Hwa-rang

In later centuries, the king of Koryo made Taekkyon training mandatory for all soldiers, and annual Taekkyon contests were held among all members of the Silla population on May 5th of the Lunar Calendar.

The rank of Hwarang usually meant a man had achieved the position of a teacher of the martial arts and commanded 500-5,000 students called Hwarang-Do. A Kuk-Son was the master and held the rank of general in the army. Hwarang fighting spirit was ferocious and was recorded in many literary works including the Sam-Guk-Sagi, written by Kim Pu-Sik in 1145, and the Hwarang-Segi. The latter was said to have contained the records of lives and deeds of over 200 individual Hwarang (Sadly, it was lost during the Japanese occupation in the 20th century). The zeal of the Hwarang helped Silla become the world's first "Buddha Land" and led to the unification of the three kingdoms of Korea. Buddhist principles were so ingrained in the code of the Hwarang that a large number of monks participated in the Hwarang-Do. During times of war, they would take up arms to die for Silla.

Hwarang code The Hwarang code was established in the 3Oth year of King Chin-Hung's rule. Two noted Hwa-rang warriors, Kwi-San and Chu-Hang, sought out the famous warrior and Buddhist monk, Wong-Gwang Popsa, in Kusil temple on Mount Unmun and asked that he give them lifetime commandments that men who could not embrace the secluded life of a Buddhist monk could follow. The commandments, based on Confucian and Buddhist principles, were divided into five rules (loyalty to the king and country, obedience to one's parents, sincerity, trust and brotherhood among friends, never retreat in battle, and selectivity and justice in the killing of living things), and nine virtues (humanity, justice, courtesy, wisdom, trust, goodness, virtue, loyalty, and courage).