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 of the four sons begot by Yi Jeong (이정:李貞) and Chogyae Byeonssi (초계변씨:草溪卞氏). Despite their aristocratic yangban lineage, the family lived a modest life, since Yi's father opted to avoid pursuing the promising path of a Joseon Dynasty scholar official. The reason for this withdrawal of ambitions was Jeong's bitter 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 (이백록:李百祿), were demoted to the lower ranks.

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 was named a "vassal" (shin) of one of the sage kings of ancient China (in this case, Shun).

Not much is known about Yi's early life. The only significant detail regarding the following 9 years in Seoul is that Yi became friends with Yu Seongnyong, who later would become a high ranking scholar official and would promote Yi to admiralty.

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