Samguk yusa

Samguk yusa (Korean: 삼국유사; Korean pronunciation: [sʰam.ɡuk̚.ju.sa]) or Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms is a collection of legends, folktales and historical accounts relating to the Three Kingdoms of Korea (Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla), as well as to other periods and states before, during and after the Three Kingdoms period. "Samguk yusa is a historical record compiled by the Buddhist monk Il-yeon in 1281 (the 7th year of King Chungnyeol of Goryeo) in the late Goryeo Dynasty."^[1] It is the earliest extant record of the Dangun legend,^[2] which records the founding of Gojoseon as the first Korean nation. The Samguk yusa is National Treasure No. 306.^[3]

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Quick Facts Korean name, Hangul ...

Samguk yusa
Korean name
Hangul	삼국유사
Hanja	三國遺事
Revised Romanization	Samguk yusa
McCune–Reischauer	Samguk yusa

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Samguk yusa is a history book which is composed of five volumes in total and is divided into nine parts within the five volumes.^[4] The Samguk yusa documents various tales and legends which are categorized into two parts: historical events and Buddhist narratives.^[5] The text contains various historical narratives such as tales of the Three Kingdoms period, myths, legends, genealogies, histories, and Buddhist tales, which have helped maintain folklore from medieval Korea.^[6][7] "Yusa" is a term used to describe a text that is supplementary to an earlier work. Samguk yusa is intended to provide additional information to texts such as the Samguk Sagi.^[7] The beginning of Samguk yusa describes Dangun Wanggeom, who is a mythological ancestor of all Koreans, founding the first nation of Korea, named Gojoseon. The text also contains several well known tales such as Choshin's Dream and Lady Suro.

Samguk yusa, was written in the Ingak Temple in the 13th century.^[8] The author, Il-yeon, became a monk at the age of eight in 1214, working as an abbot in various temples, attending royal conferences at the king's command, and hosting important Buddhist events until his death in 1289.^[7]

The book was written during the Mongol conquest of Europe and East Asia, including China and Korea. They invaded Korea for the first time in 1231, and the invasion brought a devastating blow to the lives of Koreans by destroying valuable cultural properties, recordings, and literature.^[6] This invasion motivated Il-yeon to protect all of the folklore and stories handed down. Il-yeon collected and analyzed many works of Korean culture for a long period of time prior to the writing of Samguk yusa.^[7] The Korean peninsula was not yet united when the Samguk yusa was composed, so one of the Samguk yusa myths, Dangun, which is regarded as the root of all Koreans, has long been believed to have contributed to the idea of "one blood, one nation" among Koreans, as well as helping them to characterize themselves as a "common blood race".^[9]

However, there is also criticism that the sense of one blood could lead to not only marginalizing those who are not regarded as "genuinely Korean," but also restricting the different ways that people could consider themselves Korean by eliminating diverse and possible viewpoints that are not rooted in this conservative mythology.^[9] In order to honor and pass down Il-yeon's achievements and life, the Inagak temple holds annual festivals such as the Cultural Festival of Il-yeon Samguk Yusa under the assistance of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the festival activities include an academic seminar for academics, a writing contest for poems or essays, and poem recitation.^[8]

Samguk yusa consists of a total of five volumes and two books, and apart from the volume, it consists of nine books, including Wangryeok, Gii, Heungbeop, Tapsang, Uihae, Sinju, Gamtong, Pieun, and Hyo-seon.^[7] Wangnyeok is a brief chronology of the Three Kingdoms, Garakguk, Later Goguryeo, and Later Baekje. Gii contains the archive from Gojoseon to the late Three Kingdoms Period. The purpose of Gii is written at the beginning of the passage. Heungbeop is about the rise of Buddhism in the Three Kingdoms, and Tapsang includes pagodas and Buddhist images. Uihae contains narratives of famous monks during the Silla period. Sinju includes the tales about miracles that happened through esoteric Buddhism during the Silla dynasty. Gamtong is about stories of devotion. Pieun contains the legends of solitary heroes. Hyoseon contains folktales of filial piety and Buddhist virtues. Although it is divided into many parts, the composition of the entire book can be briefly described below:

The text was written in Classical Chinese, which was used by literate Koreans at the time of its composition. The earliest version of the text is believed to have been compiled in the 1280s, and the earliest extant publication of the text is from 1512 CE.^[10]

20th-century Korean scholars such as Choe Nam-seon established the Buddhist monk Il-yeon (1206–1289) as the main compiler of the text, on the basis that his name (and full official title) was indicated in the fifth fascicle. This view is widely accepted among modern scholars.^[11] The compilation is believed to have been expanded by Iryeon's disciple Muguk (1250–1322) and several others prior to the definitive 1512 recension.^[12]

