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| Culture of Korea |
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| Symbols |
| Hyangga | |
| Hangul | 향가 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 鄕歌 |
| Revised Romanization | hyangga |
| McCune–Reischauer | hyangga |
Hyangga (Korean: 향가;Hanja: 鄕歌) were poems written usingChinese characters in a system known ashyangchal during theUnified Silla and earlyGoryeo periods ofKorean history. Only a few have survived: 14 in theSamguk yusa (late 6th to 9th centuries) and 11 by the monkKyunyeo (10th century).[1]
Written usingHanja in a system known ashyangchal thehyangga are believed to have been first written in theGoryeo period, as the style was already beginning to fade. A collection ofhyangga known as theSamdaemok (삼대목;三代目) was compiled in the late 9th century byWihong, the prime minister of QueenJinseong of Silla, and the monk Taegu-Hwasang, but was since lost.[2] The survivinghyangga consist of 14 recorded in theSamguk Yusa and 11 in theGyunyeojeon byKyunyeo.[1]
The namehyangga is formed from the character for "back-country" or "rural village" (鄕) – which was often used by the Silla people to describe their nation, specifically to distinguish these distinctly Silla poems from "pure" Chinese literature – and the character for "song" (歌). These poems are accordingly sometimes known as "Silla songs."
Eighteen of the 25 survivinghyangga reflect Buddhist themes.[3]Another dominant theme was death. Many of the poems areeulogies tomonks, to warriors, and to family members — in one case, a sister. The Silla period, especially beforeunification in 668, was a time of warfare; thehyangga capture the sorrow of mourning for the dead while Buddhism provided answers about where the dead go and the afterlife.
The structure ofhyangga is not completely understood. The only[4] contemporaneous reference is a comment byHyŏngnyŏn Chŏng, the compiler of Gyunyeo's biography that "their poetry is written in Chinese in penta- and heptasyllabic lines, [while] our songs are written in the vernacular in threegu and sixmyeong".[5] What is meant by "threegu and sixmyeong" remains unresolved;Peter H. Lee interprets it as "three-line stanzas of six phrases each",[5] while Alexander Vovin translates it more literally as "three stanzas, six names".[4]
Since the work of linguistShinpei Ogura in the 1920s,[6] survivinghyangga have traditionally been classified into one of three forms: a single-quatrain form used in folk songs; an intermediate two-quatrain form; and a ten-line form of two quatrains and a concludingcouplet, the most fully developed form ofhyangga.[5] This classification has been questioned in Korean scholarship since the 1980s,[7] and a new hypothesis, proposed by Kim Sung-kyu in 2016, suggests that there were really only two forms ofhyangga: a single-quatrain form and a two-tercet form.[8] Kim interprets two consecutive lines of the ten-line form as one long line with acaesura, and the so-called "concluding" couplet of the ten-linehyangga to be arefrain for each of the stanzas, thus forming two tercets with shared final lines.[9] Kim further argues that apparently eight-line forms are the result of a line being lost during transmission.[10]
The two hypotheses are illustrated below with the ten-line workJemangmaega, written for the funeral of the poet's sister.[11]
| Ten-line reading | Translation | |
|---|---|---|
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) | 生死路隱 此矣有阿米次肹伊遣 吾隱去內如辭叱都 毛如云遣去內尼叱古 於內秋察早隱風未 此矣彼矣浮良落尸葉如 一等隱枝良出古 去奴隱處毛冬乎丁 阿也 彌陀刹良逢乎吾 道修良待是古如 | The path of life and death Were [you] so afraid when it was here (4) That [you] went and could not say (3) Even the words, "I'm going"? (6) Like leaves that float and fall hither-thither (5) By unripe autumn's early winds, Stemming from one branch Knowing not where [we] go. (10) Ah, [you] will clear the road and wait (9) For me, to meet in thepure land. |
