title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Koreans who fled gave alarm to the other garrisons, allowing the Japanese troops to easily capture Kilju County, Myongchon County, and Kyongsong County. The Second Division then turned inland through Puryong County toward Hoeryong, where two Korean princes had taken refuge. On August 30, 1592, the Second Division entered into Hoeryong where Katō Kiyomasa received the Korean princes and the provincial governor Yu Yong-rip, these having already been captured by the local inhabitants. Shortly afterward, a Korean warrior band handed over the head of an anonymous Korean general, plus General Han Kuk-ham, tied up in ropes.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Katō Kiyomasa then decided to attack a nearby Jurchen castle across the Tumen River in Manchuria to test his troops against the "barbarians", as the Koreans called the Jurchens ("Orangkae" in Korean and "Orangai", both derived from the Mongol term Uriankhai "forest barbarian"). Kato's army of 8,000 was joined by 3,000 Koreans at Hamgyong Province, because the Jurchens periodically raided across the border. Soon the combined force sacked the castle, and camped near the border; after the Koreans left for home, the Japanese troops suffered a retaliatory assault from the Jurchens. Katō Kiyomasa retreated with his forces to avoid heavy losses. Because of this invasion, rising Jurchen leader Nurhaci offered military assistance to the Joseon and Ming in the war. However, the offer was refused by both countries, particularly Joseon, saying that it would be disgraceful to accept assistance from the "Barbarians" to the north.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Second Division continued east, capturing the fortresses of Jangseong County, Onsong County, Kyongwon County, and Kyonghung County, and finally arrived at Sosupo on the estuary of the Tumen River. There the Japanese rested on the beach, and watched a nearby volcanic island on the horizon that they mistook as Mount Fuji. After the tour, the Japanese continued their previous efforts to bureaucratize and administrate the province, and allowed several garrisons to be handled by the Koreans themselves.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Having secured Pyongyang, the Japanese planned to cross the Yalu River into Jurchen territory, and use the waters west of the Korean peninsula to supply the invasion. However, Yi Sun-sin, who held the post of the Left Naval Commander of the Jeolla Province (which covers the western waters of Korea), successfully destroyed the Japanese ships transporting troops and supplies. Japan, lacking enough arms and troops to carry on the invasion of China, changed the objective of the war to the occupation of Korea.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: When the Japanese troops landed at the port of Busan, Bak (also spelled Park) Hong, the Left Naval Commander of the Gyeongsang Province, destroyed his entire fleet, his base, and all armaments and provisions, and fled. Won Gyun, the Right Naval Commander, also destroyed and abandoned his own base, and fled to Konyang with only four ships. Thus there was no Korean naval activity around the Gyeongsang Province, and the surviving two, out of the four total fleets, were active only on the other (west) side of the peninsula. Won Gyun later sent a message to Yi Sun-sin that he had fled to Konyang after being overwhelmed by the Japanese in a fight. A messenger was sent by Yi Sun-sin to the nearby island of Namhae Island to give Yi's order for war preparations, only to find it pillaged and abandoned by its own inhabitants. As soldiers began to flee secretly, Yi Sun-sin gave an order "to arrest the escapees" and had two of the fugitives brought back and beheaded; he then had their heads put out for display. Yi Sun-sin's battles steadily affected the war and put significant strain on the sea lanes along the western Korean Peninsula supporting the Japanese advance.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Korean navy relied on a network of local fishermen and scouting boats to receive intelligence of the enemy movements. On the dawn of July 21, 1592, Yi Sun-sin and Yi Eok-gi set sail with 24 panokseons, 15 small warships, and 46 boats (i.e. fishing boats), and arrived at the waters of Gyeongsang Province by sunset. The Japanese had been sailing up and down the Korean coast, looting and burning all of the seaside villages, and did not expect opposition from the Korean navy.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The next day, the Jeolla Province fleet sailed to the arranged location where Won Gyun was supposed to meet them, and met Yi Sun-sin on July 23. The augmented flotilla of 91 ships then began circumnavigating Geoje Island, bound for Gadeok Island, but scouting vessels detected 50 Japanese vessels at Okpo harbor . Upon sighting the approaching Korean fleet, some of the Japanese who had been busying themselves with plundering got back to their ships, and began to flee. At this, the Korean fleet encircled the Japanese ships and finished them with artillery bombardments. The Japanese fired with their arrows and arquebuses, but the Koreans kept a good distance from them, rendering the Japanese fire ineffective. A teenage Korean girl, taken by the Japanese to be used as a sex slave on board one of their ships recalled:


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Koreans spotted five more Japanese vessels that night, and destroyed four. After one day's fighting, Yi Sun-sin's fleet had destroyed 26 Japanese ships. The next day, the Koreans approached 13 Japanese ships at Jeokjinpo. In the same manner as the previous success at Okpo, the Korean fleet destroyed 11 Japanese ships – completing the Battle of Okpo without the loss of a single ship. In his report to King Seonjo about his victory, Admiral Yi Sun-sin found the samurai helmets of the Japanese to be rather strange, writing:


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Japanese generals were shocked to hear of the Battle of Okpo, where the Koreans had not lost a single ship, as it threatened to cut them off from Japan. After his victory, Yi Sun-sin found the burnt out remains of countless coastal villages, where the Japanese had enslaved the women while killing all the men.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: About three weeks after the Battle of Okpo, Yi Sun-sin and Won Gyun sailed with a total of 26 ships (23 under Yi Sun-sin) toward the Bay of Sacheon after receiving an intelligence report of the Japanese presence. Yi Sun-sin had left behind his fishing vessels that made up most of his fleet in favor of his newly-completed turtle ship. At Sacheon, the Japanese ships were anchored in the bay below a promontory where the Japanese had set up a command base.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: A turtle ship is a vessel of a panokseon design with the removal of the elevated command post, the modification of the gunwales into curved walls, and the addition of a roof covered in iron spikes (and possibly hexagonal iron plates; this is disputed). Its walls contained a total of 36 cannon ports, and also openings above the cannon, through which the ship's crew members could look out and fire their personal arms. The design prevented enemies from boarding the ship and aiming at the personnel inside. The ship was the fastest and most maneuverable warship in the East Asian theater, powered by two sails and 80 oarsmen taking turns on the ship's 16 oars. No more than six turtle ships served throughout the entire war, and their primary role was to cut deep into the enemy lines, cause havoc with their cannons, and destroy the enemy flagship.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: On July 8, 1592, the fleet arrived at the Bay of Sacheon, where the outgoing tide prevented the Korean fleet from entering. Therefore, Yi Sun-sin ordered the fleet to feign withdrawal, which the Japanese commander, Wakisaka Yasuharu, observed from his tent on a rock. The Japanese decided to give chase, embarked their 12 ships, and pursued the Korean fleet. The Korean navy counterattacked, with the turtle ship in the front, and successfully destroyed all 12 ships. In his report to King Seonjo, Admiral Yi wrote: "Previously, foreseeing the Japanese invasion, I had a turtle ship made...with a dragon's head, from whose mouth we could fire cannons, and with iron spikes on its back to pierce the enemy's feet when they tried to board. Because it is in the shape of a turtle, our men can look out from inside, but the enemy cannot look in from outside. It moves so swiftly that it can plunge into the midst of even many hundreds of enemy vessel in any weather to attack them with cannonballs and fire throwers". The Japanese followed their code of "Bushido" by fighting ferociously, but the superior firepower and armor of the turtle ships more than compensated. Admiral Yi commanded from his deck, and was badly wounded when a Japanese sniper put a bullet into his shoulder.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: At the Battle of Dangpo, fought by Miruk Island, 21 Japanese ships commanded by Kurushima Michiyuki were in the process of sacking a Korean seaside village, when the Korean fleet appeared to offer a challenge. Yi Sun-sin once again followed his usual tactic of coming forward to challenge, then making a feigned retreat with the Japanese in hot pursuit before ambushing them on the open sea. A Korean girl who had been taken prisoner and forced to become Kurushima's mistress in an interview after the battle said: "On the day of the battle, arrows and bullets rained on the pavilion vessel where he [Kurushima] sat. First he was hit on the brow but was unshaken, but when an arrow pierced his chest he fell down with a loud cry", while the turtle ship "dashed close to this pavilion vessel and broke it by shooting cannonballs from the dragon's mouth and by pouring down arrows and cannonballs from other cannon".


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: After his victory, Yi Sun-sin spent the next days searching for more Japanese ships, which he found at Danghangpo. Yi formed his ships in a circle while a turtle ship rammed the Japanese flagship, resulting in a melee battle. Yi wanted to annihilate the Japanese, and fearing that the Japanese might land their ships in order to escape, ordered a feigned retreat to bring the battle out to the open sea, which lowered the odds of the Japanese surviving. Yi noted in his report to King Seonjo that the Japanese had given no mercy to Korean civilians, raping, torturing, and murdering without regard to age and sex, and he would likewise give them no mercy. The feigned retreat worked with the Japanese following the Koreans to the open sea, and Yi wrote: Then our ships suddenly enveloped the enemy craft from the four directions, attacking them from both flanks at full speed. The turtle with the Flying Squadron Chief on board rammed the enemy's pavilion vessel once again, while wrecking it with cannon fire, and our other ships hit its brocade curtains and sails with fire arrows. Furious flames burst out and the enemy commander fell dead from an arrow hit". All but one of the Japanese ships were taken or sunk, and Yi Sun-sin sent King Seonjo the salted heads of 43 samurai officers. The next day, the one Japanese ship that had escaped was confronted by a Korean ship sent to capture it, leading to a savage fight when the Koreans boarded the Japanese ship. The captain of the Japanese ship "stood alone holding a long sword in his hand and fought to the last without fear", taking 10 arrows to kill him. All 88 sailors of the Japanese ship were killed, and Yi had their ears cut off to be "salted and packed in a box for shipment to the court".


