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Hwarang
Hwarang, also known as Hwarang Corps, and Flowering Knights, were an elite warrior group of male youth in Silla, an ancient kingdom of the Korean Peninsula that lasted until the 10th century. There were educational institutions as well as social clubs where members gathered for all aspects of study, originally for arts and culture as well as religious teachings stemming mainly from Korean Buddhism. Chinese sources referred only to the physical beauty of the "Flower Youths". The history of the hwarang was not widely known until after the National Liberation Day of Korea in 1945, after which the hwarang became elevated to a symbolic importance. The Hwarang were also referred to as ''Hyangdo'' ("fragrant ones" or "fragrant disciples" – 향도; 香徒), the word hwarang and its colloquial derivatives being used for everything from playboy to shaman or husband of a female shaman. The word remained in common use until the 12th century but with more derogatory connotations. Traditiona ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hwarang
Hwarang, also known as Hwarang Corps, and Flowering Knights, were an elite warrior group of male youth in Silla, an ancient kingdom of the Korean Peninsula that lasted until the 10th century. There were educational institutions as well as social clubs where members gathered for all aspects of study, originally for arts and culture as well as religious teachings stemming mainly from Korean Buddhism. Chinese sources referred only to the physical beauty of the "Flower Youths". The history of the hwarang was not widely known until after the National Liberation Day of Korea in 1945, after which the hwarang became elevated to a symbolic importance. The Hwarang were also referred to as ''Hyangdo'' ("fragrant ones" or "fragrant disciples" – 향도; 香徒), the word hwarang and its colloquial derivatives being used for everything from playboy to shaman or husband of a female shaman. The word remained in common use until the 12th century but with more derogatory connotations. Traditiona ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hwarang Segi
Hwarang segi (lit. ''Annals of Hwarang'' or ''Generations of the Hwarang'') was a historical record of the Hwarang (lit. flower boys but referring to an elite warrior group of male youth) of the Silla kingdom in ancient Korea. It is said to have been written by Silla historian Kim Daemun 金大問 ( fl. 704) in the reign of Seongdeok the Great (r. 702~737). The ''Hwarang segi'' survived to the time that Kim Busik 金富軾 (1075–1151) compiled the ''Samguk sagi'', but is believed to have been lost since the 13th century, because no reference to the ''Hwarang segi'' was made after reference to the text found in monk Gakhun's 覺訓 ''Haedong goseung jeon'' 海東高僧傳 (Lives of Eminent Korean Monks, ca. 1215). However, two handwritten manuscripts of a text titled ''Hwarang segi'' were suddenly made public in 1989. It had been owned by a man named Park Chang-hwa, who worked at the Japanese Imperial Household Library during the Japanese Colonial period. The manuscript was kept ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silla
Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Founded by Hyeokgeose of Silla, of the Park family, the Korean dynasty was ruled by the Gyeongju Gim (Kim) (김, 金) clan for 586 years, the Miryang Bak (Park) (박, 朴) clan for 232 years and the Wolseong Seok (석, 昔) clan for 172 years. It began as a chiefdom in the Samhan confederacies, once allied with Sui China and then Tang China, until it eventually conquered the other two kingdoms, Baekje in 660 and Goguryeo in 668. Thereafter, Unified Silla occupied most of the Korean Peninsula, while the northern part re-emerged as Balhae, a successor-state of Goguryeo. After nearly 1,000 years of rule, Silla fragmented into the brief Later Three Kingdoms of Silla, Later Baekje, and Taebong, handing over power to Goryeo in 935. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samguk Sagi
''Samguk Sagi'' (, ''History of the Three Kingdoms'') is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla. The ''Samguk Sagi'' is written in Classical Chinese, the written language of the literati of ancient Korea, and its compilation was ordered by King Injong of Goryeo (r. 1122-1146) and undertaken by the government official and historian Kim Busik () and a team of junior scholars. Completed in 1145, it is well known in Korea as the oldest surviving chronicle of Korean history. The document has been digitized by the National Institute of Korean History and is available online with Modern Korean translation in Hangul and original text in Classical Chinese. Background In taking on the task of compiling the ''Samguk Sagi'' ("compiling" is more accurate than "writing" because much of the history is taken from earlier historical records), Kim Busik was consciously modeling his actions on Chinese Imperial traditions, just as he modeled the history’s f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wonhwa
The Wonhwa (original flowers) were a class of female warrior cadets in 6th-century Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. It is not clear to what extent they ever engaged in battle. Created in the reign of King Jinheung, the first group of Wonhwa consisted of about 300 young girls chosen for their beauty and skill. Their leaders were two women. However, after one of them committed murder, the wonhwa class was abolished, and replaced by the all-male Hwarang. Subsequently, the Wonhwa title was granted to female spiritual leaders of the Hwarang. "The term Won Hwa is often incorrectly used to represent a single individual; in fact, Won Hwa was a group of highly revered Buddhist nuns who spiritually guided these Buddhist monastic warriors." Some have suggested that ''wonhwa'' might be the origin of the later kisaeng class, but little evidence exists to support this theory. The first two women to be nominated for Wonhwa were the leaders of the two bands of Wonhwa, Nammo (南 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jinheung Of Silla
