrior-states man, would have understood this as well as anyone in Shilla. Thus , it is perfectly unders tandable that Kim Yu-shin s hould have disowned him.
At the same time, wha t comes through so poignantly in this
episode is the private side of !he family story: an instance of failure

nmidst heroic accomplishme nts. an instance of tragedy amidst the

unmatched triumphs of Kim Yu-shin and his fam ily, an instance
that casts a shadow over Won-sul and also Kim Yu-shin and his
wifo. Did Kim 's unmatched fame and honor make it impossible
for him and his wife to display the ir personal and human side as
parents'! Was that the price of great public achievements ? Or is
the Samguk sagi simply being true to history in this case? Whatever the message. the Won-sul episode seems to point to the
inevitability of tragedy even in the m idst of great triumphs. As
defeat is the other side of victory, so is tragedy the nip side of
success. Such seems to be the grim but hisrnrical realism of the
Samguk .rngi. whic h is one of the sig nificant differences between
it and the Samguk yusa.
O ne more example from the y<Yld11f11 shou ld sufJice to make
the point. In a brief section o n the life of Chukjuk. we encoumcr
11nother episode that seems to reveal a darker side to the official
nccoun t. Chukjuk is a low-ranking staff officer posted to
Taeyasong (present-day Hapch' on. Kyongsang Province), a
major Shi Ila fortress. T here he serves under Kim P' um-sok , commandant of the fortress and son-in -lnw of Kim Ch ' un -ch'u (who
later beco mes King Muyol, the twe nty-ninth king of Shilla).
P'um-s0k is thus a wellbom and well-connecte d member of the
Shilla aristocracy. In 642 when the fonress is under siege by the
Packche general Yunch' ung. P'um-silk decides to surre nder without a fight despite a s trong protest by Chukjuk. When the ga le is
opened and the Shilla soldiers go out to surrender. they a rc ambushed and massacred. lnfonned o r what has occurred, P'um-sok
puts his wife and chi ldren to death. then kills himself. Chukjuk,
gathering w hat is left of the Shi Ila defenders. decides to fight to
the death. Told by one of his comrades that it would be better to
save themselves for another day, he replies: "I admit the justice
of your words. Hut my father named me Chukjuk (the name
consists of a doubling of the Chinese character signifying bamboo) in order lo make me unbending even in the depth of cold
winter as well as unyielding even when badly bent. How could I,

Tiit: SAMvUK SA( H ANIJ 5,\MGUK YUSA

fearing death, surrender in order to live'!" 1l Chukjuk a nd the o thers

all perish fighting to the end.
If we assume that this episode is mainly about C hukj uk- it is
after all named af'tcr hin~its theme seems to be the patriotism and
valor o f Chukjuk, who is posthumously promoted and whose wif"
and children are handsom ely rewarded by the grateful king. It is
this low-rank ing official of exemplary courage and devotio n who is
glorified, rathe r tha n the wellbom and well-connected commandan t
A splendid story, indeed. But is that what this episode is really
about? Closer examinat ion of a few details indicates that the focus
is actually on P'um-sok rather than Chukjuk. For o ne thing, th~
d eath of P'um -sok and his wife. daughter of the future king o f'
Shilla. seems to have bee n a notable evenl. It is mentione d three
more times in the SlJmguk sagt -twice in the le ngthy biography of'
Kim Yu-shin and once in the annals section o n King Muyol in connection with Po mmin. the crown prince; in all 1hrcc inslances it is
treated as an even I o f great importance.
In the first instance we are to ld tha1 Kim Ch'un-ch 'u. the future
king. heartsick at 1he death of his daughter. undertake s a dangerou s
missinn 10 Koguryo to seek that kingdom 's help against Packchc. In
the second, we learn that after a g reat victory against Packche. Kim
Yu-shin exchange s eight captured Paekche genera ls for the hones of
P'um-s6k a nd his wife. And in the third instance we arc to ld tha1
when l)aekchc is defeated by the combined forc.e s of T'ang and
Shilla, Crown Prince Pommin spits on the prostrate Paekche crown
prince, cursing him for the Pae kchc king 's responsibi lity for the
death of Pommin 's own sister (P'um-s6 k's wife) some twe nty years
earlier. It is clear from these reference s that the death of P'um-s0k
and his wife at Tacyason g was a bitter and painfial memory for the
Shilla court, and especially King Muyol. the crown prince, and Kim
Yu-shin .
Now let us return to the Chukjuk section of the yolchon and
examine the few key details concerning P'um-sok, his character.
and his behavior as command ant of the fortress. We arc told of an
important incident that occurred before the Paekchc forces attacked
the fortress in 64 2:

61

P'um-sok, noticing the beauty of 1hc wife of one Kihn-ii. a lowranking oflicial a1 1hc for1rcss, had taken her awny l from her
husband). Kiirn-il, biller and angry . collaboro1ed with the enemy
and torched the slorchousc at the lime /of the Packchc anack).
pulling 1hc fonress into confusion and 1hus making it cxlrcmely
difficuh 10 defend it sccurcly.14
The Samguk sagi is silent on any effort P'um-sok might have
made to rally the defenders against the attack. It merely says that
P'um-s0k , following the advice of a !,'llllible subordina te, decided
to surrender to the Paekchc forces.
Don't these details seem to reveal not only that P'um-sok was
incompetent a nd cowardly. a nd therefore totally un lit for the high
post entrusted to him. but. more seriously. that he was immoral
nnd unjust to his subordina tes? h was l''um-so k' s immorality
coupled with his incompete nce and cowardice that brought about
the fall of the Shilla fortress. How was ii that a person of such
failings was placed in a post of critical importance? The vold1011
is silent o n this.

Reexamining the story in this light suggests 1hat the rea l focus
o f this yolchif11 sec1ion is P'um-sok 's fai lings rathe r than Chukjuk's va lor and patriotism. Oocsn't the failure of a well-born and
well-conn ected Shi Ila aristocrat loom much lare:er than the exemplary conduct of Chukjuk. the purported them~ of this episode?
Jn other words, isn't the real theme of this episode the moral
weakness and insiitutional wrongdoing at the top of Shilla society, fai lings that undermined 1he luyalty of a low-ranking omcia I'? Thus there seems to be a gap between the purported and the
real themes of the Chukjuk e pisode. The heartening story of patriotism and va lor is overshadowed by a darker story of a buse of
power and betraya l, a story tha t reveals a more complex and
pe rhaps more human underside of history. As Cho Tong-it has
pointed out. there appears to be two sides to some of the Jives in
the ylflcho11. the outer, public side and an inner privale sidc.1>
The Chukjuk episode wou ld thus seem to be anothe r illustmtion of the grim, complex realism of the &1mg11k .mgi. whose

61

('/.AS.V/CAI. KOlll:'AN /,/'/'l:'H,11'UNI:

stories arc invested wi th a sense of the tragedy of lifo. /\nd for a

history supposedly mode led on Sima Qian 's great Shi Ji (Book of
Historical Records), this is not surprising at all. since the Shi Ji is
suffused from the very beginning of its biographical section with a
profound sense of the inscrutability of the ways of Heaven. I find
this aspect of the Samg11k sagi-this sense of the tragedy of life
especially significant, because it is largely absent in the legend s and
s tories of the Samguk ymC1.
Kim Pu-shik and lryi:\n, comp ilers, respecti vely, of the Sa111g11k
sagi and S11111g11k yusa. li\cd in times of stark conrras t in tenns of
Korea 's relations with its neighbors. Kim lived duri ng the ti r:st half
of the Koryo dynasty. lryon during the waning years of the dynasty.
More important , whereas Kim lived during a time when Korea was
independent of its northern neighbors. lryon lived most M his adult
life during the years of the Mongol domination. For over half a
century, from the year 1231 , when he was twenty-live. lryon witnessed the unspeakable depredat ions of the Mongol forces in
Korea. In the year 1253 alone an untold number of Koreans were
killed by the invading Mongol army and an estimated 206.800 more
were taken away as prisoners. According to a contemporary ac count, "the fields were covered with the bones of the dead: the dead
were so many that they could not be counted": wherever the
Mongol anny lrnd passed, "the inhabitants were all burned out, so
that not even dogs and chickens remained." 10 Even af'lcr Korea
l'onnally cap itul ated, not only w';re commodities such as horses,
clothing, skins, gold, silver, and precious stones plundered, but hundreds of young men and women had to be sent off to the Mongol
court as tribute. During the years 1274 and 1279, 1,200 warships
had to be built and equipped by Koreans for the unsuccessful
Mongol expeditions against Japan.17 And not on ly were KorylS's
crown princes obligated to marry Mongol princesses, they had to
wear their hair in the Mongol style. Koreans were even forbidden to
wear their customary white clothes. ts
No wonder lryon devoted himself to preserving the cultural and
spirinml heritage of hi s native land. Having witnessed his people
enduring extreme humiliation and suffering. Iryi:\n became deeply