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In response to the Korean navy's success, Toyotomi Hideyoshi recalled three commanders from land-based activities: Wakisaka Yasuharu, Katō Yoshiaki, and Kuki Yoshitaka. They were the first commanders with naval responsibilities in the entirety of the Japanese invasion forces. Hideyoshi understood that if the Koreans won command of the sea, this would be the end of the invasion of Korea, and ordered the destruction of the Korean fleet with Yi Sun Sin's head to be brought to him. Kuki, a former pirate, had the most naval experience, while Katō Yoshiaki was one of the "Seven Spears of Shizugatake". However, the commanders arrived in Busan nine days before Hideyoshi's order was actually issued, and assembled a squadron to counter the Korean navy. Eventually Wakisaka completed his preparations, and his eagerness to win military honor pushed him to launch an attack against the Koreans without waiting for the other commanders to finish.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The combined Korean navy of 53 ships under the commands of Yi Sun-sin and Yi Eok-gi was carrying out a search-and-destroy operation because the Japanese troops on land were advancing into the Jeolla Province. The Jeolla Province was the only Korean territory to be untouched by a major military action, and served as home for the three commanders and the only active Korean naval force. The Korean navy considered it best to destroy naval support for the Japanese to reduce the effectiveness of the enemy ground troops.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: On August 13, 1592, the Korean fleet sailing from the Miruk Island at Dangpo received local intelligence that a large Japanese fleet was nearby. After surviving a storm, the Korean fleet had anchored off Dangpo, where a local man appeared on the beach with the news that the Japanese fleet had just entered the narrow strait of Gyeonnaeryang that divided Koje Island. The following morning, the Korean fleet spotted the Japanese fleet of 82 vessels anchored in the straits of Gyeonnaeryang. Due to the narrowness of the strait and the hazard posed by the underwater rocks, Yi Sun-sin sent six ships as bait to lure out 63 Japanese vessels into the wider sea; the Japanese fleet pursued. Once in the open water, the Japanese fleet was surrounded by the Korean fleet in a semicircular formation, called a "crane wing" by Yi Sun-sin. With at least three turtle ships (two of which were newly completed) spearheading the clash against the Japanese fleet, the Korean vessels fired volleys of cannonballs into the Japanese formation. The Korean ships then engaged in a free-for-all battle with the Japanese ships, maintaining enough distance to prevent the Japanese from boarding; Yi Sun-sin permitted melee combats only against severely damaged Japanese ships. During the battle, the Korean navy made use of a metal-cased fire bomb that caused substantial damage to Japanese deck crews, and caused fierce fires on board their ships. According to the "Wakizaka ki":"A man called Manabe Samanosuke was a ship's captain that day, and the ship he was on was set on fire. This tormented him, and saying that he could face meeting the other samurai in the army again, committed suicide and died". Yi noted that "countless numbers of Japanese were hit by arrows and fell dead into the water", but also complained that "...about four hundred exhausted Japanese finding no way to escape, deserted their boats and fled ashore".


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The battle ended in a Korean victory, with Japanese losses of 59 ships – 47 destroyed and 12 captured. Not a single Korean ship was lost during the battle. Several Korean prisoners of war were rescued by the Korean soldiers throughout the fight. Wakisaka Yasuharu escaped due to the speed of his flagship. When the news of the defeat at the Battle of Hansan Island reached Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he ordered that the Japanese invasion forces cease all further naval operations.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Yi Eok-gi with his fleet joined Yi Sun-sin and Won Gyun, and participated in a search for enemy vessels in the Gyeongsang Province waters. On July 13, the admirals received intelligence that a group of Japanese ships including those that escaped from the Battle of Dangpo was anchored in the Bay of Danghangpo.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: On August 16, 1592, Yi Sun-sin led their fleet to the harbor of Angolpo, where 42 Japanese vessels were docked, in the Battle of Angolpo. After a brief skirmish he ordered a false retreat to the open ocean. The Japanese fleet pursued the Korean fleet, with the flagship taking the lead. However, as the Japanese ships reached the open sea, Admiral Yi ordered the panokseon warships to encircle the Japanese fleet. Surrounded, the Japanese fleet was destroyed.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: A naval engagement took place on 1 September 1592 during the first phase of the Japanese invasions of Korea. It was a Korean surprise attack on the fleet of Toyotomi Hideyoshi stationed at Busan. Over the course of the battle, Japanese forces lost 100 ships while no Korean ships were lost. Officer Woon () and six Korean soldiers, as well as countless Japanese soldiers were killed. However, ultimately, the Korean fleet retreated, failing to take over Busan. In the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty (a Korean official history, written by a bureaucrat of the Korean government located in Hanyang District), it is recorded that the Korean navy failed to defeat the Japanese at Busan. However, in other primary historical sources, such as the official Joseon compendium (李忠武公全書) written by Joseon bureaucrats, and the War Diary of Yi Sun-sin and his military reports, it is recorded as a decisive Korean victory. Modern historians have also summarized the battle as a decisive Korean victory. Some Korean historians believe the War Diary of Yi Sun-sin more than Annals of the Joseon Dynasty when they study the Imjin war because he was the on-scene commander.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: After the battle, the Korean government promoted Yi to "Samdo Sugun Tongjesa" (삼도 수군 통제사; 三道水軍統制使), literally "Naval Commander of the Three Provinces", which was the title for the commander of the Korean Navy until 1896.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In Japan, referencing the official history of the Joseon, the result is presented as a strategic Japanese victory.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: From the beginning of the war, the Koreans organized militias that they called "righteous armies" () to resist the Japanese invasion. These fighting bands were raised throughout the country, and participated in battles, guerilla raids, sieges, and the transportation and construction of wartime necessities.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: There were three main types of Korean "righteous army" militias during the war: the surviving and leaderless Korean regular soldiers, the patriotic yangbans (aristocrats) and commoners, and Buddhist monks. By the summer of 1592, there were about 22,200 Korean guerrillas serving the Righteous Army, who tied up much of the Japanese force.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: During the first invasion, Jeolla Province remained the only untouched area on the Korean peninsula. In addition to the successful patrols of the sea by Yi Sun-sin, the activities of volunteer forces pressured the Japanese troops to avoid the province in favour of other priorities.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Gwak Jae-u was a famous leader in the Korean militia movement, the first to form a resistance group against the Japanese invaders. He was a land-owner in the town of Uiryeong situated by the Nam River in the Gyeongsang Province. In Korea, Gwak is remembered as an enigmatic, romantic hero. As the Korean regulars abandoned the town and an attack seemed imminent, Gwak organized 50 townsmen; however the Third Division went from Changwon straight toward Seongju. When Gwak used abandoned government stores to supply his army, the Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Su branded Gwak's group as rebels, and ordered that it be disbanded. When Gwak asked for help from other landowners, and sent a direct appeal to the king, the governor sent troops against Gwak, in spite of having enough troubles already with the Japanese. However, an official from the capital city then arrived to raise troops in the province, and, since the official lived nearby and actually knew him, he saved Gwak from troubles with the governor.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Gwak Jae-u deployed his troops in guerilla warfare under the cover of the tall reeds on the union of the Nakdong and the Nam rivers. This strategy prevented Japanese forces from gaining easy access to Jeolla Province where Yi Sun-sin and his fleet were stationed.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Sixth Division under the command of Kobayakawa Takakage was in charge of conquering Jeolla Province. The Sixth Division marched to Seongju through the established Japanese route (i.e. the Third Division, above), and cut left to Geumsan in Chungcheong Province, which Kobayakawa secured as his starting base for his invasion of the province.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Ankokuji Ekei, a former Buddhist monk made into a general due to his role in the negotiations between Mōri Terumoto and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, led the units of the Sixth Division charged with the invasion of Jeolla Province. The units began their march to Uiryeong at Changwon, and arrived at the Nam River. Ankokuji's scouts planted meters measuring the river's depths so that the entire squadron could cross the river; overnight, the Korean militiamen moved the meters into the deeper parts of the river. As the Japanese troops began to cross, the militia of Gwak Jae-u ambushed them, and caused them heavy losses. In the end, to advance into Jeolla Province, Ankokuji's men had to try going north around the insecure grounds and within the security of the Japanese-garrisoned fortresses. At Kaenyong, Ankokuji's target was changed to Gochang, to be taken with the aid of Kobayakawa Takakage. However, the entire Jeolla campaign was then abandoned when Kim Myeon and his guerillas successfully ambushed Ankokuji's troops by firing arrows from hidden positions within the mountains.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: When the Japanese troops were advancing to Hanseong, Yi Gwang, the governor of Jeolla Province, attempted to check the Japanese progress by launching his army toward the capital city. Upon hearing the news that the capital had already been sacked, the governor withdrew his army. However, as the army grew in size to 50,000 men with the accumulation of several volunteer forces, Yi Gwang and the irregular commanders reconsidered their aim to reclaim Hanseong, and led the combined forces north to Suwon, south of Hanseong. On June 4, an advance guard of 1,900 men attempted to take the nearby fortress at Yongin, but the 600 Japanese defenders under Wakizaka Yasuharu avoided engagement with the Koreans until June 5, when the main Japanese troops came to relieve the fortress. The Japanese troops counterattacked successfully against the Jeolla coalition, forcing the Koreans to abandon arms and retreat.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Around the time of the mobilization of the volunteer army of General Gwak Jae-u in Gyeongsang Province, Go Gyeong-myeong in Jeolla Province formed a volunteer force of 6,000 men. Go then tried to combine his forces with another militia in Chungcheong Province, but upon crossing the provincial border he heard that Kobayakawa Takakage of the Sixth Division had launched an attack on Jeonju (the capital of Jeolla Province) from the mountain fortress at Geumsan. Go returned to his own territory. Having joined forces with General Gwak Yong, Go then led his soldiers to Geumsan. There, on July 10, the volunteer forces fought with a Japanese army retreating to Geumsan after a defeat at the Battle of Ichi two days earlier on July 8.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Prompted by King Seonjo, the Buddhist monk Hyujeong issued a manifesto calling upon all monks to take up arms, writing "Alas, the way of heaven is no more. The destiny of the land is on the decline. In defiance of heaven and reason, the cruel foe had the temerity to cross the sea aboard a thousand ships". Hyujeong called the samurai "poisonous devils" who were "as virulent as snakes or fierce animals" whose brutality justified abandoning the pacifism of Buddhism to protect the weak and innocent. Hyujeong ended his appeal with a call for monks who were able-bodied to "put on the armor of mercy of Bodhisattvas, hold in hand the treasured sword to fell the devil, wield the lightning bolt of the Eight Deities and come forward!". At least 8,000 monks responded to Hyujeong's call, some out of a sense of Korean patriotism and others motivated by a desire to improve the status of Buddhism, which suffered discrimination from a Sinophile court intent upon promoting Confucianism.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In Chungcheong Province, the abbot Yeonggyu proved to be an active guerrilla leader and together with the Righteous Army of 1,100 commanded by Jo Heon attacked and defeated the Japanese at the Battle of Cheongju on 6 September 1592. After the victory, the Korean leaders began to quarrel among themselves over who was most responsible, and it was that when the Koreans took the offensive, the regulars under Yun Songak refused to take part while the Righteous Army under Jo Heon and the warrior monks under abbot Yeonggyu marched separately. On 22 September 1592, Jo Heon with 700 Righteous Army guerrillas attacked a Japanese force of 10,000 under Kobayakawa Takakage. Turnbull described the second battle of Geumsan as an act of folly on Jo's part as his outnumbered force took on "10,000 of the toughest samurai", who encircled the Righteous Army and "exterminated" them, wiping out the entire Korean force as Kobayakawa ordered that no prisoners be taken. Feeling obligated to come to Jo's aid, the abbot Yeonggyu now led his warrior monks against Kobayakawa at the third battle of Geumsan, who likewise suffered the same fate – "total annihilation". However, as the Geumsan salient had taken three successive Korean attacks in a row in a single month, the 6th Division under Kobayakawa was pulled back as Toyotomi Hideyoshi decided the salient was not worth the trouble to hold it, and to the suffering people of the region that was all that mattered. The Japanese withdrawal inspired further guerrilla attacks and one Righteous Army leader, Pak Chin, had an object hurled over the walls of the Japanese-held town of Gyeongju, which caused "the robbers", as Korean accounts always called the Japanese, to go examine it; the object turned out to be a bomb that killed 30 Japanese. Fearing his garrison was now under-strength, the Japanese commander ordered a retreat to the coastal "wajo" (castle) at Sosaengpo.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Jinju was a strategic stronghold that defended Gyeongsang Province. The Japanese commanders knew that control of Jinju would mean easy access to the ricebelts of Jeolla Province. Accordingly, a large army under Hosokawa Tadaoki approached Jinju. Jinju was defended by Gim Si-min, one of the better generals in Korea, commanding a Korean garrison of 3,000 men. Gim had recently acquired about 170 new arquebuses that were equal in strength to the Japanese guns. As customary, the Japanese began to collect heads with the "Taikōki" mentioning how a samurai named Jirōza'emon "took the first head and raised it aloft. The other five men also attacked and took some excellent heads". The Japanese had usually had little trouble with taking Korean castles and towns, and a certain contempt for the fighting abilities of the Koreans was common among the samurai, so it was a great surprise for the Japanese when they assaulted Jinju to be hit with a barrage of fire as Gim's men dropped heavy stones and bombs while firing their arquebuses, stopping their assault cold.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Hosokawa ordered a new assault with the samurai advancing this time under bamboo shields with covering fire from their arquebuses, which allowed them to place ladders across the walls of Jinju. A scene of carnage occurred with the Koreans dumping rocks and delayed action bombs down on the Japanese. The "Taikōki" reported:


