title: Polytheism

text: Ahura Mazda is the supreme god, but Zoroastrianism does not deny other deities. Ahura Mazda has yazatas ("good agents") some of which include Anahita, Sraosha, Mithra, Rashnu, and Tishtrya. Richard Foltz has put forth evidence that Iranians of Pre-Islamic era worshiped all these figures, especially Mithra and Anahita.


title: Polytheism

text: Prods Oktor Skjærvø states Zoroastrianism is henotheistic, and "a dualistic and polytheistic religion, but with one supreme god, who is the father of the ordered cosmos". Other scholars state that this is unclear, because historic texts present a conflicting picture, ranging from Zoroastrianism's belief in "one god, two gods, or a best god henotheism".


title: Polytheism

text: The nature of Tengrism remains debatable. According to many scholars, Tengrism was originally polytheistic, but a monotheistic branch with the sky god Kök-Tengri as the supreme being evolved as a dynastical legitimation. It is at least agreed that Tengrism formed from the diverse folk religions of the local people and may have had diverse branches.


title: Polytheism

text: It is suggested that Tengrism was a monotheistic religion only at the imperial level in aristocratic circles, and, perhaps, only by the 12th-13th centuries (a late form of development of ancient animistic shamanism in the era of the Mongol empire).


title: Polytheism

text: According to Jean-Paul Roux, the monotheistic concept evolved later out of a polytheistic system and was not the original form of Tengrism. The monotheistic concept helped to legitimate the rule of the dynasty: "As there is only one God in Heaven, there can only be one ruler on the earth ...".


title: Polytheism

text: Others point out that Tengri itself was never an Absolute, but only one of many gods of the upper world, the sky deity, of polytheistic shamanism, later known as Tengrism.


title: Polytheism

text: The term also describes several contemporary Turko-Mongolic native religious movements and teachings. All modern adherents of "political" Tengrism are monotheists.


title: Polytheism

text: Neopaganism, also known as modern paganism and contemporary paganism, is a group of contemporary religious movements influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various historical pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe. Although they have commonalities, contemporary pagan religious movements are diverse and no single set of beliefs, practices, or texts are shared by them all.


title: Polytheism

text: English occultist Dion Fortune was a major populiser of "soft polytheism". In her novel "The Sea Priestess", she wrote, "All gods are one god, and all goddesses are one goddess, and there is one initiator."


title: Polytheism

text: Reconstructionist polytheists apply scholarly disciplines such as history, archaeology and language study to revive ancient, traditional religions that have been fragmented, damaged or even destroyed, such as Norse Paganism, Greek Paganism, and Celtic polytheism. A reconstructionist endeavors to revive and reconstruct an authentic practice, based on the ways of the ancestors but workable in contemporary life. These polytheists sharply differ from neopagans in that they consider their religion not only as inspired by historical religions but in many cases as a continuation or revival of those religions.


title: Polytheism

text: Wicca is a duotheistic faith created by Gerald Gardner that allows for polytheism. Wiccans specifically worship the Lord and Lady of the Isles (their names are oathbound). It is an orthopraxic mystery religion that requires initiation to the priesthood in order to consider oneself Wiccan. Wicca emphasizes duality and the cycle of nature.


title: Polytheism

text: In Africa, polytheism in Serer religion dates to the Neolithic Era or possibly earlier, when the ancient ancestors of the Serer people represented their "Pangool" on the Tassili n'Ajjer. The supreme creator deity in Serer religion is Roog. However, there are many deities and Pangool (singular : "Fangool", the interceders with the divine) in Serer religion. Each one has its own purpose and serves as Roog's agent on Earth. Amongst the Cangin speakers, a sub-group of the Serers, Roog is known as Koox.


title: Polytheism

text: The term "polytheist" is sometimes used by Sunni Muslim extremist groups such as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as a derogatory reference to Shiite Muslims, whom they view as having "strayed from Islam's monotheistic creed because of the reverence they show for historical figures, like Imam Ali".


title: Polytheism

text: Polydeism (from the Greek πολύ "poly" ("many") and Latin "deus" meaning god) is a portmanteau referencing a polytheistic form of deism, encompassing the belief that the universe was the collective creation of multiple gods, each of whom created a piece of the universe or multiverse and then ceased to intervene in its evolution. This concept addresses an apparent contradiction in deism, that a monotheistic God created the universe, but now expresses no apparent interest in it, by supposing that if the universe is the construct of many gods, none of them would have an interest in the universe as a whole.