1'111:' SM1C;UK SAGI ANll SAMGUK YUSA

~.I

devoted not only to Buddhism but also to a kind of Korean nationalism. This dual devotion is perhaps most clearly revealed in
his effort.~ to preserve in the S1Jmx11k yusa all the tales and legends that seemed to him culturally and historically indigenous to
Korea as well as those that seemed to represent the best of Buddhist teaching.
It is in th is light that we must sec lryons inclusion of the
hyangga in the Samguk y11sa- thc oldest surviving indigenous
poetry- which the other chroniclers had ignored. In incorporating hyangga rccordctl in hyangc h"al. he wem as far as he could at
the time to preserve what was Korean in the closest thing to a
Korean writing system. Nor did he hesitate to write hanmun that
seemed more Korean in syntax and diction than classical Chinese, in an attempt lo lessen the gap between the spoken and
writlcn langm1gcs in Kore3.
Perhaps the clearest example of lryon's nationalism is his inclusion in the Samg11k y11sa of not o nly the Tangun myth but also
the foundation myths of the Three Kingdoms. the various legends
and tales related to Shilla's unification of the Three Kingdoms.
and the legends concerning remarkable place names, temples.
monks, and cul ts. As a result, much of what had existed until
Iryon 's time as part of the oml tradition was written down for the
first time. T herefore, despite its Buddhist slant, the Samg11k y rmt
is the main repository of the oldest surv iving Korean myths, legends. fables, tales, and poetry.
T he most significant of the foundation myths is. of course, the
Tangun myth, perhaps the oldest of the various foundation myths
about the establishment of prehistoric Korea (Ko Choson). The
essentials of the myth arc as follows: Hwanung, a son ofllwanin,
with the blessings of his heavenly father and accompanied by
three thousand followers, descends to T'aebaek Mountain to rule
over the people. There in a cave he meets a tiger and a bear, both
of whom desire to become human. They arc told by Hwanung
that if they subsist on mugwort and garlic and avoid the sun light
for one hundred days they will be transformed into human beings . The tiger fail s in this ordeal but the bear is successful. After

h.J

( '/.ASSU "ll/ Ai JI</'.' tA'

J.J'rJ:RATlJRI~

twenty-.:>nc days she becomes a woman. Subsequently she is married to Hwanung and out of their union is born Tangun Wanggom.
the mythic founder of the pn:historic Korean state. q
What docs this myth mean? h is generally agreed that Hwanung.
who descends from heaven with his followers. likely represents the
leader uf a group of recent arrivals on the Korean peninsula. probably a northern people whose superio rity in warfare and technology
allowed them to impose their rnle on the native people. The bear
was presumably the totem of the nat ive people and mig ht a lso represent the eanh goddess of the place they occupied . The timeless
pa!lern of human history played out between the immigrant and
nati,,e peoples--encount er and struggle ending in some sort of mutual awommodation- is mirrored in most foundation myths. Since
Koreans arc pan of the large group of East Asian peoples whose
tote m is the bear, it is not difficult 10 unde rstand why it is the benr
rather than the tiger that passes the o rdeal and is mmsformecl into a
woman. The marriage between l-lwanung and the bear-woman thus
represents accom modation between the new arrivals and the native
people: a uninn between the native earth goddess and the patron
god of the immigrant people. As the scion of Hwanung and the
bear-woman, Tangun Wanggom. the my1hic founder of prehistoric
Korea. is properly invested with legitimacy as n 1ler, since he represents both the new arrivals and the native people. The myth also
seems to suggest that a period or hard stn1ggl~represcntcd by the
bear-woman's twenty-one days of ordeal in the sunless cave -was
necessa ry before the native people could ama lgamate with the new
arrivals.lfJ
Among the foundation myths the next in s ign ificance and age is
probably that of Koguryo.2 1 In this myth Hacmosu, like Hwanung.
is a son of God who descends to earth. Aflcr besting the River God
in a hard-fought test of magic, he marries the River G od's daughter.
Yuhwa . Rut unl ike Hwaaung of the Tangun myth, Haemosu returns
to heaven alone. lea ving his wife to suffor many ordeals on earth.
Yuhwa gives birth to an egg out of which is born Chumong, who
aller many harrowing adve ntures and hardships founds the s tate o f
Koguryo. What is especially intriguing about this foundatio n myth

