This is a Korean name; the family name is Im.

Samyeongdang
Hangul	사명당
Hanja	泗溟堂 or 四溟堂
Revised Romanization	Samyeongdang
McCune–Reischauer	Samŏngdang
Pen name
Hangul	송운 also 종봉
Hanja	松雲 also 鍾峯
Revised Romanization	Songun also Jongbong
McCune–Reischauer	Songun also Chongbong
Birth name
Hangul	임응규
Revised Romanization	Im Eung-gyu
McCune–Reischauer	Im Ŭnggyu
Courtesy name
Hangul	임이환
Hanja	離幻
Revised Romanization	Ihwan
McCune–Reischauer	Ihwan
Dharma name
Hangul	유정
Hanja	惟政
Revised Romanization	Yujeong
McCune–Reischauer	Yuchŏng
Posthumous name
Hangul	자통홍제존자
Hanja	慈通弘濟尊者
Revised Romanization	Jatong hongjejonsa
McCune–Reischauer	Chat'ong hongjejonsa

Samyeongdang (1544 - 1610), also known by his Buddhist name, Yujeong (or Yu jeong), was a Korean Buddhist monk during the Joseon Dynasty. He is seomtimes identified by his pen name, Songun. He was born to a family of the Im clan in Miryang, Gyeongsang province. After the deaths of his mother in 1558 and his father in 1559, he became a monk at Jikjisa on Hwangaksan in Gimcheon.

Contents 1 Life 1.1 1604 mission to Japan 1.2 Death 2 Notes 3 References 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Life

In 1561, he passed the seon-gwa, the specialized civil service examinations for Buddhist monks. He corresponded with various scholars of the time including Pak Sa-am, Heo Ha-gok, and Im Baek-ho. In 1575, he was recommended for the headship of the Seon order, but refused and instead traveled to Myohyangsan. There he was instructed by preceptor Seosan. He went on to pass three years at Podŏksa on Kŭmgangsan, and later traveled through Palgongsan, Cheongnyangsan, and Taebaeksan.

With the outbreak of war in 1592, Yujeong joined his teacher Seosan's righteous army of monks. After Seosan retired due to his age, Yujeong took over the leadership of the monks' army. He led the army into battles at Pyongyang and Uiryeong in 1592, set up mountain fortresses through Gyeongsang in 1594, and joined in battle again at Ulsan and Suncheon.

[edit] 1604 mission to Japan

A process of re-establishing diplomatic relations with the Joseon Court was initiated by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1600, shortly after news of the Toyotomi defeat at the Battle of Sekigahara was received in the Joseon capital city. As an initial gesture and as an earnest of future progress, some Joseon prisoners were released at Tsushima Island. In response, a small group of messengers under the leadership of Yu jeong were sent to Kyoto to investigate further. With the assistance of Sō Yoshitomo, an audience with Tokugawa Ieyasu was arranged at Fushimi Castle in Kyoto.^[1]

In 1603, the Tokugawa established a new shogunate; and in 1604, Yu jeong confirmed the Joseon interest in developing further contacts. The Tokugawa shogun reciprocated by releasing 1,390 prisoners-of-war.^[2]

Yu jeong's diplomatic missions established a resiliant foundation for a series of major Joseon missions to Japan. These were perceived by the Japanese as legitimizing propaganda for the Tokugawa and as a key element in an emerging manifestation of Japan's ideal vision of the structure of an international order with Edo as its center.^[3] Neither Yu jeong nor his successors were unaware of this conventional Tokugawa conceit, nor did this understanding impair their pursuit of quite different, Joseon-centric diplomatic goals up through the 19th century.

[edit] Death

After his death in 1610 on Chiaksan, Yujeong was enshrined in the Pyochung Seowon in Miryang and at Suchungsa in Nyŏngbyŏn. He continues to be remembered in modern times, with numerous statues and other memorials around Korea. He has been cited together with Seosan as an example of a "patriotic-minded" Buddhist by the North Korean Korean Buddhist Federation.^[4] Yujeong's writings are preserved in the Samyeongjip and Bunchungseo Nallok (분충서난록).

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Kang, Jae-eun and Suzanne Lee. (2006). The Land of Scholars : Two Thousand Years of Korean Confucianism. Paramus, New Jersey: Homa & Sekey Books. 10-ISBN 1-931-90737-4; 13-ISBN 978-1-931-90737-8; OCLC 60931394
• Walker, Brett L. "Foreign Affairs and Frontiers in Early Modern Japan: A Historiographical Essay," Early Modern Japan. Fall, 2002, pp. 44-62, 124-128.
• Yi Hong-jik (이홍직) ed. (1983). "유정". 새國史事典. Seoul: Kyohaksa. pp. 914–915. 

[edit] See also

• List of Joseon Dynasty people
• Military history of Korea
• Seosan

[edit] External links

• (Korean) Samyeongdang Memorial Association
• (Korean) Empas entry