Yi Sun-sin

Admiral Yi is remembered for his numerous victories fighting the Japanese during Hideyoshi's Invasions of Korea. In 1592, Toyotomi Hideyoshi gave the order to invade Korea, thinking to sweep through the peninsula and use it as a forward base to conquer China. After the attack on Busan, Yi began his naval operations from Yeosu, his headquarters. Quickly, he won the Battle of Okpo, Battle of Sacheon, and several others. The string of victories made the Japanese generals suddenly wary of the Korean threat at sea.

Hideyoshi was fully aware of the need to control the seas during the invasion. Having failed to hire two Portuguese galleons to help him, he increased the size of his own fleet to 700 vessels, assuming that the Koreans would fight hand-to-hand and be easily overwhelmed. This would not be the case since Korean ships had an advantage of heavy cannons.

There were several reasons why Yi was so successful fighting the Japanese fleets. First, Yi prepared for the war, which he predicted. Yi successfully planned and built the Turtle Ship, which was a large factor in his victories. Second, the Koreans had a secure knowledge of the territory of the south Korean coast, and Admiral Yi planned his battles using sea tides and narrow straits to his advantage. Furthermore, Yi was a also great leader, and he kept Korean morale up even when news of Korean losses on land came. Another reason why the Korean navy was overall better than the Japanese fleet was that Korean panoksons were structurally stronger than Japanese ships, as mentioned already. Korean panoksons had strong hulls and could carry at least 20 cannons, compared to the Japanese 1 or 2. Japanese cannons were also inferior to Korean cannons in range and power.

Yi's brilliance as a strategist emerged during the war and his leadership broadened. For example, at the Battle of Myeongnyang, Yi proved victorious in the battle with 13 ships, while the Japanese had over 300. Yi also rehearsed his attack moves with his fleet, making the attack on Japanese ships very smoothly and coordinated.

It is largely to Yi's credit that the Japanese were eventually forced to retreat and Korea was saved from total destruction and/or colonization by Japan.

Four Campaigns of Admiral Yi

The Japanese invasion force landed at Busan and Tadaejin, both port city on the southern tip of Korea. The Japanese, without meeting any Korean ships, quickly captured these ports and began a lightning march north, reaching Seoul in a record nineteen days on May 2 1592 due to the military ineffiecncy of the Korean army, especially at the Battle of Sangju and the failure to defend Choryang Pass.

The four campaigns of Admiral Yi included every single operation and at least 23 major battles, all of which Admiral Yi won. It is important to know that his four campaigns resulted in hundreds of sunken Japanese warships, tansports, and supply ships and thousands of dead Japanese sailors and soldiers.

Turtle ships

Admiral Yi is best remembered today for resurrecting and improving the Turtle Ship.

With his creative mind and the support of his subordinates, Yi was able to devise the geobukseon, or "turtle ships". Admiral Yi is given the honorable credit for resurrecting and recreating the Turtle Ship to prepare for the war against Japan. The Turtle Ship was not actually invented by Admiral Yi, despite popular depiction. He improved the Turtle Ship upon an older design.

Turtle Ships held eleven cannons on each side of the ship, and two each at the stern and the bow. Also, there was a figurehead of a dragon, which held up to four cannons and a smokescreen that served to shock Japanese troops. The roof was covered with hexagonal iron plates and spikes. There were two masts that held 2 large sails. The geobukseon was steered by twenty oars, pulled by 2 men in fair conditions and 5 in combat situations.

There is an on-going debate about whether the turtle ship had two decks or three, and there is no definitive answer known till this day. Whichever is the case, it is clear that the turtle ship employed multiple decks to separate the rowers from the combat compartment. This enabled the Turtle Ship to be very mobile since wind and manpower could be used. Along the sides of the Turtle Ship was dotted with smaller holes which allowed arrows, bullets, and mortars to be shot from the Turtle Ship.

While the turtle ships are the most famous part of Admiral Yi Sun shin's fleet, the Admiral never deployed more than 5 Turtle ships in any one battle, despite popular belief. It wasn't necessarily because of the cost of the ship being prohibitive, or the building time excessive; rather it was particularly due to the naval strategy employed by the Koreans at that time. Unlike anywhere else in the globe, barring England, Joseon dynasty was already employing cannon-firing strategy as the main structure of the defense. This is not such a surprising choice for them, as they have a history of using guns and cannons to defend themselves against the japanese pirates from as early as 1390's.

