Samguk sagi

Samguk sagi
Author	Kim Pusik
Original title	삼국사기 (三國史記)
Language	Classical Chinese
Subject	History of Korea
Genre	Ancient history
Publication date	4 February 1146
Publication place	Goryeo
Korean name
Hangul	삼국사기
Hanja	三國史記
Lit.	History of the Three Kingdoms
RR	Samguk sagi
MR	Samguk sagi

Samguk sagi (Korean: 삼국사기; Hanja: 三國史記; lit. 'History of the Three Kingdoms') is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla. This copy is significant in that it was the first book ever to be compiled by a Korean government. Completed in 1145, it is well-known in Korea as the oldest surviving chronicle of Korean history.

The Samguk sagi is written in Classical Chinese, the written language of the literati of ancient Korea. Its compilation was ordered by King Injong of Goryeo (r. 1122–1146) and undertaken by a government official and historian named Kim Pusik with his team of junior scholars. The document has been digitized by the National Institute of Korean History and is available online with Modern Korean translation in Hangul.

Description

Samguk sagi is critical to the study of Korean history during the Three Kingdoms and Unified Silla periods. Not only because this work, and its Buddhist counterpart Samguk yusa, are the only remaining Korean sources for the period, but also because the Samguk sagi contains a large amount of information and details. For example, the translation tables given in Books 35 and 36 have been used for a tentative reconstruction of the former Goguryeo language.

Background

There were various motivating factors behind the compilation of the Samguk sagi in the 12th century. These may roughly be categorized as ideological and political. The ideological factors are made manifest in the work's preface, written by Kim Busik, where the civil historian states,

"Of today's scholars and high-ranking officials, there are those who are well-versed and can discuss in detail the Five Classics and the other philosophical treatises... as well as the histories of Qin and Han, but as to the events of our country, they are utterly ignorant from beginning to end. This is truly lamentable."

Sources for the text

The Samguk sagi was written on the basis of the Gu Samguksa (舊三國史, Old History of the Three Kingdoms), and other earlier historical records such as the Hwarang Segi (花郞世記, Annals of Hwarang), most of which are no longer extant.

Concerning external sources, no references are made to the Japanese chronicles, like the Kojiki (712) or the Nihon Shoki (720), chronicles of Japan. It is possible Kim Busik was ignorant of them or scorned to quote a Japanese source. In contrast, he lifts generously from the Chinese dynastic chronicles and even unofficial Chinese records, most prominently the Records of the Three Kingdoms (280–290), Book of Wei (554), Book of Jin (648), Old Book of Tang (945), New Book of Tang (1060), and the Zizhi Tongjian (1084).

Book 48. Meritorious. Hyangdeok (son), Seonggak (son), Silhye 실혜 (實兮) (poet), Mulgyeja 물계자 (soldier), Teacher Baekgyeol 백결 선생 (music), Prince Kim 검군, Kim Saeng 김생 (calligrapher) and Yo Gukil, Solgeo 솔거 (painter), Chiun (daughter), Seolssi (daughter), Domi (wife).

Book 49. Overthrows. Ch'ang Chori 창조리, Yŏn Kaesomun 연개소문

Book 50. Later Kings. Kung Ye 궁예, Kyŏn Hwŏn 견훤

Translations in Western languages

Portions of the work have appeared in various English language books and articles, notably:

Translation of the whole Silla bongi

Shultz, Edward J.; Kang, Hugh H.W.; Kane, Daniel C. (2012). 'The Silla Annals of the Samguk Sagi. Seongnam-si: The Academy of Korean Studies Press. p. 468. ISBN 978-8971058602.

Translation of the whole Goguryeo bongi

Shultz, Edward J.; Kang, Hugh H.W.; Kane, Daniel C.; Gardiner, Kenneth H.J. (2011). 'The Koguryo Annals of the Samguk Sagi. Seongnam-si: The Academy of Korean Studies Press. p. 300. ISBN 9788971057919.

Translation of the whole Baekje bongji

Best, Jonathan (2007). A History of the Early Korean Kingdom of Paekche [Baekje], together with an annotated translation of The Paekche Annals of the Samguk Sagi. Harvard East Asian Monographs. Vol. 256. Harvard University Asia Center. p. 555. ISBN 978-0674019577.

Isolated translations

Byington, Mark E. (1992). "Samguk Sagi Volume 48 Biographies Book 8" (PDF). Transactions of the Korea Branch, Royal Asiatic Society. 67: 71–81. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-05. Retrieved 2015-09-23.
Gardiner, Kenneth H.J. 1982. "Legends of Koguryŏ (I-II): Samguk Sagi, Annals of Koguryŏ." Korea Journal, 22(1): 60-69 and 22(2): 31-48. [translation of book one of the Goguryeo bongi].
Jamieson, John Charles. 1969. "The Samguk Sagi and the Unification Wars." Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley. [Translation of books 6 and 7 of the Silla bongi and eleven of the biographies, mostly of men of Silla].
Lee, Soyun, and Shin Jeongsoo. 2018. "Chapters 44 and 45 of the 'Samguk Sagi': An Annotated Translation of Biography [sic] of Eulji Mundeok and Others." The Review of Korean Studies, 21(2): 165-145. [translations of books 44 and 45 of the biographies section].
Na, Sanghoon, You Jinsook, and Shin Jeongsoo. 2018. "Chapter 41, 42 and 43 of the Samguk Sagi: An Annotated Translation of [sic] Biography of Kim Yusin." The Review of Korean Studies, 21(1): 191-262.

