Literary Classification Of Verse In Samguk Yusa
January 1, 2016 - Sim,, Kyung-Ho
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EmailJournal or Book Title: Journal of korean Culture
Volume/Issue: 32
Year Published: 2016
Samguk Yusa(Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms) is a history of ancient Korea as well as a history of Korean Buddhism. It is basically written in prose. However, it deals with various genre of verse like gaathaa(偈頌), poetry(歌詩), hymn(讚), ci(詞), ming(銘), historical poetry with severe distinction. It suggests that the editor or the editors of Samguk Yusa had extensive literary attainments.(1) Not a large number, there are several gaathaas in Samguk Yusa. There are three kinds of literary style in Buddhist scriptures: Janghaeng(gadya) which is a description in prose, Jungsong which is a summary of janghaeng and gesong(gaathaa) which is a song concerning the doctrines of Buddhism. Ilyeon took notice to gesong and treated it exceptionally. (2) There are si(poetry) and ga(song) in Samguk Yusa. Si takes the form of Chinese poetry with rhyme and ga is Hyangga(native tune) written in Hyangchal(local letter). (3) We can also find chan(hymn) in 45 chapters of Samguk Yusa. Chan is originally about praising Buddha, however there are some about history as well. Chan appears in the article of Okdae for the first time, and are concentrated in the latter part of the book especially after the chapter of Heungbeop. (4) At last there are some references written in rhymes in the annotation.Ilyeon added chan in most articles, but it is also notable that he added no chan for some articles. It is not easy to conclude whether it is the result of his selection or intentional omission. Moreover, there is a strong possibility that some chans are composed by Ilyeon and some are by others. Chans in Samguk Yusa in most cases take the form of the seven-syllable qijue, however there are also some exceptional cases that rhyme letters out of regular category of rhyme system, for example rhyming two letters with similar sound that are in the neighbor rhyme category each other, or rhyming rising tones with departing tones, or rhyming letters of same sound pronounced in Korean etc. It suggests the way of using rhyme of Korean monks.The editor or the editors of Samguk Yusa adopted various genre of verse like gaathaa(偈頌), poetry(歌詩), hymn(讚), ci(詞), ming(銘), historical poetry with severe distinction. It reflects high literary accomplishments of the editor or the editors of Samguk Yusa.
Type of Publication: research-article