'1111': S;\~I GlJ K S.\til 1tA'JJ S1'f\1CiU K YUSI\

65

is that the hero is born of an egg,22 that the egg is abandoned for a
period. and that the hero should undergo a long struggle before he
s ucceeds in founding the new state. Some or all of these details
arc re peated with slight variations in the foundation myths of the
neighboring stalcs of northern China as well as 1hc 01her Korean
s tatcs.n
The foundation myth of Shill a, especially the r a rt dealing with
the bi11h of its founder. Pak Myokkose. seems to differ significa ntly from both the Tangun and Koguryo myths. T he cen tral
passage of the Shillu myth as it appears in the SamJ(11k y usu is as
follows:
When 1hcy lthc >ix chiefs of Chinhan. which became Shillu}
climbed to a hcigh1 iond looked southward lhcy saw an eerie lightning-like emanation by the Na Well under Mount Yang. while
nearby a white horse kneclcd and bowed. When they reached the
spot they found a red egg; the horse neighed 11nd fkw up 10
heaven when it ~uw men approaching. When chc people cracked
the egg open. they discovered within a bcuuciful infant hoy wicb a
radiant visage. Amazed hy their discovery. they bathed the infant
in chc East Spring. then he cmiued light. Birds and bc"sls danced
for joy, heaven and canh shook. and the sun and moon became
bright. They named 1hc child King Hyilkkosc. or Bright, and titled
hi1n kli."i11rhe111. or king.24
According to Cho Tong- ii, the white horse kneeling and neighing probably indicates that Pak Myokkose, the Shi lla founder.
arrived with a horse-mounted people who had ridden into the
Korean peninsula boasting of their descent from heaven and
placed 1hcmsel vcs above the native people. as had earlier imm igrant groups from the nonh. T wo additional features seem 10
set this Shilla myth apart from the other two we have discussed.
First, Pak Hyokkosc undergoes hardly a ny ordeal in establishino
himself as the founder of a new state. Even more intriguing is th~
second feature, the absence ofa father figure like Hwanung in the
Tangun myth or Haemosu in the Chumong myth. Professor C ho.
noting this curious absence, mentions an earth goddess cal led the

fi6

( 1.t1s.\1t A1. A f Jlll:'llA' 1.11'8/IA'fUH.H

Goddess of Fairy Peach Mountain (Somosan so11g1110), who is supposed to have given binh to both Pak Hyokkose and his queen.
Aryong.2 ~ In any event, il may be !hat the absence of the father
fii,'llre is related lo the fuel that Shilla alone of the three kingdoms
had three reign ing c1uccns.
Pe rhaps what d istinguishes the Samguk yus a from the Samguk
sagi even more than these myths. making it so absorbing as literature, are the wo nderfu lly human stories embedded in its Buddhist
tales and legends. lryl\n presents severa l kinds of legends and tales
to illustrate his themes. To this end the most centra l are those in
which hyon seems to challe nge aristocratic Buddhism, the mainstream Budd hism of Shi Ila and Ko ryo, which achieved the sta tus of
a state religion by foc using on the divine protection of the state and
iL~ ruling classes. lryon. on the contrary, following the lead of Great
Master Wonhyo, focuses on the everyday lives of the common
people. He understood that we cannot seek the sacred and tme npart
from everyday things and peo ple. Therefore. contradictory as it
might seem. only by living in this world with the things of this
world can we transcend everyday life and achieve e nlightenment
and salvation. His is thus the lluddhism of !he peop le much more
than that of the state and its leaders.
Thus in these legends and tales we e ncounter the embodiment of
the Buddha o r a boddhisatva more often than not among the most
despised or low ly persons, the meanest of beggars, servants, or the
most ordinary-looking country people or children. The bodhisattva
one has been looking for turns out lo he none othe r than a peasant
woman washing her blood-soaked undergarments or a child monk
with a tom earlobe.21> These stories shock us out of our complacenC)' and help us achieve a way of seeing things that is contrary to
t11e traditional. more widely accepted views of the world. For instance, there is the story o f Ungmyon, a bond-servant who persists
in attending a temple service despite all the obstacles placed in her
way by her mistress. At the end of the story we see her literally
airborne, flying away toward the Buddha land.27
lry(m tells some o f his most suggest ive stories throug h the life

