Transactions of the korea branch of the royal asiatic society volume XXXVIII

d. Hyangdo (香徒)
Yet one more name for the hwarang deserves consideration. It is uncommon, but it does occur in the Samguk Sagi⁷⁾ where the hero Kim Yusin (金庚信) and his followers are said when he became a hwarang to have been given the title of Yonghwa Hyangdo (龍華香徒).

Hyangdo (香徒) literally means “frasrant one” or “incense man.” In later Korean usage it is used to describe the men who carry a bier, but that is obviously not the meaning here. In the Samguk Yusa it is used on occasion with the apparent meaning of “the devout buddhist laity.” Since the character hyang (香) has a close connection with the idea of devotion in Buddhist usage, where it is very common indeed, it seems probable that this was the sense in which it was used in this case, and Kim Yusin’s title would be something like “the Dragon-Flower devotee.”8)

It has been noted by Kim Kwangyŏng (金光永), in an article to which I shall refer again later,⁹⁾ that the name Yonghwa is a regular buddhist term, being the name of the naga-puspa, which will be the bodhi tree of Maitreya Buddha when he comes to earth.

Finally it is interesting to note that Yu Ch’angdon (劉 昌淳) in his Koŏ Sajŏn (古語辭典)1) explains hyangdo as
7) 三國史記 卷四十一 列傳^” 金鹿信上

8) For details of this argument see SKK pages 264 ff.

9) Hwarangdo ch’angsŏre taehan sogo (花郞道 創設에

한 小考) in Tongguk Sasang (東國思想) Vol 1 (第ᅳ輯), Seoul, 1958, page 32. See also below pages 24 and 61.

1) Seoul 1955.
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meaning a group that is half buddhist, half shamanistic. But he offers no evidence to support this interpretation.

Ill The Sources
The paucity of sources for early Korean history makes the study of it at once fascinating and frustrating. There is the excitement of interpreting the fragments and the extreme irritation of having not quite enough material to complete the picture. In no aspect of Three Kingdoms history is this more true than in the matter of the hwarang.

As is to be expected, we depend almost entirely on the evidence of the Samguk Yusa and the Samguk Sagi. The Chinese dynastic histories which provide a certain amount of material on other questions are no help with the hwarang. Even the material in the two Korean histories is sparser than one would like. In each case it consists of a very brief paragraph about the origin and nature of the institution, and beyond that only a series of dispersed references in the biographies of notables, stating that they were hwarang. From these scant references we must build up all that we can say is definitely recorded about the matter. Anything else will be a matter of conjecture.

Before turning to the two principal accounts, it may be well to state briefly the nature and quality of the two documents in which they occur.

The Samguk Sagi (三國史記) was compiled by Kim Pusik (金富試) by order of King Injong (仁宗) of Koryŏ (高麗) in 1145. It consists very largely of matter drawn from earlier sources now lost in their independent form. It is in the traditional annals and biography arrangement. First there are twenty eight books telling in order the annals of Silla (新羅), Koguryŏ (高句麗), and Paekche (百濟). There follow three books of chronological tables (年表), nine of monographs (志), and then ten books of biographies (傳).

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The compiler was a noted scholar, soldier and statesman of his time. He was identified with the movement towards the adoption of Chinese taste and standards, and disinclined to favour interpretations of history which did not comply with his own tastes and attitudes. Nevertheless his work has preserved for us much invaluable material which helps in the reconstruction of the picture of Korean culture before it became too heavily overlaid with Chinese elements. In the earlier periods his chronology is unreliable, but by the time that he comes to describe the hwarang there is little reason to mistrust his datings.

There are many reprints and editions of the Samguk Sagi.

The Samguk Yusa (三國遺事) deals with the same period, but was written a century later, by the monk Iryŏn (一然 1206—1289). Like the Sagi it has a traditional shape, in that it begins with a chronology and then turns to individual persons and places, but the form is much less strict. In fact the two works are in startling contrast. The Sagi is a fairly sober account of events, but the Yusa is an entertaining collection of anecdotes and wonders. But it is not to be disregarded as history for it seems, like the Sagi, to have drawn on sources not now available for many things, and it has preserved for us a number of early Korean poems which would otherwise have been lost. Also it represents an attitude to the Three Kingdoms period that is quite different from that of the Sagi. In the matter of the hwarang the prejudices of the two compilers are very markedly demonstrated, and can save us from accepting a view of the nature of hwarang that might otherwise be very onesided. Iryŏn certainly preserves for us an early tradition about history, and tradition is a matter of great value in the investigation of a social institution.

