Hyangga

Hyangga were poems written in a native writing system, composed in the Three Kingdoms, Unified Silla and early Goryeo periods of Korean history. Only a few have survived. The total number of extant hyangga ranges between 25 and 27, depending on whether certain 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 down 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 hyanggas.

The name hyangga is formed from the character for "back-country" or "rural village" (used by Silla people in describing their nation) and the character for "song." These poems are accordingly also sometimes known as "Silla songs."

Hyangga are characterized by a number of formal rules. The poems may consist of four, eight or ten lines. The ten-line poems are the most developed, structured into three sections with four, four, and two lines respectively. Many of the ten-line poems were written by Buddhist monks, thus Buddhist themes predominate the poems.