title: Polytheism

text: Creighton University Philosophy professor William O. Stephens, who has taught this concept, suggests that C. D. Broad projected this concept in Broad's 1925 article, "The Validity of Belief in a Personal God". Broad noted that the arguments for the existence of God only tend to prove that "a designing mind "had" existed in the past, not that it "does" exist now. It is quite compatible with this argument that God should have died long ago, or that he should have turned his attention to other parts of the Universe", and notes in the same breath that "there is nothing in the facts to suggest that there is only one such being". Stephens contends that Broad, in turn, derived the concept from David Hume. Stephens states:


title: Polytheism

text: This use of the term appears to originate at least as early as Robert M. Bowman Jr.'s 1997 essay, "Apologetics from Genesis to Revelation". Bowman wrote:


title: Polytheism

text: Sociologist Susan Starr Sered used the term in her 1994 book, "Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions Dominated by Women", which includes a chapter titled, "No Father in Heaven: Androgyny and Polydeism". She writes that she has "chosen to gloss on 'polydeism' a range of beliefs in more than one supernatural entity". Sered used this term in a way that would encompass polytheism, rather than exclude much of it, as she intended to capture both polytheistic systems and nontheistic systems that assert the influence of "spirits or ancestors". This use of the term, however, does not accord with the historical misuse of "deism" as a concept to describe an absent creator god.


title: Timeline of prehistory

text: This timeline of prehistory covers the time from the first appearance of "Homo sapiens" in Africa 315,000 years ago to the invention of writing, over 4,000 years ago, with the earliest records going back to 3,200 BC. Prehistory covers the time from the Middle Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) to the very beginnings of ancient history.


title: Timeline of prehistory

text: "Epipaleolithic" or "Mesolithic" are terms for a transitional period between the Last Glacial Maximum and the Neolithic Revolution in Old World (Eurasian) cultures.


title: Timeline of prehistory

text: The terms "Neolithic" and "Bronze Age" are culture-specific and are mostly limited to cultures of the Old World. Many populations of the New World remain in the Mesolithic cultural stage until European contact in the modern period.


title: Timeline of prehistory

text: Researchers deduced in a scientific review that "no specific point in time can currently be identified at which modern human ancestry was confined to a limited birthplace" and that current knowledge about long, continuous and complex – e.g. often non-singular, parallel, nonsimultaneous and/or gradual – emergences of characteristics is consistent with a range of evolutionary histories. A timeline dating first occurrences and earliest evidence may therefore be an often inadequate approach for describing humanity's (pre-)history.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Ronin is a 1998 American action thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and written by John David Zeik and David Mamet, under the pseudonym Richard Weisz. It stars Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgård, Sean Bean, and Jonathan Pryce. The film is about a team of former special operatives hired to steal a mysterious, heavily guarded briefcase while navigating a maze of shifting loyalties. The film was praised for its realistic car chases in Nice and Paris.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Frankenheimer signed to direct Zeik's screenplay, which Mamet rewrote to expand De Niro's role and develop plot details, in 1997. The film was photographed by Robert Fraisse in his native France from November 3, 1997, to March 3, 1998. Professional racing car drivers coordinated and performed the vehicle stunts, and Elia Cmiral scored the film, his first for a major studio.


title: Ronin (film)

text: "Ronin" premiered at the 1998 Venice Film Festival before its general release on September 25. Critics were generally positive about the film's action, casting, and technical aspects, while the plot attracted criticism. The film performed moderately well at the box office, grossing $70.7 million on a budget of $55 million. "Ronin", Frankenheimer's last well-received feature film, was considered to be a return to form for the director. Film critic and historian Stephen Prince called the film Frankenheimer's "end-of-career masterpiece". The car chases, which were favorably compared with those in "Bullitt" and "The French Connection", were included on several media outlets' lists as among the best depicted on film.


title: Ronin (film)

text: At a bistro in Montmartre, IRA operative Deirdre meets with two Americans, Sam and Larry, and a Frenchman, Vincent. She takes them to a warehouse where the Englishman Spence and the German Gregor are waiting. Conversations between the men show that they are all ex-government agents or ex-military-turned-mercenary. Deirdre briefs them on their mission: to attack a heavily armed convoy and steal a large, metallic briefcase, which functions as the film's MacGuffin. Its contents are never revealed. The team's first task before the main mission is to acquire weapons; this turns into a setup. Although the team survives and they get the weapons, Spence is exposed as a fraud by Sam. He is dismissed by Deirdre and the others continue the mission. As the team prepares, Deirdre meets with her handler, Seamus O'Rourke, who tells her that the Russian mafia is bidding for the case and that the team must intervene before they get it. During a stakeout, Sam and Deirdre act on their mutual attraction.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Deirdre's team successfully ambushes the convoy at La Turbie and pursues the survivors to Nice. During the gunfight, Gregor steals the case and disappears. He negotiates selling it to the Russians, but his contact attempts to betray him. Gregor kills the contact, then has Mikhi — the Russian Mafioso in charge of the deal — agree to another meeting. The team tracks Gregor through one of Sam's old CIA contacts and corners him in the Arles Amphitheatre during his meeting with two of Mikhi's men. Sam chases Gregor; Gregor flees but is caught by Seamus. Deirdre and Vincent confront the two Russian thugs, causing a shootout. Sam arrives to help, killing one, but catches a ricochet from the other when Vincent knocks away the thug's gun in order to kill him. Seamus kills Larry and escapes with a reluctant Deirdre and the captured Gregor. Vincent takes Sam to a villa owned by his friend, Jean-Pierre. After removing the bullet and letting Sam recuperate, Vincent asks Jean-Pierre to help them find Gregor and the Irish operatives.


