This essay describes the Sinitic context of the Korean Samguk yusa by analyzing the extant works in what may be loosely called the Chinese yishi genre. Some yishi were biographical in content, while others were in the form of diaries recounting momentous times or unofficial histories of reign periods. Yishi were commonly written by or about people in or institutions of the central government. The title yishi is obviously generic, but it must have suggested something to the Chinese writers and compilers who deployed it. The extant yishi most similar to the Samguk yusa are collections of informal narratives and miscellaneous anecdotes; however, the Samguk yusa is unique in its coverage of a longer period of time and its organization.