To turn then to the account of the institution of the hwarang as given by the Samguk Sagi first, as being [page16] the oldest account we have.²⁾ The translation is my own.
Reign of King Chinhŭng (眞興王). 37th year (i.e., A.D. 576). Spring. At first he instituted (奉) the original Flowers (源花). In the beginning the rulers and ministers lacked understanding of their people and because they were worried they gathered many people together to play (dance?). After this behaviour had been observed they made their appointments. So two pretty girls were chosen, one called Nammo (南毛) and the other called Chunjŏng (俊貞). They had more than three hundred followers in their band. The two women grew jealous of each other’s beauty and finally Chunjŏng enticed Nammo to her home, plied her with wine till she was drunk, then pushed her into a stream and killed her. Chunjŏng was executed for this. The followers lost their unity and were dispersed.

After this, beautiful boys were chosen and arrayed in cosmetics and fine clothes, called Flower Boys (花郞), and chartered (?) They gathered followers in large numbers. They encouraged one another morally, and delighted one another with singing and music, playing among the hills and streams—there was nowhere that they did not go. Through this it was learnt who was good and who was bad, and the good ones among them were selected and preferred at court.

So Kim Taemun (金大問) says in his Hwarang Chronicle (花郞世記), “Good ministers and loyal subjects arose from among them, and they produced great generals and brave soldiers.”

And Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn (崔致遠) says in the preface to the Mannang Pi (驚郞碑序). “In our country there is mysterious and wonderful ‘way’(道) called P’ungnyu. Its origin is described in detail in the Fairy Chronicle (仙史). In fact it combines the three doctrines and so teaches the people. They practise filial piety in the family and loyalty to the country, which is the idea of the Minister of Justice of Lu (魯司寇, i.e., Confucius).

2) Samguk Sagi 卷第四 眞興王 三十七年
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Their quietism and lack of teaching is the doctrine of the Recorder of Chou (周柱史, i.e, Lao-tzu). Their avoiding of evil and doing of good is the teaching of the Prince of India (竺乾太子, i.e., the Buddha).”

Also the Account of the Country of Silla (新羅國記) by Ling-hu Ch’eng (令孤澄) of Tang says: “They choose pretty sons from noble families and deck them out with cosmetics and fine clothes and call them Flower Boys (花郞). The people all revere and serve them.”
This whole account bristles with difficulties and obscurities. But before attempting to unravel any of them it is interesting to compare the same material as it is presented by the Samguk Yusa. The first thing to note is that the Sagi sets this question of the hwarang in what at least appears to be its chronological setting (though for its exact chronological setting see below page 20) in the midst of the chronicles. The chronicle section of the Yusa is little more than a table and contains no comments or explanatory material. So the hwarang are not mentioned in it. Instead the same story of the origin of the hwarang is given among the anecdotes on buddhist temples, apparently to explain the significance of the immediately following story which relates of a particular hwarang. Again the translation is my own³⁾.
The twenty-fourth king, Chinhŭng. He was of the Kim clan. His name was Sammaekchong (彡夌宗) — sometimes given as Simmaekchong(深夌宗). He ascended the throne in the sixth year of the Ta-tung period of the Liang dynasty. He followed the will of his uncle King Pophung (法興, the previous ruler) by serving the Buddha and building temples in many places and by encouraging people to become monks and nuns. He also had a great devotion to the spirits. He chose pretty girls (娘) as wŏnhwa. A large group was collected and they were taught filial and fraternal piety and loyalty and sincerity. They were very helpful
3) Samguk Yusa 卷三 彌勒仙花
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in governing the country. Eventually, Nammo and Chunjŏng (峻貞, the first character differing from that given in the Sagi), whose followers numbered between three and four hundred, were chosen. Chunjŏng was jealous of Nammo, and when Nammo had taken much wine and was drunk, took her secretly to the North Stream (or a stream outside the city), struck her with stones, and killed her. Nammo’s followers did not know where she had gone, so they dispersed, weeping sadly. But there was someone who knew the truth about the plot, who taught the children to sing a song about it in the streets. Nammo’s followers heard it and found her body in the North Stream. So Chunjŏng was put to death. The then king ordered all the wŏnhwa to be disbanded.

