『문화수려집(文華秀麗集)』에 보이는 발해사절시

The Balhae-Delegate Poems in Bunka Shureishu

In the second emperor-compilation of Chinese poems Bunka Shureishu, there are 12 Chinese poems featuring the 17th Balhae delegates who arrived in Japan in September of 814. In this article, we analyze the exchanges concerning Chinese poems between the Balhae delegates and culturally and educationally sophisticated people in Japan, as depicted in Bunka Shureishu. This analysis is based on the description of the 17th Balhae delegates in the 24th and 25th volumes of Nihon Koki. Bunka Shureishu comprise five poems by the delegate Hyoryum Oh(王孝廉), one poem by Injung Seok(釋仁貞), and six poems by the Japanese poets. These 12 poems were composed at the feasts of the Imperial Court, at Korokan (鴻臚館) in Kyoto, and so on. This compilation includes a ritual poem composed by a Balhae delegate for the Japanese Imperial Court, a poem depicting intimate relations between the Balhae delegates and Japanese poets, and a poem depicting the nostalgic feeling of the Balhae delegates. In this way, this article shows that the achievements of the 17th Balhae delegates, which have been known only due to the existing historical records, can be presented in a concrete and vivid manner through the analysis of Chinese poems included in Bunka Shureishu.