Ha Chongnyong and Yi Kunjik produced a critical edition of Samguk yusa in 1997. According to Ha Chongnyong, Iryeon wrote only the fifth fascicle, since his name is mentioned only in that section of the text.^[12]

The 1512 edition of the text mentions a dynastic chronology at the beginning, which has several discrepancies with the information that appears later in the text. According to Robert Buswell, Jr. and Donald S. Lopez, Jr., this chronology may have been a fourteenth-century addition to Iryeon's compilation.^[13]

Importance as the national treasure

“Samguk yusa is considered as an extremely important cultural heritage representing ancient Korean history, geography, literature, religion, language, folklore, art, archeology, etc.^[1]” The Samguk Yusa mostly includes ancient literary works about history, Buddhism, and legends, most of which does not exist in the recent age. Moreover, it is one of the limited sources for the study of ancient Korean language systems. Especially, 14 pieces of hyangga (ancient Korean folk songs) are an essential part of a study in classical Korean literature. Moreover, the writer, Iryon uses different styles of writing including ones from the Sinitic Buddhist Culture.^[14] The book also includes plenty of information on Buddhist art, the dominant type of art in ancient Korean art history. “The Tapsang section, in particular, mainly focuses on the founding of pagodas, Buddhist images and temples, is an essential source for the study of various remains and relics of both historical and archeological value.^[1] Lastly, the book includes various written records about young soldiers during the Silla Dynasty.

Samguk sagi and Samguk yusa are often compared in terms of Korean history books, both holding a prominent place in Korean history. In terms of similarity, both of them were written by Koryo scholars who believed they were descended from not Koguryo but Silla.^[15] So, this contributed to the main focus of both Samguk yusa and Samguk sagi to emphasize the history of Silla. However, in contrast, they have some differences. Firstly, while the author of Samguk yusa was a devoted Buddhist monk, Samguk sagi was written by a Confucian scholar-statesman, Kim Pu-shik, allowing readers to access the two different historical works according to the perspectives of the Buddhist or Confucian official.^[15]

According to the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea, "the book contains a wide range of records about young soldiers of the Silla Period, which are more religious and poetical than those written in Samguk sagi."^[1] On the other hand, studies have found that "Samguk Sagi was almost immediately accepted as one of the most definitive histories of its time and within several decades was read even in China."^[16] Therefore, it can be considered that even though the Samguk yusa was written a century later, Iryon considerably relied on the Samguk sagi. Moreover, the Samguk yusa contains the historical elements not found in the Samguk sagi. Since it is also the same in reserve, it is found that the two works complement each other.^[17]

Kim Pu-shik attempted a more rational and logical approach towards the historical writings, whereas the romantic Buddhism approach of Samguk yusa of the Koryo dynasty allowed the readers to experience the old historical cultures such as superstitions, folklore, and mythical stories.^[5] Both of the historical books are also generally focused on certain backgrounds in terms of religion. Despite Samguk sagi's reasonable writing, nationalist historians and scholars refer to it as a Chinese Confucian-centered book, arguing that it instils a subordinate attitude (Sadae) with the ancient tradition ignored.^[16] In contrast, in the case of Samguk yusa, the majority of the text is dedicated to Buddhism, which was tailored to the Korean style under the Buddhist author's influence with the only occasion when Confucianism is witnessed is Part 9 which expresses filial piety as a way of Buddhism.^[7] Naturally, the contents of Samguk yusa could not help being influenced more greatly by Il-yeon's Buddhist value than Samguk sagi. Il-yeon's work provides four bizarre stories depicting the discovery of archaeological artifacts to demonstrate the existence of Buddhism in the pre-modern era, the time of the tale's telling.^[18] Turning to the statistics, the writings of Samguk Yusa consist of Buddhist stories, including both the principles of Buddhism and various Buddhist monks, accounting for approximately forty-nine percent (49.5%) of the total.^[7] In terms of adequate factual delivery, Samguk Yusa conveys relatively insufficient historical information, such as about the explanation of Kwallogup (officials' land) and Sigup (the land for producing food), which are well described in Samguk sagi in detail.^[19] Nonetheless, the Samguk yusa and Samguk sagi are mutually regarded as complementary regarding uncompleted ancient recordings among Koreans today.