References

↑ 鄭, 麟趾 (4 February 1146). 高麗史 . 高麗 – via Wikisource.
↑ "Samguk sagi(History of the Three Kingdoms)". Heritage Search. Korea Heritage Service. Retrieved 2026-07-19.
↑ "보물 삼국사기 (三國史記) : 국가유산포털 - 문화재청". Heritage Portal : CULTURAL HERITAGE ADMINISTRATION (in Korean). Retrieved 2024-11-16.
↑ "삼국사기". 한국사 데이터베이스. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
↑ Beckwith 2007
↑ Lee 1992, p. 464
↑ Busik, Kim (1145). Samguk Sagi.
↑ Societas Koreana. "TOC of Silla's Records". Archived from the original on 2015-09-26. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
↑ Societas Koreana. "TOC of Goguryeo's Records". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
↑ HARVARD. "TOC of Baekje's Records".
↑ Shultz 2004, p. 3
↑ Lowensteinova 2012, p. 4
↑ Byington 1992, pp. 71–81

Sources

Books

Beckwith, Christopher (2007). Koguryo: The Language of Japan's Continental Relatives. Brill's Japanese Studies Library. Brill. p. 296. ISBN 9789047420286.
Kim, Kichung (1996). "Chap 4. Notes on the Samguk Sagi and Samguk yusa". An Introduction to Classical Korean Literature. Routledge. p. 256. ISBN 978-1563247866.
Lee, Peter H. (1992). Sourcebook of Korean Civilization. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 750. ISBN 978-0231079129.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
Lee, Ki-baik; Wagner, Eward W. (1984). A new History of Korea. Harvard University Press. p. 518. ISBN 978-0674615762.
Sin, Chaeho (1931). "조선상고사" [History of Ancient Korea, 2 vols]. Reprinted in 단재 신 채호 전집 [Collected works of Danjae Sin Chaeho] (in Korean). ed: 단재 신 채호 전집 편찬 위원회 (Compilation Committee), Seoul, Munjangsa, 1982.

Papers

Hong, Wontak, Pr.Em. Seoul National University (2009). "Ancient Korea-Japan Relations: Dating the Formative Years of the Yamato Kingdom (366-405 CE) by the Samguk-Sagi Records and Reinterpreting the Related Historic facts" (PDF). Open Area Studies Journal. 2: 12–29. doi:10.2174/1874914300902010012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-04-05. Retrieved 2015-09-23.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Lee, Hai-soon (1997). "Kim Pu-sik's View of Women and Confucianism: An Analytic Study of the Lives of Women in the Samguk Sagi" (PDF). Seoul Journal of Korean Studies. 10: 45–64..
McBride, Richard D. II. (August 1998). "Hidden Agendas in the Life Writings of Kim Yusin". Acta Koreana. 1: 101–142.
Shultz, Edward J. (2004). "An Introduction to the Samguk Sagi". Korean Studies. 28: 1–13. doi:10.1353/ks.2005.0026. S2CID 144403549. Archived from the original on November 18, 2007.
Lowensteinova, Myriam (2012). "Biographies of the underprivileged in Samguk Sagi chronicle" (PDF). 6th World Congress of Korean Studies, 25-26 Sep. 2012. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2015-09-23.

External links

The official website showing the original text as well as the translation in Korean Hangul (National Institute of Korean History)(in Korean)
"삼국 사기 (Samguk Sagi)" (in Korean). KHAAN. 1145. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-09-21.
"삼국사기 (Samguk Sagi)". National Institute of Korean History. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
"Full text on Wikisource". Retrieved 2018-07-18.

[1] 鄭, 麟趾 (4 February 1146). 高麗史 . 高麗 – via Wikisource.

[2] "Samguk sagi(History of the Three Kingdoms)". Heritage Search. Korea Heritage Service. Retrieved 2026-07-19.

[3] "보물 삼국사기 (三國史記) : 국가유산포털 - 문화재청". Heritage Portal : CULTURAL HERITAGE ADMINISTRATION (in Korean). Retrieved 2024-11-16.

[4] "삼국사기". 한국사 데이터베이스. Retrieved 3 January 2022.

[5] Beckwith 2007

[6] Lee 1992, p. 464

[Samguk_Sagi-7] Busik, Kim (1145). Samguk Sagi.

[8] Societas Koreana. "TOC of Silla's Records". Archived from the original on 2015-09-26. Retrieved 2021-12-31.

[9] Societas Koreana. "TOC of Goguryeo's Records". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2021-12-31.

[10] HARVARD. "TOC of Baekje's Records".

[11] Shultz 2004, p. 3

[12] Lowensteinova 2012, p. 4

[13] Byington 1992, pp. 71–81

Samguk sagi

Description

Background

Sources for the text

Contents

Silla's Records

Goguryeo's Records

Baekje's Records

Chronological Tables

Monographs

Biographies