1'11/>.' SA~1Ci U K S1\{jl A.'Vl) SAf\tGUK YUSA

61

and teachings of Great Master Wonhyo. One such story involves

an encounter between Wiinhyo and J-lyekong, a great but eccentric monk. When Hyckong was at Hangsa Monastery. we are
told. W6nhyo would visit him to discuss doctrinal matters or
simply to have some fun together. One day the two go fishing in
a stream and after eating their ca tch they defecate on a rock.
Poiming to the cxcremcm, Hycko ng tells Wonhyo. "Your fish is
my shit. " 28 What do we make o r this peculiar episode? Interestingly enough. the story reminds me of the graveyard scene near
the end of Shakespeare's /11111111!1. when Hamlet comes 10 realize
that even the gl'catcst heroes of antiquity, such as Caesar and Alexander, are finally no more thnn a handful of carlh that goes to plug
up "a bunghole." For like every other crealure on earth they loo
must tum to dust. out of which grow plants that in turn make animal
and human life possible. l11is interconnectedness of all things is of
course what Hamlet is referring to when he tells Claudius the king,
"A ~a may fish with the wom1 that hath eat of a king, and cat o f
the fish that hath fed of that worm" (Hamlet, 4.3.27-28).
Similarly. according to the Buddhist doctrine e\'erything is
connected to everything else in the eternal cycle of nature of
which each one of us is a part both in life and in death. lsn ' t ~is
the meaning of Myekong's "Your fish is my shit"? There is no
difference between " your fish" and "my sh it." for, understood
correctly, eac h is no more than the shape it momentarily assumes
in the ete rnal cycle of narure. To understand this is to understand
the trulh essential to sa lvation .
. Pe rhaps the most memorable of the Buddhist tales and legends
m the Samguk yusa arc those that provide vivid g limpses of the
lives of ordinary people of earlier times, lives exposed to all the
vicissitudes of worldly existence. Let's look at four of these marvclously human stories. The lirst two are especially remarka ble
because of their implied criticism of certa in aspec1.1 of institutional Buddhism.
The incident in the first talc, we are told, occurred during the
rnign of King Shinmun of Shi Ila (68 1-692):

('/.ASS/CAI. KOR/iAN l .17't:RATUll/i

One day Great Master Kyrn1ghung, 011 horseback and ancnde<: by

many followers, was about to enter the royal palace. Since the company looked quite rcsplcnde111 in their c lothing ;ind equipage. the
passersby in from of the East Gate yielded the right or way to them.
A Buddhist monk with a cnne, clad in rags and carrying a basket on
his back, however, was found resting where the l>fastcr was to alight
from his horse. The followers of the Master. finding the monk was
carrying dried fish in the bitskct, scolded him loudly: "You who
wear a monk's clothes. how dare you carry what is forbidden by our
religion'!"
The monk replied, "Isn't it better to carry dried fish from the
market than carry a piece of living mcut between your legs"" So
saying he stood up and lot\. .. .
Master Ky1\nghurig, told of this incident. took it to be a warning
from the Buddha against horseback riding. and he ne,cr rode a horse
again.?9

The second wlc, almost m odern in tone, also warns of the rigor
111ortis to which p rosperous institutio ns. even religious institutio ns.
were susceptih lc . That this story of Ind ian orig in was included in
the Samg11k y us11 shows how appropria te it must have seemed 10
the Korean s itua tion.
Thus reconl<:d in !he foonh book or Otiron (a l:luddhisl sutra\: Long
ago a learned priest traveling among the monasteries arrived at llwnng
Temple, where a great assembly W<IS lllking place. nut because the
priest wris dressed in rag,~. lhc gatekeeper shut the gate 11nd refused to
allow him into the temple. T he priest tried several times to gain
admittance, but he was prevented each time because of his tattered
clothes. So he hit upon the scheme of dressing in nice-looking
c lothes, and this time the gatekeeper did not bar him from entering.
Seated at a table and se1vcd many tasty foods and drink s. he offered
them first to his clothes. People observing him asked why he did so.
He replied. " Even though I tried to enter several times. each time I
was barred. Only when I put on these clothes was I able to enter and
be seated tll this table and receive ,tll this food and drink. So isn't it
right that I offer the food and drink to the c lothes'!"'"

