In 1598, the seven-year Imjin War nears an end as Wae invaders prepare to withdraw from Joseon. Admiral Yi Sun-shin leads an allied fleet of Joseon and Ming ships to annihilate the Wae army. Joseon, Ming, and Wae forces clash at Noryang Strait, the deadly sea where Admiral Yi fights his last valiant battle. Director: … [Read More]
People in History: Yi Sun-shin (이순신 1545-1598)
Brief review: Samuel Hawley — The Imjin War
Samuel Hawley: The Imjin War – Japan’s Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China 2nd Edition, Conquistador Press 2014 Originally published by Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch, Seoul, 2005 How is it that a 664 page book only merits a brief review? Well, because as an historical book a proper review should only … [Read More]
2016 travel diary 15: Song of the Sword and Roaring Currents – the two sides of Myeongnyang
Munnae-myeon, Haenam-gun, Jeollanam-do, 18 May 2016, 4:30pm. The battle of Myeongnyang, in October 1597, was Yi Sun-shin’s penultimate victory, and the last one that he came out of alive. His final victory, the Battle of Noryang, came in December 1598 in the narrow strait between Namhae and the mainland, when a stray bullet killed him. … [Read More]
2012 Travel Diary 7: Yi Sun-shin — military genius, hero, poet
Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, Monday 26 March 2012. The brief ferry ride from Tongyeong to Hansando traverses the sheltered sound where Admiral Yi Sun-shin won a famous victory over the Japanese navy on 14 August 1592. On the day I crossed, it was difficult to imagine the tumult of a battle in which 47 Japanese ships were … [Read More]
2012 Travel Diary 6: Tongyeong harbour
Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, Monday 26 March 2012. It’s another beautiful, crisp spring morning. The sea is calm, the sky is cloudless, but the temperature out of the sun is not far above freezing. The light is perfect for a few early photographs of the view from the hotel and from its waterside terrace, though it’s tricky … [Read More]
The Turtle Ship
There is a story that when the nascent Korean shipping industry was attempting to raise capital, Barclays asked what the Koreans could provide in the way of security for the loan. The Korean executive is said to have taken a 500 won bill from his pocket, which featured the turtle ship of Yi Sun-sin, and … [Read More]
Book Review: Admiral Yi Sun-sin
Admiral Yi Sun-sin: A brief overview of his life and achievements Korean Spirit and Culture Promotion Project, 2006 A quick and easy read setting out the achievements of Admiral Yi in the Imjin war against Japan. As well as telling Yi’s story (sometimes using Yi’s own war diary and memorials to the throne), the book … [Read More]
Admiral Yi enters cyberspace in history book fightback
The Admiral who gave the Japanese a bloody nose in the Imjin War has no fewer than three websites to his name: www.koreanischerheld.com exclusively for German readership, www.koreanpatriot.net for a multilingual audience (including English), and www.koreanhero.net which is an html version of a glossy book on his achievements. He himself can be contacted, through some timewarp … [Read More]
Stephen Turnbull: Samurai Invasion – Japan’s Korean War 1592-98
Cassell, 2002, 256pp Shows how factionalism in the Korean court, complacency and incompetence led to the easy conquest of Korea by Japan in 1592. Well illustrated, with maps and photographs, this book plots the course of the 6-year occupation of Korea at the end of the 16th century, and the brutal modes of warfare (Korea’s … [Read More]