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: For three days, the Japanese attacked Jinju fruitlessly with the moats becoming full of their dead. On 11 November 1592, a force of Korean guerrillas led by Gwak Jae-u arrived as the relief force, and to fool the Japanese into thinking his force was much larger than it was, Gwak ordered his men to light fires at night on the hills while blowing their conch shells. On 12 November, Hosokawa Tadaoki ordered a final attempt to storm Jinju, with heavy fighting on the northern gates, with General Gim being killed when a Japanese bullet went through his head, but the Korean arquebus fire drove off the Japanese. At that time, another Korean relief force bringing badly needed ammunition arrived up the Nam River, causing Hosokawa to break off the siege, who argued that with the Japanese deep in enemy territory and no reserves to cover his rear that it was too dangerous to continue the siege. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was enraged when he heard of the defeat, saying the Japanese should never be defeated by Koreans, and vowed vengeance. With the help of arquebuses, cannon, and mortars, the Koreans were able to drive the Japanese from Jeolla Province. The battle at Jinju is considered one of the greatest victories of Korea because it prevented the Japanese from entering Jeolla Province.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Unable to repel the Japanese invasion, Korea ultimately had to rely on the intervention of Ming China to halt the Japanese advance, despite the various logistical and organizational difficulties suffered by the Japanese.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Korean Court historian and politician Ryu Seong-ryong stated that the Korean naval victory stalled the entire strategy of the invaders by "cutting off one of the arms" with which Japan tried to envelop Korea, isolating Konishi Yukinaga's army at Pyongyang and securing Chinese waters from the feared Japanese attack, such that "the Celestial Army could come by land to the assistance" of Korea.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Viewing the crisis in Joseon, the Ming Dynasty Wanli emperor and his court were initially filled with confusion and skepticism as to how their tributary could have been overrun so quickly.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Korean Court was at first hesitant to call for help from the Ming Dynasty, and began a withdrawal to Pyongyang. After repeated requests by King Seonjo and after the Japanese army had already reached Korea's border with China, China finally came to the aid of Korea. China was also somewhat obligated to come to the assistance of Korea because Korea was a vassal state of China, and the Ming Dynasty did not tolerate the possibility of a Japanese invasion of China. The local governor at Liaodong eventually acted upon King Seonjo's request for aid following the capture of Pyongyang by sending a small force of 5,000 soldiers led by Zu Chengxun. Zu, a general who had fought successfully against the Mongols and the Jurchens, was over-confident, holding the Japanese in contempt. This cavalry force advanced almost unhindered and managed to enter Pyongyang, but was promptly and decisively defeated by the Japanese troops in the city. On 23 August 1592, the Chinese attacked under the cover of a heavy rainstorm, taking the Japanese by surprise. Once the Japanese realized that they outnumbered the Chinese by six to one, they allowed the Chinese cavalry to spread out over the streets of Pyongyang and counter-attacked, using their superior numbers to annihilate the Chinese. As the Chinese retreated into the muddy fields outside of Pyongyang, the samurai cut them down in the hundreds. One of their leading generals, Shi Ru, was killed in this engagement. The Japanese were elated at having defeated an army from China, the foremost power in East Asia, but Konishi Yukinaga grew despondent over the fall of 1592 as it became clear that no reinforcements would arrive from Japan. The fleet of Admiral Yi Sun-sin was preventing any Japanese ships from landing, while the attacks of the Korean Righteous Army guerrillas left the Japanese forces in northern Korea largely cut off from the forces in southern Korea. At conference in Hanseong, Konishi told Ukita Hideie that he was not certain if Pyongyang could be held if the Chinese were to attack again with greater numbers. During the later half of 1592, the Ming sent investigation teams into Pyongyang to clarify the situation. The Ming became fully aware of the situation and made the decision for a full reinforcement by September 1592. With the victory in Ningxia, the Chinese finally had the forces available for Korea, and Li Rusong, the general who crushed the Ningxia revolt was sent to expel the Japanese from Korea.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: By then it had become clear that this was a situation much more serious than something that could be handled by local forces. Thus the Ming Emperor mobilized and dispatched a larger force in January 1593 under the general Li Rusong and Imperial Superintendent Song Yingchang, the former being one of the sons of Ming dynasty's Liaodong military magistrate Li Chengliang and the latter being a bureaucratic officer (Ming military law stipulated that any military officer would have an accompanying bureaucrat appointed by the Imperial Court acting as the general's superior). According to the collection of letters left by Song Yingchang, the strength of the Ming army was around 40,000, composed mostly of garrisons from the north, including around 3,000 men with experience against Japanese pirates under Qi Jiguang. Li wanted a winter campaign as the frozen ground would allow his artillery train to move more easily than it would under the roads turned into mud by the fall rains. On 5 January 1593, Wu Weizhong led an advance force of 3,000 men across the Yalu River into Korea, followed by two battalions of 2,000 men each later the same day. At Uiju, King Seonjo and the Korean court formally welcomed Li and the other Chinese generals to Korea, where strategy was discussed.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Thailand, a longtime faithful tributary state of the Chinese dynasties, offered to directly attack Japan to intervene in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's plans, but Ming did not accept, instead ordering Thailand to attack Burma.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: On February 5, 1593, the Ming expeditionary army arrived outside Pyongyang accompanied by a group of Korean soldiers. Ming general Li Rusong was appointed the supreme commander of all armies in Korea. After initial attempts to negotiate with the Japanese defenders under Konishi Yukinaga broke down, the two sides began skirmishing on the outskirts over the next couple of days, with Li Rusong attempting to dislodge a Japanese garrison on the hills north of the city while Konishi Yukinaga attempted a night raid on the Ming camp. The Japanese night attack was beaten off by the Chinese fire archers, and Li ordered a feigned retreat, leading the over-confident samurai to fall into a trap, resulting in their annihilation. The Sino-Korean force consisted of 43,000 Chinese, 10,000 Koreans, plus Righteous Army guerrillas and about 5,000 warrior monks. Li admitted that the Japanese infantry were better equipped with guns, but assured his officers: "Japanese weapons have a range of a few hundred paces, while my great cannon have a range of five to six "li" [2.4 km]. How can we not be victorious?" The city of Pyongyang was one of the most powerful fortresses in Korea, and to take it, Li's plans called for surrounding the city on all four sides, starting a fierce bombardment under which his infantry would advance.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Korean warrior monks led by Abbot Hyujeong attacked the headquarters of Konishi Yuninaga on Moranbong, coming under heavy Japanese arquebus fire, taking hundreds of dead, but they persevered. Later that same day, the Chinese under Wu Weizhong joined the attack, and with a real danger that Konishi would be cut off from the rest of his army, So Yoshitoshi led a counterattack that rescued the Japanese forces from Moranbong. After the fall of Moranbong after two days fighting, Li Rusong ordered his cannons to open fire while fire arrows and incendiary bombs set much of the city on fire. On the morning of February 6, Li ordered an all-out assault on three sides of the city. The Chinese took heavy losses as the Japanese fire was withering, but Li, whose horse was killed, was able to bring up the siege ladders, called "cloud ladders" by the Chinese. Li had offered 5,000 ounces of silver for the first man to get over the wall, an honor that was claimed by an infantryman from Zhejiang Province named Luo Shangzhi, who got up unto the wall while using his halberd to great effect.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Japanese defenders were forced off the walls fairly quickly, and retreated to the citadel they built on the eastern portions of the city. Chinese officers initially scoffed at the earth walls of the Japanese citadel, but after coming under fire from the Japanese arquebuses, soon learned to respect the defense. The "Jingbirok" reported: "The enemy built clay walls with holes on top of their fortress, which looked like a beehive. They fired their muskets though those holes as much as they could, and as a result, a number of Chinese soldiers were wounded". The allies were unwilling to commit to a direct assault on the heavily defended fortification during the day. Instead they left an opening for the Japanese to rally while making preparations for a fire assault on their position at night. Japanese forces sallied out of the undefended eastern walls and made a run for Hanseong, and they were hit with additional ambushes on the way back south and took heavy casualties.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The fortress of Pungsan, held by Otomo Yoshimune of the Third Division, had been abandoned and burned down by him, before Konishi's force reached it, adding to the misery of the retreat. Otomo ruined his reputation by retreating without being attacked, and as a result the Otomo clan, one of the oldest and most respected "daimyō" families on Kyushu, were disgraced forever, as under "Bushido", cowardice was the worst disgrace for a samurai. Otomo's disgrace was also a blow for the efforts of Jesuit missionaries in Japan as Otomo had converted to Catholicism after long talks with Portuguese Jesuits, and many Japanese concluded that Christianity with its emphasis on love and gentleness was not a suitable religion for a samurai. Song Yingchang's letters on March 1, 1593, described the battle in full to the Ming court. After their defeat, the Japanese shifted their strategy to hit-and-run tactics and ambushes. The use of gunpowder technology and street fighting contributed to the victory, which would permanently deter the invasion.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Soon after retaking Pyongyang, Li Rusong also succeeded in retaking the major city of Kaesong on January 19, 1592, and met only minor resistance from the Japanese defenders.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Overconfident with his recent success and possibly misled by false reports, Li Rusong advanced towards the capital city of Hanseong with his allied army of 20,000 on January 21, 1593. On January 26, the force ran into an unexpected confrontation at Byeokjegwan with a large Japanese formation of about 30,000.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Initially, the scouting party of the group under Cha Da Sho and a Korean general confronted a small band of Japanese numbering no more than 600 men. The party overran them successfully but soon ran into a much larger host under Tachibana Muneshige, and retreated to a nearby hill to defend themselves.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Upon hearing of his scouting party's plight, Li decided to rush forward with the rest of his small host. He met up with his scouting party around noon, but by that time even more Japanese forces were converging on the area.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Ming forces gradually retreated north while fighting off several waves of attacks. Li Rusong and many other generals personally fought in the brawl, and they sustained heavy casualties before they met up with the rest of their army toward the later portion of the day. Li's horse was killed, and he was saved from being cut down by a samurai when Chinese officer, Li Yousheng, sacrificed himself by taking on the samurai who killed him, but in the interval, Li escaped. During the ferocious fighting, Chinese armor proved no match for the "katanas" of the Japanese while the Japanese infantry proved equal to repulsing Chinese cavalry. The Japanese pursued the defeated Ming army back up the pass to its highest point, and after a few more hours of fighting. At that point, the Japanese gave up further attacks and both sides pulled back. Because the Ming suffered heavy casualties among their elite retinues, Li became reluctant to move aggressively for the remainder of the war. However, the Japanese victory "did nothing to change the overall strategy, and the retreat from Hanseong was delayed only by a few days".