111 SAMGUK SAGI AN/ ) SAM(;UK YUSI\

The third tale is perhaps the most touching and human:

ll wns during the reign of the fonicch king, Acjans [Shilla, ROOX091. when Che monk Chongsu was at Hwanb'llyo ng Temple. Lace
one winter evening when the snow lay deep everywhere, Chiingsu
was returning from Snmnang Monastery and passed by the gate of
Ch 'iinum Monastery. There in front of the gate he saw a bcggnr
woman lying nearly frozen to dcuth with an infont she had ius t
given bi11h to. Taking pity on tl1c woman. he enfolded her in. his
anns. and she revived shonly af'tcrward.
Then he stripped off all his clothes. covered the woman and
infant with them, and retu rned to his monastery totally naked. llc
spent the rest or the night covering himself with l'icc straw. In the
middle of the night a voice from Heaven was heard witl1i11 the
king's palace. ll said the monk Ch<Sngsu of Hwangnyong Temple
should rightly be nprointcd ro)'al mentor. Quickly people were
sent out 10 look into the mattel', and che king was informed of nil
the facts. With appropriate honor and ceremony the king received
Chongsu into the palace and aprointcd him to the post of Great
Mentor of the Nation.lt
The last wlc, popularly known as "C hos hin's Dream," is perhaps the mos t literary o f the Buddhis t stories. Framed as an account of a dream, chc story is supposed to convey the Buddhist
theme that the joys of this world are va in illusions of a nickcring
moment, a mere fleeting dream, and thus not worth pursuing. But
its details nrc so vividly conceive d a nd realized that the story
seems to convey to the reader an affinnatio n rather than a negation of life. C ertainly, Choshin 's is a strenuous . even a tragic life.
but we c~rne away from his story with a vivid sense of having
h ved a life nuhcr than experienc ing illusorine ss or emptines s. A
strenuou s o r tragic li fe is not necessari ly a w orthless li fe .
"Choshin 's Dream," therefore, is a d istillation of human life, a
rich mixture of varied cxp;;rienc es whose meaning cannot be reduced to a simple religious or philosoph ical creed . Herein perhaps lies the e nduring appeal of the story.

Ti ii.' SAMC.UK SAGI AND S;\MCiUK YUSA

During 1hc days of Shilla. a monk named Choshin \Y-JS scnl oul from
his home monas1ery al Sednl Temple in Kyong.ju llhc Shilln capiial I
10 manage an cs1a1c in the coun1rysidc. There he fell hopelessly in
love with the daughter of lhe provincial magis1ratc . For yc:irs he
went in secrecy before 1he image of the bodhisanv a K waniim lo
proslrale himself and beg for assis1ane<: in his love for 1hc magistrate' s daughter. Du1 it all 1un1cd out 10 be in vain. Wi1hin a few
ycnrs the magistrate':; daughter was married o0' 10 another man.
Again C hos hin went before 1he image of the bodhisall va
Kwanum. this time 10 complain binerly and sorrowful ly of his unrcqui1cd love. I le was still crying as the sun set. and. cxhaus1cd by his
sorrow and lo nging. he dozed off for a brief momenl. Suddenly in
his dream he saw 1he magis1rn1c's daughter walk in 1hrough lhe
door. Smiling at him lovingly she said. 'Tve loved you secrelly ever
since I lir.;t :;uw your face, and never fo r a moment have I forgonen
you. Dut I couldn' t oppose the wishes of my parents and I allowctl
them to marry me <)ff to ano ther man. Hui no w I' ve come 10 spend
my life with you."
Choshin was beside himself with happiness. They returned home
and lived together for forty years. producing live children between
them. Bui cvcniunlly they were overcome by po,erty. Lacking a
rtace 10 sleep l\r even enoug h food to keep lhemsclvcs alive. they
drifted from place to place. barely su1viving by begging. After they
had lived this way for ten years their clothes were so torn and ragged
they scarcely covered their nakedness . When their eldest son. fifteen
years old. perished suddenly from starvat ion as they were crossing
Maehyon Pass in Myong.ju. 1hey buried him by the roadside. Wi1h
their remaining four children 1hcy drilled o n I ill they came co a small
roadside s1mw hut in Ugok Couniy. By 1his lime Choshin and his
wife were too old. sick. and exhausted to go out begging, >I() they
suf\ived o n the alms brough1 by their ten-year-o ld daughter.
One day. 1hc daughter came home wee1>ing in great dis1rcss and
hoy down in tenrs beside them. She had been binen by a village dog
o n her begging rounds. Choshin and his wife wept in grief. bincrly
lamenting their lot. T hen his wife sat up stmight. wiped away her
1cars and said to Choshin. "When I first met you we were young
and i1andsome and had 11lcn1y of nice clean clothes. Our lo\'C for
each other was such that it was enough to have one bowl o f rice and