As the Jo-seon navy was not the ship-boarding navy that Japanese navy was, it wasimperative that their warships gain separation from Japanese vessels - even Adm. Yi himself warned his soldiers to avoid hand-to-hand combat against Japanese soldiers at all cost - and the turtle ship was the perfect ship to create the opportunity for other ships to shoot from afar.

Turtle Ships were first used in the Battle of Sacheon (1592) and were used in nearly every single battle until the devastating Battle of Chilchonryang, when every Turtle Ship and Panokseons, except 12, were sunk. At the Battle of Chilchonryang, the commander had changed to Won-gyun, due to conspiracy against Yi Soon shin. They did not re-appear in battle until the Battle of Noryang, which was the last naval battle of the war.

Turtle Ships were used mostly for spearheading attacks. They were best used in tight areas and around islands rather than the open sea.

Japanese Double Agent Plot

As Admiral Yi won battle after battle, Hideyoshi and his commanders became anxious as he neared Busan. They feared their supply ships would come under attack. Also, Admiral Yi delayed supply ships bringing food and weapons to Japanese soldiers. Ships also brought reinforcements. At one point, the entire invasion was halted just before attacking Pyongyang when supplies and troops failed to reach the First and Second Divisions.

But, Hideyoshi soon adjusted. At Busan, the Japanese warships were added with reinforced wood and some cannons to larger ships, and clustered beneath the harbour's defences of heavy shore-mounted cannon that were acquired from Busan's armory. But above all, the Japanese knew that for a successful invasion of Korea, Yi Sun shin had to be eliminated. No Japanese fleet would be safe as long as his presence was commanding the sea.

Seeing how the internal court rivalries of the Koreans worked, the Japanese devised a plan. A Japanese double agent named Yoshira was sent to the Korean general Kim Eung-su, and convinced the general that he would spy on the Japanese for the Koreans. Yoshira spent a long time acting as a spy and giving the Koreans what appeared to be valuable information.

One day he told General Kim that the Japanese General Kato Kiyomasa would be coming on a certain date with great Japanese fleet on another attack on Korean shores, and insisted that Admiral Yi be sent to lay an ambush. General Kim agreed and sent the message to Gwon Yul, the general of the successful Battle of Haengju, in turn sent the message to King Seonjo. King Seonjo immediately ordered the attack, desperate for victories to loosen the Japanese grip on Korea, and gave permission for the attack. When General Kim gave Admiral Yi his orders, the admiral declined, for he knew that the location given by the spy was studded with sunken rocks and was extremely dangerous. The weather and the tides of the water were unfavorable as well. Admiral Yi also refused because he did not trust a single letter of a spy. Admiral Yi always studied his battle plans many times over to ensure victory and minimize casualties.

When General Kim informed the king of Admiral Yi Sun-Sin's declination, Admiral Yi's enemies at court quickly insisted on his replacement by Won Gyun, the other commander of the Korean navy. They advised that Admiral Yi be arrested. To worsen Admiral Yi's fate, Won Gyun claimed Admiral Yi was drinking and idling.

As a result, in 1597 Admiral Yi Sun shin was relieved of command, placed under arrest, taken to Seoul in chains, then beaten, tortured, and imprisoned. King Seonjo wanted to have Admiral Yi killed but the admiral's supporters at court, chiefly Ryu Sung-Ryong, Admiral Yi's childhood friend, convinced the king to spare him due to his past service record. Spared the death penalty, Admiral Yi was again demoted to the rank of a common infantry soldier under the general Gwon Yul. Yi Sun-sin responded to this humiliation as a most obedient subject, going quietly about his work as if his rank and orders were totally appropriate. For a short time, Admiral Yi would stay under Gwon Yul's command until Won Kyun's death at the Battle of Chilchonryang and his reinstatement.

Reinstatement and the Final Campaign

With Admiral Yi stripped of any influence, and negotiations breaking down in 1596, Hideyoshi again ordered his army to attack Korea. The invasion came in the first month of 1597 with a Japanese force of 140,000 men transported to Korea in 1000 ships. Unfortunately for the Japanese, Ming China had sent down thousands of reinforcements to aid the Koreans. With the help of the Chinese, the Koreans were able to push the Japanese south during the winter of 1597. The Japanese failed to reach Seoul.

But, at the naval arena, the Korean navy was doomed. Won Gyun again failed to respond quickly and let the Japanese enter Korea. Had Admiral Yi been in command of the Korean Navy at that time, the Japanese would most likely never have landed on any shore again. Instead, the Japanese fleet landed safely at Sosang Harbour and began their activities.