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Japanese invasion into Jeolla Province was broken down and pushed back by General Gwon Yul at the hills of Ichiryeong, where outnumbered Koreans fought Japanese troops in the Battle of Byeokjegwan and gained a victory. Gwon Yul quickly advanced northwards, retaking Suwon and then swung north toward Haengju Fortress, a wooden stockade on a cliff over the Han River, where he would wait for Chinese reinforcements. After he was informed that the Ming army under Li Rusong was pushed back at Byeokje, Gwon Yul decided to fortify Haengju. Kwon's force of 2,300 men were a mixture of regulars, warrior monks, and Righteous Army guerrillas.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Bolstered by the victory at the Battle of Byeokjegwan, Katō Kiyomasa and his army of 30,000 men advanced to the south of Hanseong to attack Haengju Fortress, an impressive mountain fortress that overlooked the surrounding area. An army of a few thousand led by Gwon Yul was garrisoned at the fortress, waiting for the Japanese. Katō believed his overwhelming army would destroy the Koreans and therefore ordered the Japanese soldiers to simply advance upon the steep slopes of Haengju with little planning at about 6 am. Gwon Yul responded to the Japanese advance with fierce fire from the fortification using hwachas, rocks, handguns, and bows. The "hwach'a" ("fire wagon") was a cart that could fire either 100 rockets or 200 arrows at once; the "hwach'a" took much time to load, but were capable of bringing down deadly fire. Gwon had trained his men to fire their "hwach'as" all at once, and as the Japanese were packed closely together, the volley from the "fire wagons" inflicted heavy losses. The women of Hanseong joined their menfolk, bringing up rocks in their skirts. In the course of nine assaults, the Japanese pushed the Koreans back to their second line, but could no further, losing about 10,000 dead in the process. The "Jingbirok" wrote: "Gwon Yul ordered his soldiers to gather the dead bodies of the enemy and vent their anger by tearing them apart and hanging them on the branches of the trees". Facing unexpected resistance and mounting casualties, Katō Kiyomasa burned his dead and finally pulled his troops back.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Battle of Haengju was an important victory for the Koreans, as it greatly improved the morale of the Korean army. The battle is celebrated today as one of the three most decisive Korean victories (the other two being the Siege of Jinju (1592) and the Battle of Hansando). Today, the site of Haengju fortress has a memorial built to honor Gwon Yul. By this time, the Japanese invasion force of about 150,000 men were down to about 53,000 men, with Chinese reinforcements arriving every day. Most of the Japanese were suffering from hunger, frostbite, and snow-blindness and some Japanese soldiers were so weakened by hunger that they were unable to defend themselves from tigers in the mountains. With the situation untenable, the Japanese retreated to the coast.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: After the Battle of Byeokjegwan, the Ming army took a cautious approach and moved on Hanseong again later in February after the successful Korean defense in the Battle of Haengju.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The two sides remained at a stalemate between the Kaesong to Hanseong line for the next couple of months, with both sides unable and unwilling to commit to further offensives. The Japanese lacked sufficient supplies to move north, and the defeat at Pyongyang had caused part of the Japanese leadership such as Konishi Yukinaga and Ishida Mitsunari to seriously consider negotiating with the Ming dynasty forces. This got them into a heated debate with other hawkish generals such as Katō Kiyomasa, and these conflicts would eventually have further implications following the war in Japan when the two sides became rivals in the Battle of Sekigahara.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Ming forces had their own set of problems. Soon after arriving in Korea the Ming officials began to note the inadequate logistical supply from the Korean court. The records by Qian Shizhen noted that even after the Siege of Pyongyang the Ming forces were already stalled for nearly a week due to the lack of supplies, before moving on to Kaesong. As the time went on the situation only become more serious. When the weather warmed, the road condition in Korea also became terrible, as numerous letters from Song Yingchang and other Ming officers attest, which made resupplying from China itself also a tedious process.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Korean countryside was already devastated from the invasion when the Ming forces arrived, and in the heart of winter it was extremely difficult for the Koreans to muster sufficient supplies. Even though the court had assigned the majority of the men on hand to tackle the situation, their desire to reclaim their country, along with the militarily inexperienced nature of many of their administrators, resulted in their continual requests to the Ming forces to advance despite the situation. These events created an increasing level of distrust between the two sides.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Though by mid April 1593, faced with ever-greater logistical pressure from a Korean naval blockade of Yi Sun-sin in addition to a Ming force special operation that managed to burn down a very significant portion of the Japanese grain storage, the Japanese broke off talks and pulled out of Hanseong.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Unlike the First Siege of Jinju, the second siege resulted in a Japanese victory. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was especially determined to take Jinju and ordered that the previous Japanese failure to take the city be avenged. Ukita Hideie led 90,000 Japanese troops to take Jinju, making it the largest mobilization of Japanese forces for a single operation in the entire war. The Koreans, not knowing where the Japanese were going, divided their forces with Kim Cheon-il commanding the garrison of 4,000 soldiers at Jinju, who were joined by volunteers, guerrillas, and a small Chinese force, making for a force of about 60,000. On 20 July 1593, the Japanese began to construct wooden shields to allow them to advance against the walls. To the west were Konishi Yukinaga with 26,000 men and to the north were Kato Kiyomasa with 25,000 while Ukita Hideie commanded the reserve of 17,000. On 21 July 1593, the Japanese attacked, breaking the dyke that filled the moat around Jinju, while the samurai advanced under their wooden shields, to be stopped by Korean fire arrows, cannonballs, and arquebuses. On 23 July, the Japanese attacked with wooden siege towers, which were knocked down by Korean cannon fire. On 25 July, under a flag of truce, Ukita sent a messenger to Kim, telling him that the Japanese would slaughter 10,000 Korean peasants whom they had taken prisoner if Jinju did not surrender at once, but Kim refused, and so 10,000 Korean peasants were beheaded.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Japanese now attacked with armored carts called "tortoise shell wagons", which allowed the Japanese to advance up to the walls, where the sappers would pull out the stones, but as a Japanese account complained: "They tried to attack, but from inside the caste pine torches were thrown that set the grass alight. The soldiers inside the tortoise wagons were also burned and retreated". On 27 July the Japanese again attacked with the "tortoise shell wagons", but this time, there was a heavy thunderstorm that prevented Korean attempts to incinerate the Japanese by dropping torches soaked in fat. The Japanese sappers broke down a section of the wall and a great rush broke out with the samurai pushed each other down as it was a great honor to be the first samurai to enter a fortress. Goto Mototsugu, a retainer of Kuroda Nagamasa was about to be the first samurai to enter Jinju when Iida Kakbei, a retainer of Kato Kiyomasa, threw the Nichiren flag into the breach to claim that honor for himself. The Korean garrison was out of ammunition and were short of swords, so many Koreans fought with wooden sticks against the onrush of samurai armed with "katanas". One Korean, General Sŏ Yewon, engaged in a lengthy single combat with a samurai named Okamoto Gonjo, which ended when the wounded General Sŏ lost his breath and fell down by a tree, and Okamoto took the chance to sever his head with a single blow from his "katana". Sŏ's head fell down by the Nam River, which as it was a great honor for a samurai to take the head of their enemies, led Okamoto to order a search to find Sŏ's head, so that it could be salted and taken back to Japan. The Korean commander, General Kim Cheon-il, committed suicide.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: As usual, the Japanese took no prisoners, killing almost everyone both military and civilian, and the Nam River ran red with blood as thousands attempted to swim across it, only to be cut down by the samurai waiting on the other side. The chronicler of the Kato clan noted: "All the Chinese were terrified of our Japanese blades, and jumped into the river, but we pulled them and cut off their heads". Korean accounts mention that almost all of the 60,000 soldiers in Jinju were killed while Japanese accounts mention the samurai sent 20,000 heads back to Japan after their victory. Only the "kisaeng" (courtesans) of Jinju were spared as they pressed to service the victorious Japanese generals at a party they held to celebrate their victory on the evening of the same day at the Ch'oksŏngu Pavilion on a nearby hill, as it offered the best view of the "hellish scene" below them. One courtesan, Nongae, attracted the attention of a samurai, Keyamura Rokunosuke, whom she lured to a cliff by promising him sex, and then threw both herself and him off the cliff, becoming a national heroine in Korea. Jinju was taken only for symbolic purposes, and instead of advancing, the Japanese force at Jinju retreated back to Busan as there was a larger Chinese force to the north. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was well satisfied that he had avenged the defeat of 1592 at Jinju, though Turnbull argued that to lose so many men to take a town only for symbolic reasons was wasteful.