71

o ne piece of clo1h to shnrc between us. Thus we lived in happiness for fifiy years. Dut no w that we arc old and sick. we suffer
more nnd more from cold and hunger: more and more we find that
doors arc shut to us; and our shame weighs down upon us like a
mountain . There seems to be no way for our children to escape
the cold and starvation. How could there be any joy o r love be1ween husband and wife in such cx1rcmity! Handsome looks and
sofi smiles arc but a drop of dew on a blade of grass; promises of
lifelong friendship and love arc bu1 cherry blossoms before a
gale! You suffer more because of me just as I'm more worried
because of you . As I look back c;irefully on our happiness of long
ago, I sec 1ha1 it was 1hc cause of our grief and distress today.
Mowcvcr we may have come 10 1his predicame nt. isn t it better for
a solitary phoenix to gaze into die mirror calling for its mate than
for lhc whole flock to perish together! To separate in adversity
only 10 come togelhcr again in prosperity is not the human 1hing
10 do. But I ask that we rarl now. since to be scpnnitcd or to be
reunited is a ll part of o ur face."
Choshin wa.~ very pleased with her words. As they were about
to part. each with two of their children. she said to Choshin.
"Since I'll be going toward my home village., will you please go
south'!'"
Just as he and his wife were aboul lo go their scpamtc ways.
Choshin awoke from bis dream. In the flickering lamplight he
could see that night had fallen. In the morning Cboshin found 1ha1
his hair and beard had turned white and that the affairs of the
world had become meaningle ss 10 him. Me had no wish to go on
living in 1his world of suffering: all his worldly desires had melted
away like ice. He went and dug in the spot where he had buried
his son fin his dream). and found a stone Maitreya (the Buddha of
the Fu1urel. He washed it in water and placed it in a nearby
temple. Thereafter he relinquishe d his position, donated all his
posses.sions co the cons1ruction of a monastery , and devoted the
rest of his li fe to doing good deeds. Nothing is known about what
happened to him after 1hat o r where he lived out his lifc.l2

There is. of course, much more to the Samg11k sagi and

Samguk y11sa than what I have offered here . And in addition to

l .'

( 'l.ASSJ<'A I A'(>Hf.'A1V I I TlH11TUH,..

these two great hooks of early Korean history and literature, many
other volume s of hanmu n prose survive from the Ko ryo perio<l.
These were composed by such distinguished Koryo scholar-s1a1esmcn nf the twelfth and thin eenth centuri es as Yi Kyu-bo ( 11 681241 ), Yi II -lo (11 52 1220), Ch' ae Chu ( 1188 1260). an<l Yi
Chc-hy on. especia ll y no teworth y are the "pcrso ni tied'' stories
(i-inc/1 'e or kaJnnch 'e .msnf). genera lly didactic, satirica l tales in
which inani mate objects such as liquor, paper, and coins are given
human attributes and become Lhe main charac ters. T he setting for
all of these stories is ancient China. All the characters are Chines e
and much of the materinl is drawn from the enrly Chines e chronic les.
l'i otes
I. ('ho rong-il, Ht111guk 1n1tnltak 1 'ongsa (A Comprchc-nsi vc History of Korcnn Litcrnture ), 2nd ed. (Seoul: Chishik ~an op sa. I9R9). >: 373.

2. There were e leven compile rs allogcthcr, with Kim Pu-s hik in charge of the
entire project. Sec Shin Hyi)ngshik. Sant1<11k sagi .1TnJ<11 (A Study of the Samxuk
.<agi)(Scoul: llchogak . 1981),35 6.
3. Cho Tong-ii. Hanxuk m1111hak. 1n,,>:stJ, IJ :92.
4 . Ibid .. 94.
5. lrylin, S<1111g11k y11.-.1. c'tl. and tr .. Yi Pyoog-do, rev. ed. (Seoul: Kwongjo
ch'ulp'a nso. 1979). 179.
6. Ibid .. 180. 1\ddi1ionully, in rcrcrring 10 the 1lcath of1hc kings of the T hree
Kingdo1ns hyOn usc.s 1hc :,;unc ( 'hincsc char.1ctcr usc<l for 1hc dea1h of
1hc C'hi11csc emperor~. Sec SauJxuk yusa )'t111~u no11.rlJ11}t'JJ (Selected Essay~
on 1hc
Samgukyusa) (Seoul: Pacl<sancharyowtln, 1986). l:SOl-4.
7. Kim Pu~shik. Sam>:uk sagi (Hi.(fOr)' af tlu! Three Kiugdruris). ed. ;1nd tr
..
Yi Pyl\ng-do (Seoul: Uryu munhwa s:i, 1977), 6 19.
R. Sc-c Yi Ki -back's essay in Suu1~''"" yusa y011gr1uous,'i11JtiJ {Selected El'i~ays
on the Samx11k y11sa). I: 121- 37. esp. 125 26.
9. Shim Ch'ang-sop. "Samgu k sagi ynkhon iii munhakchok koch'al" (A
Literary Exa1nina 1ion -0f 1hc YO/chcJ11 Section of the Sam~uk $ilgr'), ,\1unhuk
~,,.a
chi.<U11g (Li1crnturc and Imcllcct), I 0, no. I (Spring I ?79): 191.
I 0. Kim Pu-shik, Samg11k ..agi. ZJJ-34.
11. Ibid, 233 .
12. ('ho T ong-il. Sa1ng11k J'hidne s<11hua tii t11'11p i1ri (Explica1ions of Slorics
of
1hc T hree Kingdom s PcriuJ ) (Seoul: Chimmu ndang. l 990), 206.
13. Ki m l'u sh ik. Samx11k sagi, 696.
14. Ibid..
I 5. Cho Tong-ii, Hm1g11k 1mmhak 1'011g.<a. 1:37S,
16. San1>:t1k )'1tsa .vi111gu nunsiinjip, I: 167.
17. Ibid.. 16R.

