Hwarang Segi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hwarang Segi
Hangul 화랑세기
Hanja 花郞世記
Revised Romanization Hwarang Segi
McCune-Reischauer Hwarang Segi

Hwarang Segi (lit. Annals of Hwarang) is a historical record of Hwarang of Silla in ancient Korea. It is said to have been written by Silla historian Kim Dae-Mun in the reign of Seongdeok the Great (r. 702~737).

Hwarang Segi survived to the time that Kim Busik wrote Samguk Sagi, but was thought to have been lost since then, because no reference to Hwarang Segi was made thereafter. However, an alleged manuscript of Hwarang Segi was found in 1989 in Gimhae, South Korea. However, the historical validity of this copy of Hwarang Segi is a subject of great controversy among scholars of Korean studies. Most scholars think of this as a forgery while some argue for its authenticity.[1]

The importance of Hwarang Segi is that is one of scarce historical work about Silla by a Sillan himself, and it's free from confucian dogma and beliefs. Most of later historians have based their understanding of Three Kingdoms era on Goryeo Dynasty resources like Samguk Sagi and Samguk Yusa.

Hwarang Segi is made of 16 parts; one for the introduction and the fifteen for the biographies of fifteen Hwarangs. They are:

  1. Introduction
  2. Wihwarang
  3. Mijinbu
  4. Morang
  5. Ihwarang
  6. Sadaham
  7. Sejong
  8. Seolwonrang
  9. Munno
  10. Biborang
  11. Miseng
  12. Hajong
  13. Bori
  14. Yongchun
  15. Horim
  16. Kim Yu-shin

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Those arguing in favor of the manuscript include Young-hoon Rhee (이영훈), a professor of economics at Seoul National University. “화랑세기 필사본은 신라시대 작품”. Dong-A Ilbo (Korean), 2003.01.07. Retrieved on July 26, 2005. Those arguing against include Richard D. McBride II, published in the Autumn 2005 edition of Korea Journal: [1]

[edit] See also