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: There were two factors that triggered the Japanese to withdraw: first, a Chinese commando penetrated Hanseong (present-day Seoul) and burned storehouses at Yongsan, destroying most of what was left of the Japanese troops' depleted stock of food. Secondly, Shen Weijing made another appearance to conduct negotiations, and threatened the Japanese with an attack by 400,000 Chinese. The Japanese under Konishi Yukinaga and Katō Kiyomasa, aware of their weak situation, agreed to withdraw to the Busan area while the Chinese would withdraw back to China. A ceasefire was imposed, and a Ming emissary was sent to Japan to discuss peace terms. For the next three years, there was little fighting as the Japanese retained control of a few coastal fortresses with the rest of Korea being controlled by the Koreans.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: By May 18, 1594, all the Japanese soldiers had retreated to the area around Busan and many began to make their way back to Japan. The Ming government withdrew most of its expeditionary force, but kept 16,000 men on the Korean peninsula to guard the truce.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Once peace negotiations between China and Japan finally got underway, Chinese negotiators gave the Ming emperor the mistaken impression that he was about to deal with a minor state that had been subdued by war. Furthermore, they conveyed the idea that the Japanese regent, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was prepared to become his vassal. Under such conditions, the Chinese sought to resolve the issue in their favor by including Japan in their tributary system of foreign relations. They would establish Hideyoshi as king of Japan and grant him the privilege of formal tribute trade relations with the Ming dynasty.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In Japan, Hideyoshi's negotiators apparently led him to believe that China was suing for peace and was ready to accept him as their emperor. Thus, Hideyoshi issued the demands of a victor; first, a daughter of the Ming emperor must be sent to become the wife of the Japanese emperor; second, the southern provinces of Joseon must be ceded to Japan; third, normal trade relations between China and Japan must be restored; and fourth, a Joseon prince and several high-ranking government officials must be sent to Japan as hostages.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Bargaining from such fundamentally different perspectives, there was no prospect whatsoever for success in the talks. Early in 1597, both sides resumed hostilities.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: After the failed peace negotiations of the inter-war years, Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched the second invasion of Korea. One of the main strategic differences between the first and second invasions was that conquering China was no longer an explicit goal for the Japanese. Failing to gain a foothold during Katō Kiyomasa's Chinese campaign and the near complete withdrawal of the Japanese forces during the first invasion had established that the Korean peninsula was the more prudent and realistic objective.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Soon after the Chinese ambassadors had safely returned to China in 1597, Hideyoshi sent approximately 200 ships with an estimated 141,100 men under the overall command of Kobayakawa Hideaki. Japan's second force arrived unopposed on the southern coast of Gyeongsang Province in 1596. However, the Japanese found that the Korean army was both better equipped and better prepared to deal with an invasion than several years prior. In addition, upon hearing the news in China, the imperial court in Beijing appointed Yang Hao as the supreme commander of an initial mobilization of 55,000 troops from various (and sometimes remote) provinces across China, such as Sichuan, Zhejiang, Huguang, Fujian, and Guangdong. A naval force of 21,000 was included in the effort. Ray Huang, a Chinese-American philosopher and historian, estimated that the combined strength of the Chinese army and navy at the height of the second campaign was around 75,000. Korean forces totaled approximately 30,000 men, with General Gwon Yul's army in Gong Mountain in Daegu, General Gwon Eung's troops in Gyeongju, General Gwak Jae-u's soldiers in Changnyeong, Yi Bok-nam's army in Naju, and Yi Si-yun's troops in Chungpungnyeong.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Initially the Japanese found limited success, being largely confined to Gyeongsang Province and only launching numerous raids to harass and weaken the Korean defenders. In the early autumn of 1597, the Japanese began a more focused and sustained advance. The Japanese planned to attack Jeolla Province in the southwestern part of the peninsula and eventually occupy Jeonju, the provincial capital. Korean success in the First Siege of Jinju in 1592 had mostly saved this area from devastation during the first invasion (the Second Siege of Jinju in 1593, while a Japanese victory, was only undertaken for symbolic purposes). Two Japanese armies, under Mōri Hidemoto and Ukita Hideie, began the assault in Busan and marched towards Jeonju, taking Sacheon and Changpyeong along the way.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Korean navy was again to play a crucial part in the second invasion, as in the first, by hampering Japanese advances on land by harassing supply fleets at sea. However, despite his previous successes, Yi Sun-sin was both demoted and jailed by King Seonjo, largely due to a Japanese plot to deceive the Korean court and take advantage of the court's political infighting. Government officials gave direct orders to launch a surprise naval operation against the Japanese, based on a tip from a presumed reliable Japanese spy. Yi refused to obey these orders, knowing that this was an obvious trap meant to have his own fleet sail into an ambush. This development allowed others within the court to further advance their personal agendas while Yi was severely punished. Ultimately, Won Gyun was appointed in Yi Sun-sin's place at the head of the Korean navy.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: After Won Gyun replaced Yi Sun-sin as head of the Korean navy, he was quick to take action and justify his newly acquired position. He gathered the entire Korean fleet, which now had more than 100 ships, outside of Yeosu, to search for the Japanese. Without any previous preparations or planning, Won Gyun then had his entire fleet sail towards Busan.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: After one day at sea, Won Gyun was informed of a large Japanese fleet near Busan. He decided to attack immediately, despite reports of exhaustion among the crews of his ships.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: At the subsequent Battle of Chilcheollyang, Won Gyun was completely outmaneuvered by the Japanese in a surprise attack. His ships were overwhelmed by arquebus fire and the traditional Japanese boarding attacks, which largely resulted in the destruction of his entire fleet. Prior to this engagement, Bae Seol (1551–1599), a naval officer who did not submit to Won Gyun's leadership, kept thirteen panokseons under his command and out of the battle, instead escaping to the southwestern Korean coast. These would form the entire fighting force of the Korean navy during the immediately following months.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Battle of Chilcheollyang was Japan's only decisive naval victory of the war. Won Gyun was himself killed by a Japanese garrison after he struggled ashore on an island following the destruction of his flagship. The victory allowed the Japanese navy to safely escort its troop ships and to support planned landing operations.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: After the disaster at Chilcheollyang, the allied defenses in the south began to quickly break down and the Japanese forces stormed into Jeolla Province. The garrison of Namwon became their next key target.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Namwon was located 50 kilometres southeast of Jeonju. Correctly predicting a Japanese attack, a coalition force of 6,000 soldiers (including 3,000 Chinese troops under Yang Yuan and civilian volunteers) were prepared to fight the approaching Japanese forces. The Japanese laid siege to the walls of the fortress with ladders and siege towers. The two sides exchanged volleys with arquebuses and bows. Eventually the Japanese forces scaled the walls and sacked the fortress. According to Japanese commander Okochi Hidemoto, author of the "Chosen Ki (Korean Record)," the Siege of Namwon resulted in 3,726 casualties among the Korean and Chinese forces. The Korean forces and its leaders were almost entirely killed.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: When the gates were opened, many Koreans simply laid down on their knees, knowing the samurai would behead them, while others tried to flee north, where the samurai commanded by Katō Yoshiaki and Shimazu Yoshihiro were waiting and proceeded to cut down all Koreans with their "katanas". The Japanese Buddhist monk Keinen who was traveling with the samurai described a scene of utter horror as the full moon illuminated the scenes of destruction with much of the town on fire, the formerly white walls of Namwon turned red with blood, and the wailing of the Koreans, knowing it was their time to die as the samurai gave no mercy, killing all. Only Yang Yuan managed to sally out after the walls were breached, with a handful of men, to return to Hanseong. He was later executed by the Ming court because of his defeat in battle. Traditionally, samurai collected the heads of those they killed, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi had insisted that the samurai sent him noses of those they had killed as proof that they were fighting. Okochi counted the heads of 3,725 Koreans killed that day, and removed their noses, which were pickled in salt and sent back to Japan. All of the noses of Koreans killed by the samurai are buried near the shrine to the Great Buddha put up by Hideyoshi in Kyoto, which as Turnbull noted "...they remain to this day inside Kyoto's least mentioned and most often avoided tourist attraction, the grassy burial mound that bears the erroneous name of the Mimizuka, the 'Mound of Ears'.".


