Hyangga


Hyangga were poems written using Chinese characters in a system known as hyangchal during the Unified Silla and early Goryeo periods of Korean history. Only a few have survived. The number of extant hyangga ranges between 25 and 27, depending on whether the hyangga are regarded as authentic or not.

Features

The hyangga were written using Chinese characters in a system known as hyangchal. They are believed to have been first written in the Goryeo period, as the style was already beginning to fade. 14 hyangga are recorded in the Samguk Yusa and 11 in the Gyunyeojeon. Wihong, the husband of Queen Jinseong of Silla, and the monk Taegu-Hwasang compiled a book about hyangga.
The name hyangga is formed from the character for "back-country" or "rural village" and the character for "song." These poems are accordingly sometimes known as "Silla songs."
Another dominant theme was death. Many of the poems are eulogies to monks, to warriors, and to family members — in one case, a sister. The Silla period, especially before unification in 668, was a time of warfare: the hyangga capture the sorrow of mourning for the dead while Buddhism provided answers about where the dead go and the afterlife.

Structure

The structure of hyangga is incompletely understood. The only contemporaneous reference is a comment by the compiler of Gyunyeo's biography that "their poetry is written in Chinese in penta- and heptasyllabic lines, our songs are written in the vernacular in three gu and six myeong". What is meant by "three gu and six myeong" remains unresolved. Peter H. Lee interprets it as "three-line stanzas of six phrases each", while Alexander Vovin translates it more literally as "three stanzas, six names".
Since the work of linguist Shinpei Ogura in the 1920s, surviving hyangga 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 concluding couplet, the most fully developed form of hyangga. This classification has been questioned in Korean scholarship since the 1980s, and a new hypothesis, proposed by Kim Sung-kyu in 2016, suggests that there were really only two forms of hyangga, a single-quatrain form and a two-tercet form. Kim interprets two consecutive lines of the ten-line form as one long line with a caesura and the so-called concluding couplet of the ten-line hyangga to be a refrain for each of the stanzas, forming two tercets with shared final lines. Kim argues that apparently eight-line forms are the result of a line being lost during transmission. The two hypotheses are illustrated below with the ten-line work Jemangmae-ga, written for the funeral of the poet's sister. The translation is from the Korean of Sung 2006.

Example

A typical hyangga is "the Ode for Life Eternal" or, perhaps, "the Ode for Nirvana". The poem is a song that calls upon the moon to convey the supplicant's prayer to the Western paradise, the home of Amita. The poem's authorship is somewhat unclear; it was either written by a monk named Gwangdeok or, one source says, the monk's wife.
IduMedieval KoreanModern KoreanTranslation
願往生歌원왕생가왕생을 기원하는 노래Ode to Eternal Life
月下伊低赤달하 이제달이여 이제Oh Moon!
西方念丁去賜里遣서방까정 가시리고서방 넘어 가시려는고As you go to the west this night,
無量壽佛前乃무량수불전에무량수불전에I pray thee, go before the eternal Buddha,
惱叱古音多可支白遣賜立닛곰다가 살ㅂ고사서일러서 사뢰옵소서And tell him that there is one here
誓音深史隱尊衣希仰支다짐 깊으샨 존에 울워러다짐 깊으신 아미타불을 우러러Who adores Him of the deep oaths,
兩手集刀花乎白良두손 모도호살바두 손을 모두어And chants daily with hands together, saying
願往生願往生원왕 생 원왕 생왕생을 원하며Oh grant me eternal life,
慕人有如白遣賜立그럴 사람 있다 살ㅂ고사서그리워하는 사람 있다 사뢰소서Oh grant me eternal life,
阿耶 此身遣也置古아으 이몸 기쳐두고아아 이 몸을 남겨 놓고But alas, can any of the 48 vows be kept
四十八大願成遣賜去사십팔대원 일고살까사십 팔 대원 이루실까While still trapped in this mortal frame?

List

TitleEnglishAuthorDateGraphs/linesLocationText
Hyeseong gaSong of a CometMaster Yungcheon 59483/102:228
Seodong yoSong of SeodongKing Mu of Baekje 60025/42:98
Pung yoOde to Yangjianonymous 63526/44:187–188
Won wangsaeng gaPrayer to Amitāyus / Ode for Life EternalGwangdeok or his wife 661–68177/105:220
Mo Jukjilang gaOde to Knight JukjiDeugo 692–70260/82:76–78
Heonhwa gaDedication of the Floweran old herdsman 702–73734/42:79
Won gaRegretSinchung 73756/85:232–233
Chan Gipalang gaOde to Knight GipaMaster Chungdam 742–76571/102:80–81
Dosol gaSong of Tuṣita HeavenMaster Weolmyeong 76037/45:222
Je mangmae gaRequiem for the Dead SisterMaster Weolmyeong 762–76575/102:79–80
Do Cheonsu Gwaneum gaHymn to the Thousand-Eyed Sound ObserverHuimyeong 762–76581/103:158–159
Anmin gaStatesmanshipMaster Chungdam 76598/102:79–80
Ujeog gaMeeting with BanditsMaster Yeonghae 785–79875/105:235
Cheoyong gaSong of CheoyongCheoyong 87961/82:88–89

The 11 hyangga composed by Kyunyeo are:
  1. Yekyeong Jebul ga
  2. Chingchan Yorae ga
  3. Gwangsu Gongyang ga
  4. Chamhoe Opjang ga
  5. Suhui Kongdeok ga
  6. Cheongjeon Beopyun ga
  7. Cheongbul Juse ga
  8. Sangsun Bulhak ga
  9. Hangsun Jungsaeng ga
  10. Bogae Hoehyang ga
  11. Chonggyeol Mujin ga

    Citations