| Six-line reading | Translation | |
|---|---|---|
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) | 生死路隱此矣有阿米次肹伊遣 吾隱去內如辭叱都毛如云遣去內尼叱古 阿也彌陀刹良逢乎吾道修良待是古如 於內秋察早隱風未此矣彼矣浮良落尸葉如 一等隱枝良出古去奴隱處毛冬乎丁 阿也彌陀刹良逢乎吾道修良待是古如 | Were [you] so afraid when the path of life and death was here That [you] went and could not say even the words, "I'm going"? Ah, [you] will clear the road and wait for me, to meet in the pure land. Like leaves that float and fall hither-thither by unripe autumn's early winds, Stemming from one branch, knowing not where [we] go. Ah, [you] will clear the road and wait for me, to meet in the pure land. |
A typical hyangga is"The Ode for Life Eternal" (or, perhaps,"The Ode for Nirvana"), a song that calls upon the Moon to convey the supplicant's prayer to the Western paradise, the home of Amita (orAmitabha, the Buddha of the Western Pure LandSukhavati). The poem's authorship is somewhat unclear; it was either written by a monk named Gwangdeok (Korean: 광덕;Hanja: 廣德]) or, one source says, the monk's wife.[12]
| Idu | Middle Korean | Modern Korean | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 願往生歌 | 원왕생가 | 왕생을 기원하는 노래 | Ode to Eternal Life (translation by Mark Peterson, 2006) |
| 月下伊低赤 | ᄃᆞᆯ하 이뎨 | 달이여 이제 | Oh Moon! |
| 西方念丁去賜里遣 | 셔바ᇰᄭᆞ자ᇰ 가샤리고 | 서방(西方) 넘어 가시려는고 | As you go to the west this night, |
| 無量壽佛前乃 | 무랴ᇰ슈불 젼에 | 무량수불전(無量壽佛前)에 | Ipray thee, go before the eternal Buddha, |
| 惱叱古音多可支白遣賜立 | 닏곰다가 ᄉᆞᆲ고샤셔 | 일러서 사뢰옵소서 | And tell him that there is one here |
| 誓音深史隱尊衣希仰支 | 다딤 기프샨 존어ᄒᆡ 울워러 | 다짐 깊으신 아미타불을 우러러 | Who adores Him of the deep oaths, |
| 兩手集刀花乎白良 | 두 손 모도호ᄉᆞᆯᄫᅡ | 두 손을 모두어 | And chants daily with hands together, saying |
| 願往生願往生 | 원와ᇰᄉᆡᇰ 원와ᇰᄉᆡᇰ | 왕생(往生)을 원하며 | Oh grant me eternal life, |
| 慕人有如白遣賜立 | 그릴 사ᄅᆞᆷ 잇다 ᄉᆞᆲ고샤셔 | 그리워하는 사람 있다 사뢰소서 | Oh grant me eternal life, |
| 阿耶 此身遣也置古 | 아으 이 몸 기텨 두고 | 아아 이 몸을 남겨 놓고 | But alas, can any of the 48 vows be kept |
| 四十八大願成遣賜去 | ᄉᆞ십팔대원 일고샬가 | 사십 팔 대원(大願) 이루실까 | While still trapped in this mortal frame? |
| Title | English | Author | Date | Graphs[13] | Lines[13] | Location | Text |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyeseong ga[14] | Song of a Comet | Master Yungcheon | 594 | 83 | 10 | 2:228 |  혜성가 |
| Seodong yo[15] | Song of Seodong | KingMu of Baekje | c. 600 | 25 | 4 | 2:98 | 서동요 |
| Pung yo[16] | Ode to Yangji | anonymous | c. 635 | 26 | 4 | 4:187–188 | 풍요 |
| Won wangsaeng ga[17] | Prayer to Amitāyus / Ode for Life Eternal | Gwangdeok or his wife | c. 661–681 | 77 | 10 | 5:220 | 원왕생가 |
| Mo Jukjilang ga[18] | Ode to Knight Jukji | Deugo | c. 692–702 | 60 | 8 | 2:76–78 | 모죽지랑가 |
| Heonhwa ga[16] | Dedication of the Flower | an old herdsman | c. 702–737 | 34 | 4 | 2:79 | 헌화가 |
| Won ga[19] | Regret | Sinchung | 737 | 56 | 8 | 5:232–233 | 원가 |
| Chan Gipalang ga[20] | Ode to Knight Gipa | Master Chungdam | c. 742–765 | 71 | 10 | 2:80–81 | 찬기파랑가 |
| Dosol ga[21] | Song of Tuṣita Heaven | Master Weolmyeong | 760 | 37 | 4 | 5:222 | 도솔가 |
| Je mangmae ga[22] | Requiem for the Dead Sister | Master Weolmyeong | c. 762–765 | 75 | 10 | 2:79–80 | 제망매가 |
| Do Cheonsu Gwaneum ga[23][a] | Hymn to the Thousand-Eyed Sound Observer | Huimyeong[b] | c. 762–765 | 81 | 10 | 3:158–159 | 도천수관음가 |
| Anmin ga[25] | Statesmanship | Master Chungdam | 765 | 98 | 10 | 2:79–80 | 안민가 |
| Ujeog ga[26] | Meeting with Bandits | Master Yeonghae | c. 785–798 | 75 | 10 | 5:235 | 우적가 |
| Cheoyong ga[27] | Song of Cheoyong | Cheoyong | 879 | 61 | 8 | 2:88–89 | 처용가 |
The 11hyangga composed byKyunyeo (923–973) are:[28]
예경제불가칭찬여래가광수공양가참회업장가수희공덕가청전법륜가청불왕생가상수불학가항순중생가보현회향가총결무진가