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Hwangseoksan Fortress consisted of extensive walls that circumscribed the Hwangseok Mountain and garrisoned thousands of soldiers led by generals Jo Jong-do and Gwak Jun. When Katō Kiyomasa laid siege to the mountain with the Army of the Right, and attacked at night under the full moon, the Koreans lost morale and retreated with 350 casualties. The successful siege did not, however, lead to a subsequent advance from beyond Gyeongsang Province.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Upon the start of the second invasion, the Ming Emperor was furious about the entire debacle of the peace talks and turned his wrath on many of its chief supporters; particularly Shi Xing, the Minister of War, who was removed from his position and jailed (he died several years later, in prison). The chief negotiator, Shen Weijing, was executed. Xing Jie, the Chief Commissioner of the Liaodong Commandery, was named the new Minister of War and Yang Hao as the new Chief Superintendent of Korea; Xing Jie himself was also stationed in Korea for the remainder of the war. The Ming leadership quickly pulled in many units stationed near its border with Korea.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: After the steady advances on land, the Japanese planned to assault Hanseong (present-day Seoul) by late August or early September 1597. However, the plans were foiled by a Ming defense around Jiksan (modern-day Cheonan).


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Forces under Kuroda Nagamasa formed the vanguard of the Right Army and marched toward Hanseong, which deeply disturbed the court there. Several of the Ming generals stationed in Korea suggested to the court that they pull back their forces until they could gather more reinforcements, but the Ming administrators overruled their generals and ordered them to make a stand. Thus the Chief Commander of the Ming forces at the time, Ma Gui, sent out General Jie Sheng and three other generals with an elite cavalry force to confront the Japanese forces. The Battle of Jiksan halted the Japanese northward advance.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: According to Korean records, the Ming forces ran into the vanguard forces under Kuroda Nagamasa around the area of Jiksan. On the first day, they beat back a small scouting party. On the second day, the two forces clashed in earnest, with the Japanese being beaten back.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: After the debacle in Chilcheollyang, King Seonjo immediately reinstated Yi Sun-sin. Yi Sun-sin quickly returned to Yeosu, where he found the majority of his navy destroyed. Yi re-organized the navy, now reduced to the thirteen ships that Bae Seol had held back from Chilcheollyang and approximately 200 men. On October 26, 1597, in the Myeongnyang Strait, Yi Sun-sin encountered a large Japanese fleet of approximately 133 warships, with a further 200 logistical ships in support. By making use of a narrow passage, Yi positioned his ships in a battle line that prevented the Japanese navy from making use of their numerical superiority. The Battle of Myeongnyang resulted in a Korean victory, with Yi Sun-sin retaking the naval initiative. The Koreans did not lose a single ship and destroyed approximately 30 Japanese combat ships, severely damaging another 30 (the oft-cited number of 333 ships in the Japanese fleet includes support ships, which would not be considered combat ships). The Battle of Myeongnyang is considered Yi Sun-sin's greatest battle, largely as a result of the disparity of numbers. Even after the victory, however, the Joseon navy was still outnumbered by the remaining Japanese navy, so Admiral Yi withdrew to the Yellow Sea to resupply his fleet and have more space for a mobile defense. After the Korean navy withdrew, the Japanese navy made an incursion into the western coast of Korea, near some islands in Yeonggwang County.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: By January 29, 1598, the Joseon and Ming allied forces achieved victory in Jiksan and pushed the Japanese further south. After the news of the loss at Myeongnyang, Katō Kiyomasa and his retreating army looted Gyeongju, the former capital of Unified Silla.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Japanese forces sacked the city and many artifacts and temples were destroyed, most prominently, the Bulguksa, a Buddhist temple. Ming and Joseon forces continued to harass the Japanese forces, who then withdrew further south to Ulsan, a harbor that had been an important Japanese trading post a century before, and which Katō had chosen as a strategic stronghold.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Yi Sun-sin's control of the areas around the coast of Jeolla permitted no supply ships to reach the western side of the Korean Peninsula, into which many extensive tributaries merge. Without provisions and reinforcements, the Japanese forces were constrained to the coastal fortresses, known as "wajō", that they still controlled. The advancing Ming forces attempted to take advantage of this situation by attacking Ulsan. This siege was the first major offensive from the Ming forces in the second phase of the war.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The effort of the Japanese garrison (about 7,000 men) of Ulsan was largely dedicated to its fortification in preparation for the expected attack. Katō Kiyomasa assigned command and defense of the base to Katō Yasumasa, Kuki Hirotaka, Asano Nagayoshi, and others before proceeding to Sosaengpo near Ulsan. The Ming army's first assault on January 29, 1598, caught the Japanese army unaware and still encamped, for the large part, outside Ulsan's unfinished walls.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: A total of around 36,000 troops with the help of singijeons and hwachas nearly succeeded in sacking the fortress, but reinforcements under the overall command of Mōri Hidemoto came across the river to aid the besieged fortress. Although the Japanese garrison was desperately short of supplies, the Ming commander Ma Gui judged the situation to be going against the allies, because more and more Japanese forces began to arrive from the surrounding area and the allied forces were quickly becoming outnumbered. Late one night, Ma Gui decided to order a general organized retreat of the allied forces, but soon confusion set in, and matters were further complicated by heavy rainfall and harassing attacks by the Japanese. The Chief Superintendent Yang Hao panicked and left hastily for Hanseong ahead of the army.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The general retreat quickly turned into a chaotic rout, of which the Japanese took quick advantage by attacking the retreating Ming and Joseon forces. The retreating Ming and Joseon forces had 20,000 losses. The disaster was a heavy setback for Joseon, who would not be in a position to move on the Japanese position again for more than eight months.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: After the Siege at Ulsan, the two sides remained in a stalemate for the next several months. Xing Jie decided that they would require further reinforcements to launch a final large offensive to permanently remove the Japanese presence on the Korean Peninsula.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Reinforcements from China began to pour in through most of mid-1598, with Chen Lin and Deng Zilong and their navy arriving in May. By September 1598, the Ming presence in Korea had swelled to 75,000 overall, by far the largest at any point in the war.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Xing Jie divided his forces into four groups, with Ma Gui leading the offensive against Ulsan yet again, Li Rumei (Li Rusong's brother) leading the offensive against Sacheon, Chen Lin commanding the navy, and Liu Ting and Yi Sun-sin coordinating a land-sea effort against Suncheon.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Just before they set out, however, news came that Li Rusong was killed by Mongolian tribesmen back in Liaodong. Xing Jie decided then to remove his emotionally weakened brother Li Rumei in favor of Dong Yiyuan.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In June 1598, after Commander Konishi Yukinaga raised concerns about the supply situation and limited prospects for further territorial gains in the peninsula, 70,000 troops were withdrawn back to Japan, with only 60,000 left behind to guard the territory still under Japanese control. These forces were mostly Satsuma soldiers of the Shimazu clan under commanders Shimazu Yoshihiro and his son Tadatsune. Kato Kiyomasa remained in command of the defenses of Ulsan while Konishi Yukinaga himself commanded the defenses at Suncheon. The forces at Sacheon and Ulsan continued to be engaged in a military deadlock in the months that followed.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: At Ulsan, Kato Kiyomasa defended the castle with 10,000 Japanese soldiers. In September 1598, 29,500 Ming and Joseon troops tried again to capture Ulsan Castle, but all their attempts were repulsed by the Japanese. The Ming and Joseon forces withdrew with heavy losses.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Chinese believed that Sacheon was crucial to their goal of retaking the lost castles in Korea and ordered a general attack. Although the Chinese made initial progress, the tide of battle turned when Japanese reinforcements attacked the rear of the Chinese army and the Japanese soldiers inside the fortress sallied from the gates and counter-attacked. The Chinese Ming forces retreated with 30,000 losses, with the Japanese in pursuit. According to Chinese and Korean sources concerning the battle, the forces led by Dong Yiyuan had breached the castle wall and were making progress in capturing the castle until a gunpowder accident caused an explosion in their camp, and the Japanese took advantage of the situation to rout the confused and weakened troops.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: At Suncheon, Konishi Yukinaga defended his position at the Suncheon Castle along with 13,700 Japanese soldiers. A total of 43,000 Ming and Joseon troops tried to capture it, but their attempts were repulsed after three failed assaults, suffering 800 losses.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In the fall of 1598, following the successful Japanese defense at the battles of Sacheon, Ulsan, and Suncheon, the Ming, Joseon, and Japanese forces were locked in a military stalemate in the south of the peninsula. After the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi on September 18, 1598, the Council of Five Elders, in late October, issued orders for the withdrawal of all forces from Korea. Hideyoshi's death was kept a secret by the Council to preserve the morale of the army.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Battle of Noryang was the final naval battle in the war. A Japanese fleet of approximately 500 ships, under Shimazu Yoshihiro, was assembled and preparing to link up with the blockaded fleet under Konishi Yukinaga, and together withdraw via Busan back to Japan.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Korean navy under Yi Sun-sin discovered the Shimazu fleet anchored in the narrow strait of Noryang. Noting the narrow geography of the area, Ming general Chen Lin, who led Deng Zilong and Yi Sun-sin, made a surprise attack against the Japanese fleet, under the cover of darkness on December 16, 1598, using cannon and fire arrows.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: By dawn, more than half of the Japanese fleet was scattered and destroyed. During the pursuit of the remaining Japanese ships, both Yi Sun-sin and Deng Zilong were killed. Despite suffering high casualties, in the end the battle was a great tactical victory for the Korean forces and resulted in the loss of over half of the Japanese fleet and the deaths of thousands of their men.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Strategically, the Japanese attained their objective by allowing Konishi Yukinaga, who was earlier blockaded by the Ming and Korean forces, to leave his fortress on December 16 with his men and withdraw unopposed by sailing through the southern end of Namhae Island, bypassing both the Noryang Strait and the battle, with the cost of betraying his own fellow Japanese generals. Konishi Yukinaga, Shimazu Yoshihiro, Katō Kiyomasa, and other Japanese generals of the Left Army, congregated in Busan and withdrew to Japan on December 21. The last ships damaged sailed to Japan on December 24, bringing an end to six years of war.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: As Tsushima Island had suffered greatly from its loss of trade with Korea as a result of the invasions, Sō Yoshitoshi of the Sō clan, then dominant in Tsushima, undertook the lead in the peace negotiations by Japan. He sent four peace missions to Joseon in 1599 to normalize relations. The first three were captured and sent directly to Beijing by Chinese troops, but the fourth one, in 1601, successfully obtained from the Joseon court the promise of a normalizing of relations upon the return of remaining Joseon captives. As Ming troops continued to be present in Korea following the withdrawal of Japanese forces, the major incentive for Joseon for the normalization of relations with Japan was the withdrawal of the Chinese soldiers from their territory. The Ming Chinese themselves were causing havoc, and their presence continued to strain Joseon's national economy and infrastructure. In response to the Joseon request, Yoshitoshi promptly released several Joseon prisoners and between 1603 and 1604 helped the Joseon envoys to repatriate a further 3,000 by organizing negotiations at Kyoto with Tokugawa Ieyasu, by then the shogun of Japan.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In the continuation of the diplomatic talks toward peaceful relations, Joseon in 1606 expanded its conditions and demanded that the shogun write a formal letter requesting peace, and to extradite the Japanese soldiers who had defiled the Joseon Royal Tombs near Hanseong. Realizing that the Shogunate would never agree to such a request, Sō Yoshitoshi sent a forged letter and a group of criminals instead; the great need to expel the Ming soldiers pushed Joseon into accepting and to send an emissary in 1608. The end result was a return of Joseon prisoners and the restoration of diplomatic and trade relations between the two countries.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Japanese invasions were East Asia's first regional wars involving massed armies equipped with modern weapons. The conflict saw the regular employment of Japanese armies of up to 200,000 men, Ming Chinese armies of 80,000, and the ongoing deployment of local Korean forces numbering in the hundreds of thousands.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The invasions also stood as a challenge to the existing Chinese world order on two levels: the military, in which the war challenged Ming China's status as the supreme military power in East Asia, and the political, in which the war affirmed Chinese willingness to aid in the protection of its tributary states.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Contrary to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's intentions, the cost of the Japanese invasions of Korea significantly weakened the Toyotomi clan's power in Japan. After Hideyoshi's death, his young son Toyotomi Hideyori became head of the Toyotomi clan. However, the losses suffered by varying "daimyōs" during the campaign were a contributing factor to the imbalance of power in Japan after the war. As the western-based "daimyōs" of Kyushu and western Honshu (partially by geographic convenience) contributed the majority of the forces used during the Korean conflict, it left the pro-Hideyoshi alliance weakened for the eventual struggle with the mostly eastern-backed forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu (who himself never sent forces to Korea). Tokugawa would go on to unify Japan and establish himself as shogun in 1603, following the decisive Battle of Sekigahara against a coalition of mostly western-based "daimyōs".