Some years later the king was concerned about the strengthening of the country. He realised that the first thing to organize was p’ungwŏlto (風月道). He again issued a decree and chose boys from good families who were of good morals and renamed them hwarang (花郞). Sŏrwŏn (薛原) was the first to be admitted as a kuksŏn. This was the beginning of the hwarang.

So a (his) memorial stone was set up at Myŏngju (溟州 now Kangnŭng 江陵), and from this time men began to respect their seniors and be gentle with their inferiors. Also at this time the Five Constant Virtues (五常),⁴⁾ the Six Arts (六藝),⁵⁾ the Three Tutors (三師),⁶⁾ and the Six Chiefs (六正)⁷⁾ were spread through the land.

4) This probably means benevolence, uprightness, propriety, wisdom and sincerity (仁義禮智信), but it may refer to the five relationships: affection between father and son, justice between ruler and subject, precedence between husband and wife, order between senior and junior, and good faith between friends. Cf Mencius 滕文公上

5) Ritual (禮), music (樂), archery (射) charioteering (御), writing (書), mathematics (數). Cf Chou Li 地官保氏.

6) Three ranks of court tutors adopted from the Latter Wei dynasty and nourishing in Korea during the Koryŏ period (太師, 太傅, 太保).

7) In the Tso Chuan (襄二十五年) the phrase means six commanders who were military officials; but it is also explained as six types of statesman: holy (聖臣), good (良臣), loyal (忠臣), wise (哲臣), pure (貞臣), and honest (直臣).

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From this point on the text of the Yusa goes straight into the story of the mystic Maitreya Hwarang⁸⁾ which is the principal purpose of the chapter.

The differences in the two accounts are minor affairs. It is clear that there was an institution called wŏnhwa. It seems that the accounts would have us believe that Nammo and Chunjŏng were people of Chinhŭng’s reign. These women had a moral purpose, but there are hints of a religious background, with singing and dancing for the good of the land. The national religion being a form of shamanism and the early kings of Silla having borne titles that include the title ch’a-ch’a-ung (次次雄), which is thought to be shamanistic, it would not seem unreasonable to suppose that these women were shamans or had a function that was shamanistic⁹⁾.

Some commentators have doubted whether the two women who are named were actually living in the reign of Chinhŭng. But it is hard to deny this without entirely discrediting the Yusa story and making it hard to see the point of the Sagi version, although it would certainly be good to be able to point to a myth of death by drowning if one wished to establish a firmly religious background for the hwarang of the kind adumbrated by Waley in the passage mentioned earlier¹⁾. What is certain

8) See below page 26.

9) For the title ch’a-ch’a-ung see, inter alia, Suematsu Yasukazu (末松保和) Shiragishi no Shomondai (新羅史の諸問題) Tokyo 1954. page 59, and Yi Pyŏngdo’s annotated edition of the Samguk Sagi (對譯詳註三國史記) Seoul 1957, page 49. A further reflection on the relation of shamanism to the early rulers and government of Silla is roused by the suggestion that the famous “golden crowns” were shamanistic regalia. This is supposed by C. Hentz in his article Schamanen Kronen zur Han-Zen in Korea, Ostasiatische Zeitschrift, Berlin and Leipzig, 1934.

A recent Korean article adducing the shamanistic nature of the wŏnhwa can be found in Tongguk Sahak Vol 4(東國史學四輯), Seoul 1956: An Kyehyŏn (安啓賢) A Study of the P’algwanhoe (八關會考) page 35, also referred to below pages 20 and 54.

1) See above, pages 5 and 6.

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is that the hwarang were instituted by Chinhŭng on the pattern of an earlier organization of women²⁾.

A more interesting and intriguing problem is that of the reliability of the date given by the compiler of the Sagi. Many Korean translators of the Sagi³⁾ treat the whole matter, from the first inception of wŏnhwa to the institution of the hwarang, as having happened in the 37th year of Chinhŭng. But it has often been noted that in the biography section of the Sagi the story of Sadaham (斯多含) counts him as a hwarang already at the time of the expedition against Kara (加羅) which took place in the 23rd year of Chinhŭng (A.D. 562). An attempt has been made by An Kyehyŏn⁴⁾ to show that it actually happened in the 12th year of Chinhŭng, but this is yet to be regarded as a proven case.

