Samguk yusa

Samguk yusa
Korean name
Hangul
Hanja
Revised RomanizationSamguk yusa
McCune–ReischauerSamguk 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, which records the founding of Gojoseon as the first Korean nation. The Samguk yusa is National Treasure No. 306.[2]

Samguk yusa is a history book which is composed of five volumes in total and is divided into nine parts within the five volumes.[3] The Samguk yusa documents various tales and legends which are categorized into two parts: historical events and Buddhist narratives.[4] 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.[5][6] "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.[6] 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.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Cultural Heritage Administration was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "삼국유사". terms.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  3. ^ Huntley., Grayson, James (2011). Myths and legends from Korea : an annotated compendium of ancient and modern materials. Routledge. pp. 1–5. ISBN 978-0-415-51524-5. OCLC 815975808.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Ch'oe, Yŏng-ho (1 January 1980). "An Outline History of Korean Historiography". Korean Studies. 4 (1): 1–27. doi:10.1353/ks.1980.0003. ISSN 1529-1529. S2CID 162859304.
  5. ^ McCann, David (2012). Early Korean Literature : Selections and Introductions. Columbia University Press. pp. 1–10. ISBN 978-0-231-11947-4. OCLC 1154833057.
  6. ^ a b Grayson, James H. (2 January 2017). "Invading Mongols and the Preservation of Korean Traditions: The Monk Iryŏn and theMemorabilia of the Three Kingdoms". Folklore. 128 (1): 1–15. doi:10.1080/0015587x.2016.1224147. ISSN 0015-587X. S2CID 165042441.