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Ming China also sustained a heavy financial burden for its role in defending Korea while also fighting several other conflicts in the same decade. The war also indirectly weakened China's position in Manchuria, which gave the fledgling Manchu chieftain Nurhaci an opportunity to expand his influence and territory. Nurhaci's conquests would culminate in the eventual collapse of the Ming dynasty and the rise of the Qing dynasty in 1644. However, the sinocentric tributary system that the Ming had defended continued to be maintained by the Qing, and ultimately, the war resulted in a maintenance of the status quo – with the re-establishment of trade and the normalization of relations between all three parties.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Given that the conflict was fought exclusively on Korean soil, Korea ultimately suffered the most damage of the three participants. It lost a large portion of its military strength and civilian population, had numerous cultural heritage sites damaged or destroyed, and many of its technological advancements pillaged. In many ways the invasions proved to be more devastating than any other event in the nation's history (even, arguably, more so than the Korean War). The peninsula suffered a reduction of arable land to 66% of the prewar total, greatly hurting Korea's mainly agricultural economy; in the years that followed, famine, disease, and rebellions were widespread throughout Korea. In Gyeongsang Province alone 90% of the land under cultivation was destroyed. Significant losses of historical archives, cultural and scientific artifacts (such as the Ja-gyuk-roo water clock), and skilled artisans resulted in a waning of Korean science. The main Korean royal palaces Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, and Changgyeonggung were burned down, and Deoksugung was used as a temporary palace. The Baekjeong (Korean natives of the lowest social rank) took advantage of the lack of internal security brought on by the invasions, and set fire to "changnye" (Korean government offices) in which census ledgers had been kept. The destruction of land and census registers made fiscal recovery difficult since taxation and corvée labour were based on them. The government was forced to trade rank and titles in order to obtain grain, using a practise called "napsok pogwan" (appointment through grain contributions), and the yangban elite, which was exempt from household taxes, exploited the occasion to increase its landholdings, thereby further depriving the central government of taxes raised on property.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The total military and civilian casualties, as estimated by the late 19th-century historian, George H. Jones, were one million, and total combat casualties were estimated at between 250,000 and 300,000. A total of over 100,000 Japanese, 185,000 Korean and over 29,000 Chinese troops were killed, and an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 captives were taken by the Japanese throughout the war. Among those captured, a total of 7,500 were later returned to Korea through diplomatic means at the conclusion of the conflict. A large portion of the remaining captives were sold to European traders – mainly Portuguese in Macau, who then resold them throughout Southeast Asia.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Although Korea suffered the most of the three combatants, there were some significant technological and cultural transfers that resulted from the war. Arquebus rifles, which the Joseon Court had initially dismissed as ineffective and useless due to their low rate of fire, was rapidly adopted during and after the war by the Joseon Military and production began as early as 1593. Some scholars believe the Joseon-Ming Army was not easily driven out and defeated during the reignition of hostilities in 1597 was in part due to the widespread adoption of arquebuses in the Joseon military. Besides this, Catholicism was first introduced in Korea during the war, as Catholic missionaries had begun arriving in Japan before the war and had become acquainted. In Korea, many of the first converts to Catholicism were Korean captives in Japan, records indicate more than 7,000 Korean captives converted from 1594 to 1598. Spanish Missionary Gregorio de Cespedse (1551–1661) was a prominent driver behind this missionary work, and was also the first recorded Westerner to arrive in Korea and the only European eyewitness to the war. Last but not least, significant food and luxury items were introduced to Korea via the invasions. Evidence heavily suggests this, because Korean records initially recorded chili peppers, one of the most important ingredients in modern Korean cuisine as "Japanese mustard", "southern barbarian herb" and "Japanese herb."


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The captives brought to Japan, including scholars, craftsmen, medicine makers, and gold smelters, provided Japan with many cultural and technological gains. In the years that followed, Japanese pottery and art advanced and developed a significant similarity to their Korean counterparts. Advances in other areas such as agriculture were also aided by technology and artisans acquired and captured during the invasions. Japanese typography advanced with the adoption of Chinese fonts. Because Korean pottery was highly prized in Japan, many Japanese lords established pottery-producing kilns with captured Korean potters in Kyushu and other parts of Japan. The production of Arita porcelain in Japan began in 1616 at the town of Imari with the aid of Korean potters who had been enticed to relocate there after the war.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Furthermore, Neo-Confucianism, which had originated from China and spread to Korea, was introduced to Japan because of the invasions. Many Korean scholars who were captured during the war by the Japanese would later become tutors of prominent Japanese daimyo. Furthermore, many classical Confucian texts were captured during the early stages of the war and taken back to Japan.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Japanese troops engaged in crimes against civilians in battles and often killed indiscriminately. Scorched earth policies were often employed: crops were burned, and farm animals were slaughtered to prevent their use by Joseon or Ming forces. Outside of the main battles, raids to acquire food and supplies from civilians were common. Captured prisoners were often mistreated or worked to near-death by starvation and neglect. In following their battlefield practice at the time, the Japanese also collected the ears and noses of dead soldiers as proof of their exploits on the battlefield and as a record of casualty counts. The high casualty rate of the Joseon and Ming forces, and the large number of ears collected during the campaign was enough to build a large mound near Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Great Buddha, called the Mimizuka ("Mound of Ears").


