The Samguk yusa, Remnants of the Three Kingdoms, was compiled over a period of several years by the Buddhist monk Iryŏn (1206–1289). Quite deliberately assembled as a supplement to Kim Pu-sik’s Samguk sagi, the yusa draws together a wide assortment of myths, legends, genealogies, histories, Buddhist tales, observations by the compiler, and other materials. Of key significance among these, fourteen hyangga, native songs, are transcribed as Korean-language texts, using Chinese characters to convey meanings, sounds, and grammatical inflections, embedded in the literary Chinese narrative. In the following stories, “The Flower Offering Song” in “Suro,” Ch’ŏyong’s song, and Sŏdong’s in “King Mu” are all examples of hyangga. Additional song texts in the yusa such as the sea spirit song in the story of Lady Suro, like the “Song of the Oriole” from the Samguk sagi, were recorded in Chinese translations.
The yusa of the title—“remaining matters,” or “miscellany”—can be read as a reference to Kim Pu-sik’s work, meaning those historical details and oral, vernacular materials that the earlier work omitted. The phrase might also be read as making a contemporaneous, thirteenth-century reference to Korea’s precarious situation following the devastating Mongol invasions that began in 1231 and ended in 1259.