TI/ SAMGUK S1\(a AND SAM ColJK YUM

7J

1K. Ibid.. 161Hi9.

19. rhe ( 'hincsc characters for the n:ullc rangun mean either "sant.lal, 1lOOd
king" or "11l111r king." depending on which of two charctcrs is used for 1011.

fhc n11n-.c. ho.cver. may not be Chinese al all bu1 rather a transliteration of an

Al1nic \Vord 1ncaning .. sha1nan-king." Sec Richard Rutt. A Binjlraph)'' <?f./a1ne..

~
.S(,tutJ1 Gale1nul a :'Vt~'" /:.'.dt'tion of 1'/J.f Histo1)1 '?{Ille Kort'<"' Peopl<! (Seoul:
lloyul Asia1ic Socic1y. Korea Branch. 1972), 323. n. I.
~l"-nnung is supposed to have been given three 1reasurcs by
his heavenly
O.thcr when he descended 10 eanh. It is thought that these were probably such
1hi11gs as the 1nirror. bell. nnd S\vord 1ha1 shaman kings used in scitsonal rilC!<:
to
llropi1iatc the various gods ()f' na1urc and insure an abun<lan1 h;1rves1 an<l 1hc
.ufcty of 1hc people. l-lw~1nung '"'3S also accompanied by lhrcc m:t!l.1crs of rain.
wind, 3nd clouds. This probably n:fc"' 10 the agricullural superiori1y of recent
h11111igrdnts 10 Ko ('hostSn. since rain, win<l. and clouds havi; a ~pccial llnport
1111cc for agricultu re.
20. For n succinct discussio n ol'thc Tangun nlyth. si...-c Cho rong-il. lla11guk
momhak 1ang.<a. 1:67- 71.
21. Detailed in Yi Kyubo' s poem "Tongm yong w11ng 1>')'6n" (ihc Luy of
King Tongm)'ling). \vhich ils au1hor sl\ys ls basc<l 01'1 the lost Ku Sa1nguk sa.
22. Rutt. /Jiugmplov o/.lums ScaJ'//o Gule. 329. n. 7. According to Rutt.
1hc birth of a hero from an egg may indicate "miracu lou~ binh, or hin1 at
a
bird totem ... or be a fol k memory of choosing leaders by co.,ing votes (or
lots) in a rcccp1acle."
23. See C ho Tong-ii, Hang11k 1111111/wk 1 'mogsu, 1:6 7-Q9, a nd 72415.
24. Tr.in.s. Peter II. Lee, in Anthulult)' of Korean f_,itfr(lture: From /:,'(lr/)
7imes 10 the Nneteelllh C'cmu:r. n:v. c<l. comp. and c<l. Pacr II. Lee (Honolulu: Univcrsi1y of Hawaii Press, 1990), S.
25. ( 'ho 'l'ong-il , H l111g11k n1uuhak t 'ongsa, 1:80.
26. Cho Tong ll. Su111J(11k shidae .v1J/Jnv<1 iii 11r'itp 'uri. 240-43.
27. lryoo. SamJ<llk yusa. 432- 33.
28. Ibid. 395. Also sec (.'ho Tongil. Samguk shidae slJl/iwu r7111ii1p 11ri, 2464

SI.

29.
JO.
31.
32.

lryon, Samx11k y 11.ra. 437.

Ibid.. 438-39.
Ibid, 44 7 ~8.
Ibid.. 356-SR.