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Korean armies were also known to forcefully acquire food and supplies from civilians, both on an individual and organized level. Korean bandits and highwaymen also took advantage of the chaos during the war to form raiding parties and rob other Koreans.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: According to British historian who specializes in Japanese military history, Stephen Turnbull, the Ming forces arriving in support of Joseon were often no better than the Japanese in the amount of destruction they caused and the degree of the crimes they committed. According to Turnbull, Ming forces often did not distinguish between loyal Joseon civilians and Japanese collaborators. After the Battle of Noryang, the Chinese general Chen Lin killed the civilians of Namhae Island who were labelled as Japanese collaborators. After the immediate Japanese military threat was neutralized, Turnbull states that the Joseon desire for the Ming armies to quickly withdraw from Korean territory was a contributing factor to the pace of the eventual peace resolution.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Rape was common during the war, and Korean women were indiscriminately assaulted and brutalized by Japanese, Chinese and Korean soldiers throughout the conflict. Records from the war indicate that Japanese soldiers "frequently decapitated all the young men of a locale and carried off all the attractive women – along with


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: the goods they had stolen – on the backs of horses and oxen" and descriptions claim that the key priorities of Japanese soldiers during the conflict were "granaries, understanding local geography, and beautiful women." Meanwhile, Joseon soldiers, such as those led by Kim Myon, captured not only Japanese soldiers but also many Korean women who had "been taken prisoner by the enemy. [The women] begged for their lives, only to be burned to death by the Choso˘n guerrillas along with the Japanese." Records also indicate that Ming Chinese and Joseon Korean forces committed rape against the civilian populace during the conflict. This became one of the primary reasons why the Joseon royal court pushed for peace negotiations with Japan in the early 1600s, in order to remove the Ming Chinese military presence in Korea as well as completely demobilizing the Joseon military forces, both of which had committed significant atrocities against the civilian populace.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The war left significant legacies in all three countries. In the context of Japanese imperialism, the invasions are seen as the first Japanese attempt to become a global power. The partial occupation of Korea developed the Japanese concept that Korea belonged within Japan's sphere of influence, and the Japanese leaders of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries used the 1592–1597 invasions to reinforce the justification for their 20th century annexation of Korea. Yi-Sun Sin's accomplishments in the war also inspired Japanese naval officers during the 19th and 20th century, with many of them citing the importance of studying his battle tactics to further strengthen their navy.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In China, the war was used politically to inspire nationalistic resistance against Japanese imperialism during the 20th century. In Chinese academia, historians list the war as one of the Wanli Emperor's "Three Great Punitive Campaigns". Contemporary Chinese historians often use the campaigns as an example of the friendship that China and Korea shared.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In Korea, the war is a historic foundation of Korean nationalism and, as in China, inspired and politically used to instigate nationalistic resistance against Japanese imperialism during the 20th century. Korea gained several national heroes during the conflict, including Yi Sun-sin and Chen Lin (founder of the Gwangdong Jin clan). Modern anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea can be traced as far back as the Japanese invasions in 1592, although the principal cause is rooted in more recent events, particularly the hardships suffered by Koreans during the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 through 1945. The widespread guerilla warfare fought by various righteous armies, which spearheaded the Korean civilian resistance against the Japanese invasion, had a significant impact on the common Korean populace's conceptions of nationhood and identity. The invasions and subsequent efforts by the local gentry to rally the commoners had a critical impact on perceptions of national identity in Korea, as the gentry were recorded to have sent many letters and declarations against the Japanese invaders and called upon shared Korean history, culture and beliefs to unite the Korean people.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Despite great interest in the war in East Asia, the Japanese invasions of Korea are not widely known in the West. Many history textbooks treat the war with only a few lines of mention, and with the exception of "Samurai Invasion: Japan's Korean War 1592–98" (2002) by Turnbull, no complete academic studies on the subject exist in English, although both James Murdoch and George Sansom covered the topic in some detail in their general historical surveys of Japan, "A History of Japan" (1903) and "A History of Japan" (1958), respectively. Henry Kissinger mentions the conflict in "World Order" (2014).


title: State Emblem of India

text: The State Emblem of India is the national emblem of the Republic of India and is used by the union government, many state governments, and other government agencies. The emblem is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka, an ancient sculpture dating back to 280 BCE during the Maurya Empire. The statue is a three dimensional emblem showing four


title: State Emblem of India

text: lions. It became the emblem of the Dominion of India in December 1947, and later the emblem of the Republic of India.


title: State Emblem of India

text: Following the end of British occupation on 15 August 1947, the newly independent Dominion of India adopted an official state emblem on 30 December 1947. The emblem consisted of a representation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath enclosed within a rectangular frame. Bose set out to complete this task with the help of his students, one of whom was Dinanath Bhargava, then 21 years old. Bose was keen to include the Lion Capital of Ashoka into the opening pages of the constitution. Wanting the lions to be depicted realistically, he chose Bhargava who studied the behaviour of the lions at the Kolkata Zoo.


title: State Emblem of India

text: On 26 January 1950, a representation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka placed above the motto, , was adopted as the State Emblem of India."


title: State Emblem of India

text: The emblem forms a part of the official letterhead of the Government of India and appears on all Indian currency as well. It also functions as the national emblem of India in many places and appears prominently on Indian passports. Usage of the emblem is regulated and restricted under State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act, 2005, under which no individual or private organisation is permitted to use the emblem for official correspondence. The Ashoka Chakra (Ashoka wheel) on its base features in the centre of the National Flag of India.


title: State Emblem of India

text: The actual Sarnath capital features four Asiatic lions standing back to back, symbolising power, courage, confidence and pride, mounted on a circular base. At the bottom is a horse and a bull, and at its centre is a Dharma chakra. The abacus is girded with a frieze of sculptures in high relief of The Lion of the North, The Horse of the West, The Bull of the South and The Elephant of the East, separated by intervening wheels, over a lotus in full bloom, exemplifying the fountainhead of life and creative inspiration. Carved from a single block of sandstone, the polished capital is crowned by the Wheel of Dharma.


title: State Emblem of India

text: In the emblem finally adopted, only three lions are visible, the fourth being hidden from view. The wheel appears in relief in the centre of the abacus, with a bull on the right and a galloping horse on the left, and outlines of Dharma Chakras on the extreme right and left. A horse and a bull are represented right below the abacus. The bull represents hard work and steadfastness, while the horse represents loyalty, speed, and energy. The bell-shaped lotus beneath the abacus has been omitted.


title: State Emblem of India

text: Forming an integral part of the emblem is the motto inscribed below the abacus in Devanagari script: "Satyameva Jayate" (; lit. "Truth alone triumphs"). This is a quote from the "Mundaka Upanishad", the concluding part of the sacred Hindu Vedas.


title: State Emblem of India

text: Most of the states and union territories of India have adopted their own state emblem, seal or coat of arms which are used as an official governmental symbol, while six states and five union territories use the National Emblem of India with a text legend as their official governmental seal.


title: State Emblem of India

text: Some of the autonomous district councils established by the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India have also adopted an official emblem.


title: State Emblem of India

text: Never have seen before; Globe is moving reverse; Before that Rush Official Webbsite send a massage "Discovery Hacked by England_trikle is Never Have Seen Before and then create Black Whole by copying Federal Bank, which is still alive with the name "xtim"=== Azad Hind ===


title: Colon (punctuation)

text: The colon is a punctuation mark consisting of two equally sized dots aligned vertically. A colon often precedes an explanation, a list, or a quoted sentence. It is also used between hours and minutes in time, between certain elements in medical journal citations, chapter and verse in Bible citations, and, in the US, for salutations in business letters and other formal letter writing.


title: Colon (punctuation)

text: In Ancient Greek, in rhetoric and prosody, the term ("", 'limb, member of a body') did not refer to punctuation, but to a member or section of a complete thought or passage; see also "Colon (rhetoric)". From this usage, in palaeography, a colon is a clause or group of clauses written as a line in a manuscript.


title: Colon (punctuation)

text: In the 3rd century BC, Aristophanes of Byzantium is alleged to have devised a punctuation system, in which the end of such a was thought to occasion a medium-length breath, and was marked by a middot . In practice, we don't have much evidence for its early usage, but it was revived later as the "ano teleia", the modern Greek semicolon. Some writers also used a double dot symbol , that later came to be used as a full stop or to mark a change of speaker. (See also "Punctuation in Ancient Greek".)


title: Colon (punctuation)

text: In 1589, in "The Arte of English Poesie", the English term "colon" and the corresponding punctuation mark is attested:


title: Colon (punctuation)

text: For these respectes the auncient reformers of language, inuented, three maner of pauses [...] The shortest pause or intermission they called "comma" [...] The second they called "colon", not a peece but as it were a member for his larger length, because it occupied twise as much time as the comma. The third they called "periodus", [...]


title: Colon (punctuation)

text: In 1622, in Nicholas Okes' print of William Shakespeare's "Othello", the typographical construction of a colon followed by a hyphen or dash to indicate a restful pause is attested. This construction, known as the "dog's bollocks", was once common in British English; though this usage is now discouraged.


title: Colon (punctuation)

text: As late as the 18th century, John Mason related the appropriateness of a colon to the length of the pause taken when reading the text aloud, but silent reading eventually replaced this with other considerations.


title: Colon (punctuation)

text: In modern English usage, a complete sentence precedes a colon, while a list, description, explanation, or definition follows it. The elements which follow the colon may or may not be a complete sentence: since the colon is preceded by a sentence, it is a complete sentence whether what follows the colon is another sentence or not. While it is acceptable to capitalise the first letter after the colon in American English, it is not the case in British English, except where a proper noun immediately follows a colon.


title: Colon (punctuation)

text: Some writers use fragments (incomplete sentences) before a colon for emphasis or stylistic preferences (to show a character's voice in literature), as in this example: