Yi Sun-sin

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Statue in Seoul
Statue in Seoul

Korean spelling
Hangeul 이순신
Hanja 李舜臣
Revised
Romanization 		I Sun-sin
McCune-
Reischauer 		I Sunsin

Yi Sun-sin (born April 28, 1545 in Hanseong ; † December 16, 1598 ; also Romanized I Sun-sin ) was a Korean military leader and admiral in the 16th century. He temporarily led the Korean naval forces during the Imjin War between 1592 and 1598 and made a decisive contribution to warding off the invasion.

Life and military career

Yi Sun-sin was born on April 28, 1545 in Hanseong , the capital of Korea . Although of noble origin, neither his grandfather Yi Baeg-nok nor his father Yi Jeong held any political office because the Joseon government at the time did not appeal to them. According to historical records, Yi is said to have developed a natural talent for strategy and military action very early on as a boy. The family later moved to Asan, where Yi spent much of his later life.

Yi married in 1564 and had three sons: Yi Hoe (1567), Yi Yo (1571) and Yi Myon (1577). After finally passing the qualification test for military service in 1577 (after an initial failure four years earlier in which he fell off his horse and broke his leg), Yi began his career as an officer in the north of the country, where he served until 1586. At the time, Yi gained military experience during the Jurchen incursions, which he ended with a decisive victory in 1583. After a brief period as head of a training camp and military magistrate, he was transferred to the fleet in Jeolla Province in the south in 1591 , where a Japanese invasion under Toyotomi Hideyoshi was expected. During this time he began the development of the so-called turtle ships , which should compensate for the numerical advantage of the Japanese through their strong armament.

The invasion took place in the spring of 1592 near Busan in southeast Korea with an army of 700 ships and 160,000 soldiers who, thanks to the self-confidence of the Joseon government, the overcomplicated military bureaucracy of Joseon and the poor training of the Korean land forces, were able to reach the capital within 20 days. The much smaller Korean Yi Sun-sin's fleet of about 100 ships (including about two dozen turtle ships; other sources assume that the number of turtle ships used was much lower) successfully attacked smaller groups of Japanese ships. Yi used the information from local fishermen about the coastal waters and the positions of the enemy troops as well as extensive armament of cannons on his battleships in order to inflict serious losses on the Japanese at sea and thus significantly impede the supplies of the invading troops.

In 1593 peace negotiations broke out after the Sino-Korean counterattack, and the Japanese only had a bridgehead at Busan during the four-year armistice that followed. Yi was denounced at this time by an intrigue of the Japanese and his personal rivals because he had evaded a battle against the Japanese fleet in 1596, because he considered the corresponding orders to be impracticable. He was sentenced to the death penalty for high treason. Since Yi had gained great sympathy from both the people and the military because of his past achievements and his character, the sentence - also through the intercession of Yi's childhood friend, Prime Minister Ryu Seong-ryong - was changed to a demotion in connection with a torture sentence and Yi demoted to Ordinary Soldier. Despite this injustice and the death of his mother, who died from the rigors of her journey to see her son, Yi endured his fate with rare dignity and steadfastness, and his new superiors also treated him very respectfully. In his place, his rival Won Gyun was appointed admiral of the fleet.

In 1597 Hideyoshi began another invasion of Korea, but this time it was less successful. Although the Japanese achieved a victory at sea , in which almost the entire Korean fleet was destroyed and Won Gyun was killed, it was precisely this that put the necessary pressure on the king to reinstate his most capable commander. Yi Sun-sin was ordered back to the post of supreme commander of the fleet and gathered the remains of the fleet, which now consisted of only 13 ships. Due to the excellent use of the topography and the ocean currents in the coastal waters, I succeeded in inflicting a devastating defeat on the Japanese fleet (which at that time consisted of about 333 ships) in the Battle of Myongnyang on October 26, 1597 , without even one of its losing your own ships. This overwhelming victory and the onset of winter gave the Koreans some breathing space, which they used to rebuild their fleet. In addition, the Koreans received extensive military support from China, which helped them to gradually push back the enemy on land.