Yi's successor, Won Gyun decided to attack with the entire navy of Korea: 160 battleships and a crew of 30,000 men; a navy carefully built up by Admiral Yi. Won Gyun left his headquarters at Yosu with little apparent plans. He decided to look for the Japanese near Busan. Next morning, Won Gyun then met the Japanese near Busan. At the Chilchon Straits on Aug. 28, 1597, Won Gyun's navy was massacred. As the tired-from-rowing Korean soldiers stumbled, the Japanese launched a surprise attack. Japanese soldiers pursued the Koreans. Grappling hooks were thrown and Japanese sailors jumped aboard the Korean ships, engaged in melee combat, and began a wholesale slaughter.

It was the kind of battle Admiral Yi had always won at, which was careful coordination of enemy movements and strategic moves, but Won Gyun allowed the Japanese to gain the upper hand and board the Korean ships and fight hand to hand combat, which was their primary strategy.

At the end of the battle, the Joseon Navy was completely annihilated except 12 battleships under control of an officer named Bae Sol. Bae Sol fled before the battle to save the ships because he predicted the outcome of the battle. After the destruction, Won Gyun and Yi Ok-ki, another Korean commander fled to an island with a straggling band of survivors during the battle but were killed by waiting Japanese soldiers from the nearby fort. It is interesting to see that the battle of Chilchon Straits was the only naval battle the Japanese ever won during the war.

King Seonjo heard the terrible news and reassigned Admiral Yi as the commander of the Joseon Navy. Admiral Yi found the abandoned 12 battleships and rallied the 200 remnants and survivors. Adding his flagship, Admiral Yi's entire naval force was 13 ships, which would be the number for a time. At that time, King Seonjo who judged that the Joseon Navy had lost their power and would never be restored again, sent a letter to abolish the Navy and fight with General Gwon Yul on land. Admiral Yi responded with a letter written "...I still own twelve ships... As I am alive, the enemies will never gain the Western Sea (a.k.a., the Yellow Sea, the closest sea to Hansung, or Seoul)." The Japanese Navy made up their mind to eliminate the 12 battleships under command of Yi on their way to the capital city of Joseon. Bolstered by a great victory, Kurushima Michifusa, Todo Takatora, Kato Yoshiaki, and Wakisaka Yasuharu hopefully sailed out of Busan harbor to squash this minor annoyance.

Desipte being poorly equipped, Admiral Yi responded powerfully. On September 15, 1597, Yi lured the Japanese fleet consisting of 333 battleships and a crew of 100,000 within the Myongryang Straits and defeated them with only 13 battleships he had. Admiral Yi crushed the Japanese Navy, which lost a staggering amount of at least 120 battleships (31 battleships completely destroyed and more than 90 half-destroyed that lost their functions as battleships). Using his traditional tactics of peppering cannonballs and fire arrows into Japanese ships, Admiral Yi kept the Japanese fleet at a distance giving no chance to board. Thousands of Japanese sailors drowned and many more were killed by Korean arrows. The Japanese general Kurushima Michifusa was inevitably killed by archers who got close enough to his flagship. Admiral Yi's victory at the Battle of Myeongnyang showcased his effectiveness as a strategic commander. Today, the Battle of Myeongnyang is celebrated in Korea as one of Admiral Yi's greatest victory. Legend holds that the Admiral used iron chains to hold the Japanese ships back until the tide of the sea turned. He also supposedly used a popular traditional dance on land to distract the Japanese from noticing the iron chain. As the close-packed Japanese got stuck in the narrow straits, the tide eventually turned, sending Japanese ships crashing into one another with no way out. 50 ships did pass the iron chains, but the Japanese commander supposedly said, "What will you do with only 50 ships? The enemy is Yi Sun shin!"

Legacy

"He who seeks death shall live, and he who seeks life shall die." By Admiral Yi.

Today, Admiral Yi is regarded as one of Korea's greatest (if not the world's greatest) admirals of all time. Koreans look upon Admiral Yi as a man of courage, perserverence, strength, self-sacrifice, and loyalty to his country.

Yi won every one of at least 23 naval battles that he fought while suffering very minimal losses, while destroying over a thousand Japanese ships and killing thousands of Japanese soldiers.