title: Ronin (film)

text: In Paris, Gregor is persuaded through violent interrogation to give the case back to Seamus and Deirdre. After retrieving it from a post office, they are pursued by Sam and Vincent in a high-speed chase. Vincent shoots out their tire, sending their car off an unfinished overpass. Gregor escapes with the case while road workers rescue Deirdre and Seamus from the burning vehicle. Unsure where to go next, Sam and Vincent decide to track down the Russians; one of Jean-Pierre's contacts tells them they are involved with figure-skater (and Mikhi's girlfriend) Natacha Kirilova, who is appearing at Le Zénith.


title: Ronin (film)

text: During Natacha's performance, Mikhi meets with Gregor, who says a sniper in the arena will shoot Natacha if Mikhi betrays him. Mikhi surprises Gregor by letting Natacha be killed before killing Gregor and taking the case. Amid the ensuing chaos from Natacha's shooting, Sam and Vincent leave the arena just in time to see Seamus kill Mikhi and steal the case. Sam and Vincent split up; Vincent pursues Seamus, but is wounded in a gunfight. Sam finds Deirdre waiting in a getaway car; he convinces her to leave after explaining that he is still an active government agent working undercover to get Seamus, not the case. As she drives away, Seamus is forced to return to the arena as Sam gives chase. Seamus ambushes Sam, but is shot dead by Vincent before Seamus can kill Sam.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Sam and Vincent have coffee in the bistro where they first met. A radio broadcast announces that a peace agreement between Sinn Féin and the British government has been reached, partially as a result of Seamus's death. Sam keeps glancing at the door as patrons enter, but Vincent convinces Sam that Deirdre will not be coming back. They shake hands and part ways; Sam drives off with his CIA contact as Vincent pays the bill and leaves.


title: Ronin (film)

text: In July 1997, "Variety" reported that Frankenheimer had signed to direct "Ronin", making it his fifth picture for United Artists. Frankenheimer told the magazine he chose the project because it had a "very good script" and was "the kind of movie I'd love to go see ... What I like is, it's a character-driven action picture, and I have done those before, with "Black Sunday" and "French Connection II". It's not one of these CGI pictures, it's a film about people. It's not bigger than life, which I don't relate to that much." He also saw it as an opportunity to apply his broad knowledge and understanding of France, especially Paris, in which he resided for many years. He added, "I would not have been able to do the film nearly as well anywhere else". His films "The Train" (1964), "Grand Prix" (1966), "Impossible Object" (1973), and "French Connection II" (1975) were shot in France.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Many of "Ronin"s principal crew members had worked with Frankenheimer on television films; editor Tony Gibbs on "George Wallace", set designer Michael Z. Hanan on "George Wallace" and "The Burning Season" (1994), and costume designer May Routh on "Andersonville" (1996). Frankenheimer chose French cinematographer Robert Fraisse to help him achieve the look and style he wanted for the film. Fraisse impressed Frankenheimer with his work on the police thriller "Citizen X" (1995), which persuaded the director Fraisse could handle the more-than-2,000 setups he planned for "Ronin". Frank Mancuso Jr. served as the film's producer.


title: Ronin (film)

text: According to Frankenheimer, French authorities helped him circumvent a strict Paris ordinance that prohibited film productions from firing guns in the city. This was enacted because many civilians had been complaining about the gunfire noise produced by film shoots. Additional factors influenced the decision; officials' desire for an American action film like "Ronin", few of which had been filmed there since the law was passed, to be filmed in Paris and the desire to boost France's reputation as a filming location.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Writer John David Zeik, a newcomer to film, conceived the idea for "Ronin" after reading James Clavell's novel "Shōgun" at the age of 15. It gave him background information on "rōnin" (masterless samurai), which he incorporated into a screenplay years later. On choosing France as the story's key location, Zeik said: "Many years later in Nice, the location of one of the key set pieces of the story, I stared into the sun and saw the silhouettes of five heavily armed Gendarmes crossing the Promenade des Anglais. That image made me realize that I wanted to set the film in France."


