Editing Hwarang (section)

===History===
With the consolidation and expansion of Silla and intensification of military rivalries among the [[Three Kingdoms of Korea|Three Kingdoms]] in the 6th century, the Silla court took a more active interest in the Hwarang. Hwarang groups were usually led by a youth of aristocratic standing, and the state appointed a high-ranking official to oversee the organization.

The Hwarang in the later 6th and 7th centuries trained in horsemanship, swordsmanship, archery, javelin and stone throwing, polo, and ladder-climbing.<ref>Joe, 70.</ref>  By the seventh century the organization had grown greatly in prestige and numbered several hundred bands.<ref>Joe, 69.</ref>

The ''Samguk Sagi'', compiled by the general and official [[Kim Bu-sik]], emphasizes the military exploits of certain Hwarang, while the ''Samguk Yusa'' emphasizes the group's Buddhist activities.<ref>Rutt, 21.</ref> The biographies section of the ''Samguk Sagi'' describes young Hwarang who distinguished themselves in the struggles against the [[Gaya confederacy]] and later [[Baekje]] and [[Goguryeo]]. According to the ''Hwarang Segi'', as cited in the ''Samguk Sagi'' and ''Haedong Goseungjeon'', “...able ministers and loyal subjects are chosen from them, and good generals and brave soldiers are born therefrom.” <ref>Peter H. Lee, 67.</ref>

The Hwarang were greatly influenced by [[Korean Buddhism|Buddhist]], [[Korean Confucianism|Confucian]], and [[shamanistic]] ideals. A Chinese official recorded, "They [Silla] choose fair sons from noble families and deck them out with cosmetics and fine clothes and call them Hwarang. The people all revere and serve them."<ref>Rutt, 17, citing the ''Samguk Sagi'' quoting the no longer extant ''Xinluo guoji'' (Account of the Country of Silla) by the Tang official Linghu Cheng, who had visited Silla in the mid-8th century and later wrote an account of the country.</ref>