Admiral George Alexander Ballard of the Royal Navy considered Yi Sun-sin a great naval commander, and compared him to Lord Nelson of England:

It is always difficult for Englishmen to admit that Nelson ever had an equal in his profession, but if any man is entitled to be so regarded, it should be this great naval commander of Asiatic race who never knew defeat and died in the presence of the enemy; of whose movements a track-chart might be compiled from the wrecks of hundreds of Japanese ships lying with their valiant crews at the bottom of the sea, off the coasts of the Korean peninsula... and it seems, in truth, no exaggeration to assert that from first to last he never made a mistake, for his work was so complete under each variety of circumstances as to defy criticism... His whole career might be summarized by saying that, although he had no lessons from past history to serve as a guide, he waged war on the sea as it should be waged if it is to produce definite results, and ended by making the supreme sacrifice of a defender of his country. (The Influence of the Sea on The Political History of Japan, pp. 66â€"67.)

Admiral Tetsutaro Sato of the Imperial Japanese Navy mentioned the Korean Admiral in his book published 1908:

Throughout history there have been few generals accomplished at the tactics of frontal attack, sudden attack, concentration and dilation. Napoleon, who mastered the art of conquering the part with the whole, can be held to have been such a general, and among admirals, two further tactical geniuses may be named: in the East, Yi Sun-sin of Korea, and in the West, Horatio Nelson of England. Undoubtedly, Yi is a supreme naval commander even on the basis of the limited literature of the Seven-Year War, and despite the fact that his bravery and brilliance are not known to the West, since he had the misfortune to be born in Joseon Dynasty. Anyone who can be compared to Yi should be better than Michiel de Ruyter from Netherlands. Nelson is far behind Yi in terms of personal character and integrity. Yi was the inventor of the iron-clad warship known as the Turtle Ship (Geobukseon). He was a truly great commander and a master of the naval tactics of three hundred years ago.(A Military History of the Emperor (Japanese: å¸åœ‹åœ‹é˜²å²è«–), p. 399)

Admiral Yi's diaries.

During the time of the invasion, it was up to the admiral to supply his fleet. Yi's navy was cut off from any helping hand from the king's court and had to fend for itself. Yi often wrote in his war diary how concerned he was about the food supply during winters. His enemy was fully supplied, and always outnumbered him.

Yi himself had never been trained as a naval commander. Korea, called Joseon at the time, did not have any naval training facilities. Although Yi passed the military exams when he was young, he was never trained at an academy. Yi's only military experiences came from fighting foreign Jurchen tribes invading from Manchuria. In fact, the Battle of Okpo, his first victory against the Japanese fleet, was also his first sea battle ever. None of his subordinates, including his own staff, had ever fought at sea before.

One of the biggest reasons why Admiral Yi won was because his cannons and guns had longer range and power than the enemy's cannons even while the Japanese had thousands of advanced arquebusiers. His turtle ship, which actually had first set sail the day before the invasion, was very effective in leading the attack and breaking the enemy's formation.

Yi also wrote numerous poems and diaries, including his most famous Nanjung Ilgi. Most of what we know about Yi comes from his writings.

He used many different formations according to the situation, and capitalized on tides and ocean currents. Admiral Yi also took advantage of his knowledge of the surrounding sea. Many times he lured the enemy to a place where his fleet would have the upper hand. And through these manipulations, he instilled a fear in the Japanese commanders whenever they patrolled their seas.

At the Battle of Hansando, Admiral Yi had instilled so much fear in the Japanese that their commander broke ranks and routed his fleet - the first and only time any Japanese commander lost courage to a foreign opponent. Admiral Yi's expertise on naval strategy is apparent in the fact that his successor Won Gyun, even with all of Admiral Yi's ships and trained crew, could not defeat an enemy fleet of similar might.

One of the greatest legacies of the Admiral was the utter destruction of the Japanese fleet. Through his calculated attacks, he successfully burdened the Japanese navy and the supplies trying to reach their lines near the Chinese border. If Admiral Yi had not commanded the Korean fleet, it is safe to assume that Japan might have continued her conquest into Ming China, and the overall history of Asia would have been completely different. Although perhaps minor to the new Tokugawa leaders, seeing their shameful defeat against Korea encouraged the new leadership to abandon Hideyoshi's dreams of a continental empire. For more than 300 years, Japan never attempted to invade Korea or China. Through the rest of the years until the Meiji Restoration, Japan favored peaceful communications with Korea, and both nations relatively prospered from this mutual association.