Professor Yi Pyŏngdo⁵⁾ points out that the 37th year is the last year of Chinhŭng. It was therefore the reasonable heading under which to put something that was known to have happened in that reign, but whose exact date was unknown. The strictly chronological method of the Sagi makes it difficult to place such intractable material. The only material put under the same year after the entry about the wŏnhwa and the hwarang is a note about a monk who studied in China “at this period”, and the record of the king’s death, which would naturally close the account of his reign in the chronological telling of it.

One striking aspect of the accounts as they stand
2) In passing we may note the opinion of Ayukai Fusamosuke (鮎貝房之進) quoted in SKK, page 117, that the wŏnhwa were primitive kisaeng (妓生) if not actually courtesans (娼). Mishina dismisses the idea, which seems untenable in view of the description given of them in the two accounts translated above. Yet the choice by dancing and the insistence on beauty does suggest court minions as much as it does religious purposes.

3) e.g., Kim Chonggwŏn (金鍾權) Wanyŏk Samguk Sagi (完譯三國史記) Seoul, 1960, page 66.

4) Op. cit. ibid. See also above page 19 note 9.

5) Op. cit. page 245.

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is how little support they give to the popular notion of hwarang as an exclusively or even primarily military organisation. We read only that great generals arose from among the hwarang, and this fact is quoted only by the Sagi, a book written by a general. When we come later to examine the accounts of individual hwarang we shall find that there is a higher proportion of military accounts in the Sagi than in the Yusa. This is not surprising, but it does make it clear that it is an error to regard hwarang as merely a type of soldier or even of knight.

On the contrary, the religious character of the hwarang is emphasized by both accounts. Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn’s account must be read in the light of his date (the tenth century AD) and his own background, which was almost entirely Chinese, since he had spent a long time at the court of T’ang⁶⁾. Naturally he would wish to interpret hwarang in terms favourable to his own background—perhaps the first Korean to attempt to make Korean affairs look more respectable by giving them a Chinese explanation. In any case he does not claim that the hwarang have actually inherited Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, but only that they resemble them, as, it may be noted, have most of the religious systems devised by Koreans in subsequent centuries. Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn noticeably fails to mention any connection with older native Korean religion. This is not a conclusive argument in any sense, since he may well have thought that such unphilosophical religions as Korea had before were beneath his and his readers’ notice. It may be guessed that the Mannang of the title of Ch’oe Ch’iwon’s work was a hwarang as the nang character suggests, but this is no more than a reasonable surmise. The name is otherwise unknown. His reference to the Sŏnsa or “Fairy Chronicle” may possibly be a way of referring to the Hwarang Segi or “Hwarang Chronicle” quoted in the Sagi immediately
6) Samguk Sagi (三國史記 卷第四十六).
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before the passage from Ch’oe himself, but here again we are in the field of unsupportable conjecture.

The Hwarang Segi was written by Kim Taemun, and is known also from another reference towards the end of the Sagi. It is now lost, but it is believed that it may have been drawn on by Iryŏn in compiling the Samguk Yusa, as well as by Kim Pusik for the Sagi. Kim Taemun was a writer of the time of King Sŏngdŏk (聖德) of Silla. He became governor of Hansan-ju (漢山州) in 704⁷⁾.

But if Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn’s account treats hwarang as a religious, or at least a moral, institution, the quotation from the Chinese source tells us of nothing but their external beauty⁸⁾. This point is not made by the Yusa account. It is probably too much to assume, as some modern writers have done, that the meaning of the references to the prettiness of the boys is a figurative reference to their good moral character, since the phrase certainly means external beauty and there are the references to the fine costumes and cosmetics to enhance the suggestion of beautiful appearance as being an essential feature of the hwarang. It has been suggested that it was this question of beauty that was the reason for the name of “flower boy”.⁹⁾ Mishina discusses the question of whether the costume of the hwarang was actually the dress of women¹⁾. In spite of professor Ikeuchi’s entirely proper insistence that there is no conclusive evidence that this was so, Mishina adduces a Japanese parallel, the hekonise (兵子二歲) of Kyushu with their cosmetics and girl’s kimono, and since he favours a shamanistic explanation of the origin of hwarang, points out that the wearing of the clothes of

7) Samguk Sagi 卷四十六.

8) For a note on the source of this quotation see Yi Pyŏngdo, op. cit. p. 249.