Many of the founding legends of the various kingdoms in Korean history are recorded in Samguk yusa. The text covers legends from many Korean kingdoms, including Gojoseon, Wiman Joseon, Buyeo, Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla, and Gaya. Unlike the more factually-oriented Samguk sagi, the Samguk yusa focuses on various folktales, legends and biographies from early Korean history. Given its mythical narratives, Samguk yusa's reliability is questionable.^[12]

The author attempted to keep original phrases drawn from various sources, including Chinese Buddhist literature, Korean historical literature, and languages written in epigraphy, and he sometimes omitted unnecessary phrases or paraphrased several expressions with the intention of integrating them into the whole story.^[20] In terms of Il-yeon's research approach, Il-yeon regarded the quality and quantity of the resources as crucial elements for his work, used the "inserted textual commentary" in order to seriously evaluate his resources, allowed the readers to access comparative information about the history, and even expressed concerns about the reliability when there was insufficient information to depict.^[7] Besides, Il-yeon attempted to use various versions of the same story when he recorded folktales and myths. For instance, when Il-yeon recorded the story of Tangun at the beginning of the book, he exactly added the comments that the Tangun story was quoted from both the Wei-shu [Wei Dynasty History] and Tangun Kogi [Ancient Record of Tangun].^[7] This comment is valuable as both of the history books are not accessible now. The inscription of Samguk Yusa is also a relatively credible source, but its contents are mainly confined to the mobilization of the peasantry for dike construction and the description of land property for the temple.^[19]

There is scepticism surrounding this history book as well. It was not able to precisely interpret and explain the detailed picture of Silla itself as this book was written in the Koryo period, during which a lot of time had passed from the three kingdoms period. The stories of the other nations of the three-kingdom period "Koguryo" and Paekche" are excluded, making up the overwhelming bulk of the Silla stories, especially the stories that came from Korea's south-eastern region, "Kyngsang," known as Il-yeon's place of birth.^[7] With regard to religion, Confucianism, which greatly influenced the behaviour of East Asians, including China and Korea, was marginally dealt with in the Buddhism-dominant Samguk yusa tales as a subjugated religion.^[18][7] For example, in the Tale of the Monk Chinjong, Chinjong's filial reasons for not wanting to enter the monastic life are countered by his mother, and this reflects that the monastic life would be regarded as even more filial behaviour than ignoring the filial piety.^[18] Furthermore, the book is quite biased in terms of providing an unbiased description of the social stratum.

The aristocracy and members of the upper class constitute over half of the total number of narrative protagonists, with the figures correlated with Buddhist monks or nuns making up approximately twenty-five percent, and commoners only making up around eight percent of the contexts.^[7] It can be clarified that the Samguk yusa chiefly handled the stories of the upper class of Silla instead of the ordinary people. Although the readers who have the purpose of understanding the entire history have to merely rely on the resources that he chose to insert in the Samguk yusa, it is recommended as a worthwhile read for the purpose of comprehending the overall landscape of Silla.^[20]

The three Kingdom periods in Samguk yusa is the age of the start of various institutions, teachings, religious practices, and cults.^[21] The tales are both descriptive and prescriptive because they have been the source of the Korean Buddhist tradition to the present day as the birth of the tradition is described in the book. The places which are mentioned in the book are important religious points in current South Korea also. “The naming of mountains in Samguk Yusa connects Korea with China and India and symbolically recreates the actual sacred places of Buddhism in Korea.^[21]” Most of the stories in Samguk yusa included a common topos, when temples and statues’ remains are found and disclosed on key locations such as mountains. This can be described as a form of hierophany and the religious key places of Silla included those locations. The story in Samguk Yusa enlists ten thousand of Buddhas and bodhisattvas changing themselves at the apex of the different mountains. Moreover, this story introduces Korea as a country with the best karmic conditions in the world for building a large statue of the Buddha, even more suitable than India, the home of Buddhism. The mountains were later changed into one large religious area including of multiple temples and shrines. Each of the locations was devoted to certain buddhas and bodhisattvas and were used for the ritual practices to be performed.^[21]

The text covers a wide range of subjects, including geography, literature, religion, art, and folklore, as well as ancient history. The stories naturally came from the Goryeo people's lives under the extreme suffering in the Mongol-dominant era in order to strengthen both their identity as a nation and as descendants of a common ancestor.^[8] Among them, there are representative stories.

• Ilyeon (2006) Overlooked Historical Records of the Three Korean Kingdoms, translated by Kim Dal-Yong. Jimoondang: Seoul, Korea. ISBN 89-88095-94-4
• Ilyon (1972; 2006) Samguk Yusa: Legends and History of the Three Kingdoms of Ancient Korea, translated by Tae-Hung Ha and Grafton K. Mintz. Yonsei University Press: Seoul, Korea. ISBN 1-59654-348-5
• 일연 (1996) 삼국유사. Somun munhwasa: Seoul. ISBN 89-7004-002-1.
• 일연 (2002) 삼국유사. translated by Kim Won-jung. Eulyu munhwasa: Seoul. ISBN 89-324-6083-3.

• History of Korea
• Three Kingdoms of Korea