The statue of Admiral Yi overlooking central Seoul

Unfortunately for Admiral Yi and perhaps the Joseon dynasty, his reforms of the navy didn't persist and soon disappeared after his death, due to court swindling and corruption in the Joseon government. The turtle ships faded in the annals of Korean history. Despite their experiences in the Seven Years War, the Joseon court decided on a reduced military, especially after the Manchu invasions in the 1630s.

Yi Sun shin kept a careful record of daily events in a diary, and it is from these entries, along with the reports he sent to the throne during the war, that much about the man has been learned. These works have been published in English as Nanjung Ilgi: War Diary of Admiral Yi Soon Shin, and Imjin Jangcho: Admiral Yi Soon Shin's Memorials to Court.

Among his direct male descendants, more than two hundred passed the military examination and pursued military careers, hence constituting a most prominent military yangban family of late Joseon. Although Yi's military men descendants did not play the kind of a vital role in the tumultuous factional politics of late Joseon as did the many members of Pyeosan Sin and Neungseong Gu military yangban lines, the court seems to have treated them with respect and care. Many attained important high-level posts in the officialdom. Moreover, at the end of the Joseon period, at least several descendants are known to have become anti-Japanese independence activists. Today, most of Yi's descendants live in or nearby Seoul and Asan; those residing in the Jeolla region appear to be descended from an illegitimate son (seoja).

Yi's posthumous title, Lord of Loyalty and Chivalry (Chungmu-gong, ì¶©ë¬´ê³µ; å¿ æ¦å…¬) is used in Korea's third highest military honor, the Cordon of Chungmu of the Order of Military Merit and Valour. He was posthumously granted the title of Prince of Deokpoong. Chungmuro (ì¶©ë¬´ë¡œ; å¿ æ¦è·¯)—a street in downtown Seoul—is also named after him. The city Chungmu, now renamed Tongyeong, on the southern coast of Korea is named in honour of his posthumous title and the site of his headquarters. There is a prominent statue of Admiral Yi Sun shin in the middle of Sejongno in central Seoul. Korea's new KDX-II naval destroyer is named "Chungmugong Yi Sunshin".

Modern depiction

DVD cover of Chungoon.

The life of Yi Soon Shin has inspired two motion pictures, both entitled Seong-ung Yi Soon Shin ("The Saintly Hero Yi Soon Shin"), the first a 1962 black & white movie, and the second, based upon his war diaries, in color in 1971.

A 2005 Korean film, Chungoon (ì²œêµ°) or "Heaven's Soldiers", directed by Min Joon Gi, portrayed a young Yi Soon Shin, played by Park Joong-hoon, fighting the Jurchen tribes, along with local villagers and North and South Korean soldiers who traveled in time, from 2005 to 1572, with Halley's Comet. Unsually, the film presented Yi as a cunning, slightly eccentric young man, rather than a distingued austere hero, a couple of decades before Hideyoshi's Invasions of Korea. Some historical events were also distorted: most notably Yi's campaign against the Jurchens, which did not happen in 1572 but a few years later, after his 1576 military examination. The film, financed with a comfortable budget by Korean standards ($7-8 million), was a relative commercial success in 2005.

From September 4, 2004 to August 28, 2005, a 104-episode drama series was aired on KBS. The show, called "Bulmyeolui Lee Soon-shin" ("Immortal Yi Soon-shin"), dealt mostly with the events related to Hideyoshi's Invasions of Korea, as well as important aspects of the life of the admiral, played by Kim Myung-min. It became a popular drama in China as well.

Yi Sson Shin also inspired literary works. Kim Hoon's first novel, Song of the Sword, published in 2001, was a tremendous commercial and critical success in Korea. For this historical novel, a first-person narrative written from the perspective of the admiral in a poetic style, Kim Hoon received the Dongin Literature Award, the most prestigious literary prize in the country.

References

The Influence of the Sea on The Political History of Japan (1921) ISBN 0-8371-5435-9
*War Diary (Nan Jung Il Gi), the autobiographical diary of Admiral Yi Sun-Sin
*Choson Joong-Gi, Noon-Eu-Ro Bo-Nen Han-Gook-Yuk-Sa #7. Joong-Ang-Gyo-Yook-Yun-Goo-Won, Ltd. Copyright 1998.

External links

*Admiral Yi Sun-sin - A Korean Hero (includes clips from the drama 'Immortal Yi Soon-shin')
*Choong-mu
*Biography of Admiral Yi Sun Shin
*Yi-Sunshin
*Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin
*Admiral Yi Sun-sin's swords (gift from the king never used in battle)

Yi Sun-sin: Encyclopedia BETA

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