Yi Sunshin

PD Image
Portrait of Admiral Yi, drawn in 1952.

Yi Sunshin (이순신:李舜臣, April 28, 1545 – December 16, 1598) was a Korean admiral renowned for his naval victories against the invading Japanese during the Korean War of 1592-1598.

Family & early life

Yi Sunshin was born on April 28, 1545 in the Geoncheon-dong area of Seoul. Yi was the third child of the four sons begot by Yi Jeong and Chogyae Byeonssi. Despite their aristocratic yangban lineage, the family lived a modest life because Yi's father avoided pursuing the promising path of a Joseon Dynasty scholar official. The reason for this withdrawal of ambitions was Jeong's unpleasant memory of a violent political purge 20 years before, in which many government officials were killed, and many others, including Sunshin's grandfather, Yi Baek-rok, were demoted to the lower ranks.

The eldest son of the family was Heuishin; the second eldest, Yoshin; and the youngest, Ushin. When Chogyae Byeonssi was pregnant with her third child, Yi Baek-rok, who was now deceased, appeared to her in a dream and said, "that child will turn out to be extraordinary, so name him 'Sunshin'." Thus, like his brothers, Yi Sunshin was named a "vassal" (shin) of one of the sage kings of ancient China (in his case, Shun).

Not much is known about Yi's early childhood. The only significant detail regarding the time he grew up in Seoul is that he became friends with Yu Seongnyong, who later would become a high ranking scholar official and contribute to Yi's appointment to admiralty. After about 9 years in the capital city, Yi Sunshin followed his family to the Bam-bat-ma-eul village in Asan, where their economic hardships could be better managed with support from their relatives on the mother's side.

Yi was said to be well liked by the other children in the neighborhood despite his being a newcomer. Among the various fun activities that Yi and his friends pursued were the war games, in which Yi was consistently picked as a captain by his peers. Yi also enjoyed practicing archery. These boyish interests were rather a fitting contrast to his strict rearing at home, where Yi studied Chinese classics with his brothers.

When Yi was around 20 years old, he married Sangju Bangssi, who was the only daughter of Sangju Bangjin, a high-ranking officer in the military. After the marriage, when Bangjin made it known that Yi had potential in the military profession, Yi quit his Confucian studies and committed himself to a military curriculum. Yi formally began training for the military examination in October, 1566, at the age of 21. During the 6 years that he trained, Yi fathered 2 sons: his first son, Yi Hwae, in February, 1567, and, in February, 1571, Yi Ull, who would be renamed as Yi Yer by his father during the war.

Yi took the Byeolshi exam in August, 1572. In one of the tests, Yi made a huge blunder by falling off a horse while trying to string his bow. Although Yi was injured in his leg, he tied twigs of willow around his wound as remedy and finished the remainder of the exam. Despite this, Yi failed, but he prepared again for 4 more years and passed the much more difficult, triennial Siknyaunmoogwa exam in February, 1576, at the age of 31.

Pre-war military service

Yi Sunshin began his military service with his assignment to the very cold and remote region of Samsoo in the Hamgyeong Province. There Yi was to maintain a small fort and protect the civilians from the constant threat of the the Jurchen tribesmen raiding from across the border. Because it was peacetime, and the expectations were relaxed, Yi's earnest efforts caught the attention of his superior Yi Hoo-baek, and in 3 years Yi was promoted to the grade 8 status of a magistrate at the military training center in the capital city. Yi's various responsibilities included the administration of military exams, the education and the training of the soldiers, and the routine management of employments and promotions within the military. Yi maintained a strictly fair approach to his appointments of ranks and positions, and people around him took much delight when Yi flatly rejected an unfair request from one of his superiors to lift a friend to a high-level office. Yi's incorruptibility even reached the ears of Kim Gwee-yeong, who held the position of the Defense Secretary, the highest within the military bureaucracy. Kim offered his daughter to Yi for marriage, only to be impressed further by Yi's courteous refusal and his explanation that the marriage would give him an unfair political advantage. Later in October, Yi was made assistant to the army commander of the Chungcheong Province, and, in June 1580, Yi was transferred to the Jeolla Province, where he handled naval affairs for the first time, in the grade 4 rank. It is important to note that the "transfer" from the army to the navy was a pattern that was familiar to the Koreans, since their army and navy were not treated as separate branches of the military.

The provincial governor, Son Sik, had heard false and malicious rumors about Yi and was determined to catch him as a fraud. Therefore, on one of his inspection tours, the Governor summoned Yi and asked him to explain various military strategies. When Yi did explicate them correctly, Son apologized for his misunderstanding. Yi Sunshin was not as fortunate with the two men who, one after the other, occupied the position of the Jeolla Left Naval Commander. The first admiral, Saung Bak, ordered Yi to cut down a large Odongnamoo tree in Yi's official residence to make himself a Gaumoon-go, a stringed Korean musical instrument. However, Yi disobeyed the admiral on the ground that the tree was a national property that could not be taken for individual use. By the time this issue had subsided, Saung was replaced by Yi Yong, who was probably influenced by Saung and became hostile to Yi Sunshin. Yi Yong soon proceeded on an inspection tour to the 5 navy posts under his command. Although the admiral witnessed a considerable amount of shifts that were absent in Yeodo, Sado, Nokdo, and Bangdap, he only reported Yi Sunshin for just 3 such cases that he found in Balpo. Yi Yong hastily withdrew the charge, when Yi Sunshin began his own investigation of the 4 other posts. Yi Yong again tried to discredit Yi Sunshin in an official evaluation, but the provincial inspector general intervened and nullified the report. Yi Yong and Yi Sunshin eventually came to terms

A survey conducted by Sooncheonhyang University in 2005 indicated that Koreans in general regard Yi Sunshin to be the greatest figure in Korean history.