Sugungga

Sugungga is one of the five surviving stories of the Korean pansori storytelling tradition. The other stories are Simcheongga, Heungbuga, Jeokbyeokga, and Chunhyangga. Sugungga is considered to be more exciting and farcical than the other pansoris because of its personification of animals. The satire is more frank and humorous. It has serious parts as well in the characters of the king and loyal retainers. Therefore Sugungga is regarded as the "small Jeokbyeokga;" so Pansori singers sing those parts earnestly. Sugungga is based on the story of the Dragon King of the Southern Sea, a softshell turtle, and a wily rabbit. This story is believed to have stemmed from a tale "Gutojiseol" (龜兎之說, also pronounced "Gwitojiseol") from the section on Kim Yu-sin from the Silla dynasty in Samguk sagi, and possibly from The Monkey and the Crocodile from the Jataka tales, an Indian literature, The theme of this story is the relationship of subject to king. The play was popularized by the South Korean band Leenalchi who uploaded their live action performance of the story on YouTube. The video went viral in South Korea, amassing over 6 million views as of January 2021.