Eventually, after Hideyoshi's death in September 1598, the Japanese had to withdraw. Yi Sun-sin was fatally wounded by a musket ball in one of the final battles of the war, the Battle of Noryang Road on December 16, 1598. In order not to demoralize the fleet at the height of the battle, the dying Yi asked his son Hoe and nephew Wan, both of whom were under his command, to keep his death a secret until the end. The battle was fought to the end and ended in victory for the Koreans.

Contemporary and modern views by Yi Sun-sin

Statue in Busan
Korean Memorial 100 Won coin, commemorating Admiral Yi Sun-sin, 1970

During his lifetime, Yi Sun-sin was the victim of internal intrigues several times because his honesty, stoicism and military successes often clashed with his jealous and corrupt superiors. The demotion that occurred in the course of the double agent affair of 1597 was just one example in a long line of such punishments. As the commander of the Left Chosalla Fleet Association, he often had to resort to his own initiative and his talent for improvisation in order to be able to equip and train his fleet and his men, as the government all too often refused to grant him any help. Many of the honors by which Yi is known today were not given to him until after his death.

Today, however, Yi Sun-sin is revered as the greatest hero and most brilliant military strategist of the Koreans, both in North and South Korea , where numerous shrines stand in his honor. Foreign military leaders have also shown their respect for Yi, including the Japanese Tōgō Heihachirō and the British admiral George Alexander Ballard ; Yi is often compared to Admiral Horatio Nelson .

There are prominent statues of Yi Sun-sin in Seoul and Busan . The Yi Sun-sin Bridge was completed near the city of Yeosu in 2012 .

There are also numerous depictions of Yi Sun-sin's life and military career in literature, film and television, mainly from Korea. Among other things, the following titles are known so far:

  • Seong-ung Yi Sun-sin (1962 black and white, 1971 in color)
  • Cheon Gun ( Kor. 천군 , 天 軍 ; Eng . Soldiers of the sky ); German title "Army of the Worlds" (2005)
  • a 104-part television drama series, Immortal Yi Soon-shin ( 불멸 의 이순신 ), produced by KBS (2004-05)
  • Myeongryangm Heuiori Bada ( Kor. 명량 , German: The Battle of Myongnyang ); international title " The Admiral - Roaring Currents " (2014)

Sea battles led by Yi

Yi Sun-sin participated in at least the following battles:

heritage

In the period from January 1, 1592 to November 17, 1598, the admiral kept a war diary, Nanjung Ilgi . This was declared World Document Heritage in 2013 .

See also

literature

  • Jung-Ja Holm and Diamant Sutra recitation group: Admiral Yi Soon-shin: A brief overview of his life and work . Korean Spiritual and Cultural Series; 1. Pohang, Yonghwa Verlag, 2007. ISBN 0-9779613-0-3 .
  • Stephen Turnbull: Samurai Invasion - Japan's Korean War 1592-1598 , Cassell, London 2002, ISBN 0-304-35948-3
  • Yang Sook Gründel b. Yi by Deoksu, translation: The War Diary, Nanjung Ilgi by Admiral Sun-Shin Yi by Deoksu. Central printing house of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 2012, ISBN 3-00-017418-4 .

Web links

Commons : Yi Sun-sin  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Admiral Yi Sun-sin - an unforgettable name. KBS World Radio , April 30, 2010, archived from the original on September 18, 2011 ; Retrieved November 25, 2016 (original website no longer available).
  2. ^ Admiral Yi Sun-sin - A Korean Hero . KoreanHero.net , archived from the original on September 28, 2011 ; accessed on November 25, 2016 (English, original website no longer available).
  3. ↑ Alain Burrese: Admiral Yi Sun-shin , Korea Herald March 19, 1997 (English).
  4. ↑ Jung-Ja and Diamant Sutra Recitation Group Holm (Ed.): Admiral Yi Soon-Shin. A brief overview of his life and work , pp. 63–64.
  5. ↑ Nanjung Ilgi: War Diary of Admiral Yi Sun-sin. In: Memory of the World - Register. UNESCO , 2013, accessed June 20, 2013 .
personal data
SURNAME Yi, Sun-sin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES I, Sun-sin; 이순신 (Hangeul); 李舜臣 (Hanja)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Korean military leader and admiral
DATE OF BIRTH April 28, 1545
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanseong
DATE OF DEATH December 16, 1598