‘순정(純正)’을 통한 동아시아 단가로서 시조의 실현- 김억 「만엽집초역」을 중심으로 -

Abstract

Man'yoshu Choyeok is a collection of translations by Kim Eok, published in the Maeil Shinbo from July 28 to August 31, 1943. In this work, Kim Eok translated the waka poems from Japan's Man'yōshū into the Korean sijo form. This study examines Man'yoshu Choyeok, focusing on the reasons behind Kim Eok's translation of waka into the Korean sijo form, which he categorizes as a subgenre of what he calls “pure lyric poetry” as well as the significance of this approach. Kim Eok classified sijo as a subgenre of “pure lyric poetry” describing it as the most suitable poetic form for the unique language and rhythm of the Korean people. However, he argued that the existing sijo up to that point did not align with contemporary ideas and emotions, and therefore, he did not regard it as a modern poetic form. Thus, Kim Eok advocated for modernizing the essence of classical Chinese poetry by expressing it in the sijo form. He began translating Chinese poems with themes of “longing,” “love,” and “nature” into sijo. Moreover, the themes of “longing,” “love,” and “nature” in the translated sijo of classical Chinese poetry similarly appear in the translated sijo of waka. This demonstrates that “pure lyric poetry” is not a term limited to the Korean people but reflects emotions that encompass the broader East Asian cultural sphere. Kim Eok translated waka into sijo to explore the potential of sijo as a form of modern national literature by drawing upon the discourse of national literature previously developed through Japanese waka. And by preserving the tone of our language when translating waka into sijo, he sought to restore the waning status of our language and sijo during that era. Another issue in restoring the stature of sijo was the need to establish its fixed form. This was because, unlike waka and classical Chinese poetry, which had established fixed forms at the time, sijo had not yet secured a standardized form. Classical Chinese poetry and waka established their fixed forms through syllable count. For sijo to achieve the same status as hansi and waka, it also needed to find its standardized form based on syllable count. Thus, Kim Eok derived a standardized syllabic structure for sijo from the format of traditional sijo. By doing so, he elevated sijo to the same status as waka and classical Chinese poetry as an East Asian short verse form. Additionally, he rearranged the lines to fit the structure of sijo, thereby preserving its unique characteristics.