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.Idu | Medieval Korean | Modern Korean | Translation |
願往生歌 | 원왕생가 | 왕생을 기원하는 노래 | Ode to Eternal Life |
月下伊低赤 | 달하 이제 | 달이여 이제 | Oh Moon! |
西方念丁去賜里遣 | 서방까정 가시리고 | 서방 넘어 가시려는고 | As you go to the west this night, |
無量壽佛前乃 | 무량수불전에 | 무량수불전에 | I pray thee, go before the eternal Buddha, |
惱叱古音多可支白遣賜立 | 닛곰다가 살ㅂ고사서 | 일러서 사뢰옵소서 | And tell him that there is one here |
誓音深史隱尊衣希仰支 | 다짐 깊으샨 존에 울워러 | 다짐 깊으신 아미타불을 우러러 | Who adores Him of the deep oaths, |
兩手集刀花乎白良 | 두손 모도호살바 | 두 손을 모두어 | And chants daily with hands together, saying |
願往生願往生 | 원왕 생 원왕 생 | 왕생을 원하며 | Oh grant me eternal life, |
慕人有如白遣賜立 | 그럴 사람 있다 살ㅂ고사서 | 그리워하는 사람 있다 사뢰소서 | Oh grant me eternal life, |
阿耶 此身遣也置古 | 아으 이몸 기쳐두고 | 아아 이 몸을 남겨 놓고 | But alas, can any of the 48 vows be kept |
四十八大願成遣賜去 | 사십팔대원 일고살까 | 사십 팔 대원 이루실까 | While still trapped in this mortal frame? |
List
Title | English | Author | Date | Graphs/lines | Location | Text |
Hyeseong ga | Song of a Comet | Master Yungcheon | 594 | 83/10 | 2:228 | |
Seodong yo | Song of Seodong | King Mu of Baekje | 600 | 25/4 | 2:98 | |
Pung yo | Ode to Yangji | anonymous | 635 | 26/4 | 4:187–188 | |
Won wangsaeng ga | Prayer to Amitāyus / Ode for Life Eternal | Gwangdeok or his wife | 661–681 | 77/10 | 5:220 | |
Mo Jukjilang ga | Ode to Knight Jukji | Deugo | 692–702 | 60/8 | 2:76–78 | |
Heonhwa ga | Dedication of the Flower | an old herdsman | 702–737 | 34/4 | 2:79 | |
Won ga | Regret | Sinchung | 737 | 56/8 | 5:232–233 | |
Chan Gipalang ga | Ode to Knight Gipa | Master Chungdam | 742–765 | 71/10 | 2:80–81 | |
Dosol ga | Song of Tuṣita Heaven | Master Weolmyeong | 760 | 37/4 | 5:222 | |
Je mangmae ga | Requiem for the Dead Sister | Master Weolmyeong | 762–765 | 75/10 | 2:79–80 | |
Do Cheonsu Gwaneum ga | Hymn to the Thousand-Eyed Sound Observer | Huimyeong | 762–765 | 81/10 | 3:158–159 | |
Anmin ga | Statesmanship | Master Chungdam | 765 | 98/10 | 2:79–80 | |
Ujeog ga | Meeting with Bandits | Master Yeonghae | 785–798 | 75/10 | 5:235 | |
Cheoyong ga | Song of Cheoyong | Cheoyong | 879 | 61/8 | 2:88–89 |
The 11 hyangga composed by Kyunyeo are:
- Yekyeong Jebul ga
- Chingchan Yorae ga
- Gwangsu Gongyang ga
- Chamhoe Opjang ga
- Suhui Kongdeok ga
- Cheongjeon Beopyun ga
- Cheongbul Juse ga
- Sangsun Bulhak ga
- Hangsun Jungsaeng ga
- Bogae Hoehyang ga
- Chonggyeol Mujin ga
Citations