flower boys but referring to an elite warrior group of male youth) of the Silla kingdom in ancient Korea.
These manuscripts, owned by Park Chang-hwa and later by his student Kim Jong-jin, were revealed in two parts: a 32-page extract in 1989 and a 162-page "mother text" in 1995.
The Hwarang segi survived to the time that Kim Busik 金富軾 (1075–1151) compiled the Samguk sagi, but is believed to have been lost since the 13th century, because no reference to the Hwarang segi was made after reference to the text found in monk Gakhun's 覺訓 Haedong goseung jeon 海東高僧傳 (Lives of Eminent Korean Monks, ca.
(1889~1962) The first manuscript, which was made public in 1989, is typically called the "extract" (balchwebon, 발췌본, 拔萃本), and contains a preface and short accounts of the first fifteen pungwolju (풍월주, 風月主) or leaders of the hwarang.
Both manuscripts are in the handwriting of Park Chang-hwa 朴昌和(1889–1962), who was skilled in literary Chinese and also worked for the Imperial Library in Tokyo during the Colonial period.