Kim Sammaekjong (526–576; reign 540–576) was the 24th monarch of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He followed King Beopheung (r. 514–540) and was followed by King Jinji (r. 576–579). Jinheung was the nephew / grandson of King Beopheung. King Jinheung was one of the greatest kings of Silla, and was responsible for expanding Silla territory immensely. He and King Seong 26th king of Baekje, struggled with each other over the Han River valley. Jinheung won this struggle and expanded Silla's territory immensely. Rise to the throne King Jinheung of Silla rose to the throne at a young age when his predecessor and paternal uncle / maternal grandfather, Beopheung, died. Since he was too young to rule a kingdom at the time, his mother Queen Jiso acted as regent. When he became of age, he began to rule independently. One of his first acts as true king of Silla was to appoint a man named Kim Isabu as Head of Military Affairs, which occurred in 541. Jinheung adopted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Korean Buddhism
Korean Buddhism is distinguished from other forms of Buddhism by its attempt to resolve what its early practitioners saw as inconsistencies within the Mahayana Buddhist traditions that they received from foreign countries. To address this, they developed a new holistic approach to Buddhism that became a distinct form, an approach characteristic of virtually all major Korean thinkers. The resulting variation is called ''Tongbulgyo'' ("interpenetrated Buddhism"), a form that sought to harmonize previously arising disputes among scholars (a principle called ''hwajaeng'' 和諍). Centuries after Buddhism originated in India, the Mahayana tradition arrived in China through the Silk Road in the 1st century CE via Tibet; it then entered the Korean peninsula in the 3rd century during the Three Kingdoms Period, from where it was transmitted to Japan. In Korea, it was adopted as the state religion of 3 constituent polities of the Three Kingdoms Period, first by the Goguryeo (also know ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goguryeo
Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most of the Korean peninsula, large parts of Manchuria and parts of eastern Mongolia and Inner Mongolia. Along with Baekje and Silla, Goguryeo was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. It was an active participant in the power struggle for control of the Korean peninsula and was also associated with the foreign affairs of neighboring polities in China and Japan. The ''Samguk sagi'', a 12th-century text from Goryeo, indicates that Goguryeo was founded in 37 BC by Jumong (), a prince from Buyeo, who was enthroned as Dongmyeong. Goguryeo was one of the great powers in East Asia, until its defeat by a Silla–Tang alliance in 668 after prolonged exhaustion and internal strife caused by the death of Yeon Gaesomun (). After its fall, its territory w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beopheung Of Silla
Beopheung of Silla (r. 514–540 AD) was the 23rd monarch of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He was preceded by King Jijeung (r. 500–514) and succeeded by King Jinheung. By the time of his reign, Buddhism had become fairly common in Silla, as it had been introduced much earlier by Goguryeo monks during King Nulji's reign. One of King Beopheung's ministers, a man named Ichadon, was a Buddhist convert who had even shaved his head and took the tonsure. He constantly implored the king to adopt Buddhism as the state religion, and in fact King Beopheung himself had become fond of Buddha's teachings. However, the other ministers of Silla were greatly opposed to this, and expressed such defiance to the king. Beopheung, having been persuaded by his ministers, was at a crossroads, and encountered great reluctance to change. At this time, Ichadon suggested his own martyrdom and pleaded with the king to execute him in public for the cause of Buddhism. This the king refused t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Won-gwang
Won Gwang (541~630?), also known as Won Gwang Beop Sa (圓光法士) meaning "Won Gwang Teacher of the Law", was the name of a renowned Buddhist monk, scholar, and teacher of the Silla kingdom during the reign of King Jinpyeong. His layname was Seol (설 hanja: 薛) or Bak (박 hanja: 朴). Like a great number of other Korean Buddhist monks of the 6th-8th centuries, Won Gwang traveled to China in search of a more thorough grounding in the sacred texts of Buddhism. In 589 Wongwang went to Sui China, where for eleven years he was educated in the major texts of both Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism. Won Gwang returned to Silla in 600 and promulgated the Mahayana form of Buddhism. His method was to teach the faith to the common people free of complex jargon and employing common words.Chae, Taeg-su, "The United Silla Period: the Golden Age of Buddhism." In ''The History and Culture of Buddhism in Korea'' (Seoul:Dongguk University Press, 1993), p. 81. Won Gwang is best known for his " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samgungnyusa
''Samguk yusa'' () 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." 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. Samguk yusa is a history book which is composed of five volumes in total and is divided into nine parts within the five volumes. The samguk yusa can be described to the documentation of tales and legends, which are categorised by the two parts such as extraordinary historical events and diverse Buddhist narratives. This book deals with various historical sources such as tales of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baekje
Baekje or Paekche (, ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BC to 660 AD. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeo's founder Jumong and So Seo-no, at Wiryeseong (present-day southern Seoul). Baekje, like Goguryeo, claimed to succeed Buyeo, a state established in present-day Manchuria around the time of Gojoseon's fall. Baekje alternately battled and allied with Goguryeo and Silla as the three kingdoms expanded control over the peninsula. At its peak in the 4th century, Baekje controlled most of the western Korean peninsula, as far north as Pyongyang, and may have even held territories in China, such as in Liaoxi, though this view is controversial. It became a significant regional sea power, with political and trade relations with China and Japan. Baekje was a great maritime power; its nautical skill, which made it the Phoenicia of East Asia, was instrumental i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