9) E.g. Yi Yŏsŏng (李如星) Chosŏn Poksikko (朝鮮服飾考) Seoul 1947, page 348.

1) SKK pages 125ff.

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the other sex is a characteristic feature of shamanism in Korea and other parts of Northeast Asia. It is impossible to go further than this. The point cannot be proved conclusively either way, since the existence of parallels is never a satisfactory substitute for direct evidence, and this is lacking.

The Yusa account also lacks the reference to the dancing among the hills and streams, though it mentions the importance of music when it says that the real reason for Chinhŭng’s efforts with the hwarang was the need to reinstate pungwŏlto. In the Sagi account the theme of playing and singing and dancing in groups in the open is very marked. It is hard to resist the interpretation of this as being a basically shamanistic activity. Mishina again treats this matter as a parallel to initiation journeys and pilgrimages in related cultures, but also adduces evidence from other sources on hwarang that will suggest the essentially religious nature of this activity even if it is not possible to prove that the purpose of the dancing in distant mountains was actually shamanistic²⁾. This evidence will be dealt below with in the accounts of individual hwarang.
2) SKK pages 135ff.

3) 三國史記 卷三十二 Cf. also page 18 above.

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But possibly the most striking feature of the Yusa account is the description it gives of the effect of the hwarang system. In spite of the obscurities involved in the terms Five Constant Virtues and Six Chiefs, it is clear that all the references are to non-buddhist ideas, and derive from pre-buddhist Chinese literature. In the work of a buddhist monk this is surprising. It is a striking argument that he at least did not regard the hwarang as a primarily buddhist institution. This militates strongly against such a thesis as that of Kim Kwang- yŏng that the whole purpose of hwarang was purely buddhist⁴⁾.

Mr Kim does however, draw attention to the fact mentioned in the Yusa that King Chinhŭng, whose reign was a long one, was a devout buddhist, and shortly before he died “shaved his head and took the robe with the name of Pobun (法雲)⁵⁾”. And this encourages us to consider the general circumstances of Chinhŭng’s period for the sake of the light they may throw on the institution of the hwarang at that time⁶⁾.

Silla seems to have been comparatively late in receiving the full force of Chinese cultural influences, due to her geographical situation behind the mountain barriers of central Korea. But a great turning point in her history occurs in the early part of the sixth century. In 500 Chijŭng (智證) became king, and was the first ruler of Silla to adopt the Chinese title of wang (王). At the funeral of the previous king it was ordained that according to custom five men and five women should be buried alive with him, but oxen were substituted for the men and women. Then in 502 Chijŭng forbade the continuation of this cruel custom. In the next year it is recorded that he first decided

4) Cf. op. cit. above page 13, note 9, and below page 61.

5) Samguk Sagi 卷四

6) The references for the material in the following paragraph are in the fourth volume of the Sagi. For recent comments on the period see Suematsu, op. cit. page 19 note 9.
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which Chinese characters should be used in writing the name of the country (新羅). These two facts alone clearly mark a great step forward in the whole civilisation of the time.

Under his successor, Pŏphŭng(法興 514-540), however, even greater advances were made, and very rapidly indeed. In 520 a series of statutes was promulgated which codified the government and some at least of its customs, including the use of coloured robes as a sign of rank. In 528 Buddhism was declared the official religion of the state. In 532 the state of Karak (駕洛) was annexed, as the first move in Silla’s expansion and consolidation, finally in 536 the first Chinese style year title (年號) was used.

Thus the whole political structure of Silla was undergoing a great change immediately before the accession of king Chinhŭng in 540. It is also certain that there were important social changes, such as might be expected, going on at the same time. Early Silla does not seem to have been a purely patrilineal society. The marriage arrangements of the rulers were complex, but indicate that the female line was still important even though the rulers were males. However during the sixth century all this changed, and the society shifted to a more completely male-centred system.

Thus the hwarang came to prominence at a crucial period in the development of Silla, and were indeed, as the Yusa account stresses, a part of the national expansion and strengthening policy. To some extent one can expect to find traces of Chinese influence since these were the early days of Chinese cultural extension in the country. Thus the references to confucian moral principles are not surprising, although it would be doubtful that there was much depth in Korean confucian studies by this time. But of even greater interest is the change in the relative positions of the sexes. The switch from women to men seems to be typical of this age of transition. For age of transition [page 26] it naturally was, slowly building up to the emergence of the great culture of united Silla at the end of the century.