How did collections of sijo preserve songs that had been transmitted orally?

During the 18th century, the active participation of the wihangin (a group including government functionaries, petty clerks, and village residents) in the creation and performance of sijo led to the development of formal singing groups. These professional singers established principles for composing the form and produced organized collections, such as Kim Su-Jang’s Haedong kayo (“Songs of Korea”), An Min-Yŏng’s Kagok wŏllyu (“Anthology of Korean Songs”), and Kim Ch’ŏng-T’aek’s Ch’ŏnggu yŏngŏn (“Songs of Green Hills”).1

These collections were instrumental in preserving Korean literature because they compiled poems that had previously been transmitted only through oral tradition, alongside songs that had been recorded in earlier book forms. By integrating these oral works with new compositions by contemporary authors, these anthologies contributed significantly to the elevation and formalization of the sijo genre.1