title: Ronin (film)

text: Accounts differ as to the screenplay's authorship. According to Zeik's attorney, Playwright David Mamet was brought in shortly before production to expand De Niro's role and add a female love interest. Although Mamet rewrote several scenes, his contributions were minor according to Zeik's account. Frankenheimer said Mamet's contributions were more significant: "The credits should read: 'Story by J.D. Zeik, screenplay by David Mamet'. We didn't shoot a line of Zeik's script." Frankenheimer later retracted this in a September 1998 open letter published in "Variety", writing that "J.D. Zeik is unequivocally entitled to the first position screenwriting credit as well as the sole story credit he was awarded by the WGA ... [He] deserves recognition for his significant contribution to this film, and I am proud to have worked with him". When he learned he would have to share credit with Zeik, Mamet insisted on being credited with the pseudonym Richard Weisz because he had earlier decided to attach his name only to projects for which he was the sole writer.


title: Ronin (film)

text: "Ronin" was produced on a budget of $55 million. Principal photography lasted 78 days, beginning on November 3, 1997, in an abandoned workshop at Aubervilliers. Scenes at Porte des Lilas and the historic Arles Amphitheatre were filmed that November; the crew then filmed at the Hotel Majestic in Cannes, La Turbie, and Villefranche. Production was suspended for Christmas on December 19 and resumed on January 5, 1998, at Épinay, where the crew built two interior sets on sound stages; one for the bistro in Montmartre and another for the rural farmhouse, both of which also have exterior location shots. The climactic scene with a panicked crowd at Le Zénith required about 2,000 extras, who were supervised by French casting director Margot Capelier. Filming concluded at La Défense on March 3, 1998.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Because there were no second unit director and camera operator to film the action scenes, Frankenheimer and cinematographer Robert Fraisse supervised them for an additional 30 days after the main unit finished filming. The first major car-chase scene was shot in La Turbie and Nice; the rest were filmed in areas of Paris including La Défense and the Pont du Garigliano. Scenes set in a road tunnel were filmed at night because it was impossible to block tunnel traffic during the day. The freeway chase, in which the actors dodge oncoming vehicles, was filmed in four hours on a closed road.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Frankenheimer's affinity for deep depth of field led him to shoot the film entirely with wide-angle lenses ranging in focal length from 18 to 35 mm using the Super 35 format, both of which allow more of the scene to be included in each shot. The director also avoided bright primary colors to preserve a first-generation-of-film quality. He advised the actors and extras not to wear bright colors and had the film processed with Deluxe's Color Contrast Enhancement (CCE), "a silver-retention method of processing film that deepens blacks, reduces color, and heightens the visible appearance of film grain". Fraisse said he used a variety of cameras, including Panaflexes for dialogue scenes and Arriflex 435s and 35-IIIs for the car chases, to facilitate Frankenheimer's demands. Steadicam, a camera stabilizer used for half of the shoot, was operated by the director's longtime collaborator David Crone. According to Frankenheimer, 2,200 shots were filmed.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Frankenheimer avoided using special effects in the car-chase scenes, previsualizing them with storyboards and used the same camera mounts as those used on "Grand Prix". The actors were placed inside the cars while being driven at up to , by Formula One driver Jean-Pierre Jarier, and high-performance drivers Jean-Claude Lagniez and Michel Neugarten. The actors had enrolled at a high-performance driving school before production began. According to Lagniez, the car-stunt coordinator, it was a priority not to cheat the speed by adjusting the frame rate; he said, "When you do, it affects the lighting. It is different at 20 frames than at 24 frames." However, Fraisse said: "Sometimes, but not very often, we did shoot at 22 frames per second, or 21." Point-of-view shots from cameras mounted below the cars' front fender were used to deliver a heightened sense of speed.


title: Ronin (film)

text: For the final chase scene, which used 300 stunt drivers, the production team bought four BMW 535is and five Peugeot 406s; one of each was cut in half and towed by a Mercedes-Benz 500 E while the actors were inside them. Right-hand drive versions of the cars were also purchased; a dummy steering wheel was installed on the left side while the stunt drivers drove the speeding vehicles. The final chase had very little music because Frankenheimer thought music and sound effects do not blend well. Sound engineer Mike Le Mare recorded all of the film's cars on a racetrack, mixing them later in post-production.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Frankenheimer refused to film the gunfights in slow motion, believing onscreen violence should be depicted in real time. Mick Gould, the film's technical advisor and a former instructor in the advanced training wings of the Special Air Service, trained the cast in weapons-handling and guerilla military tactics. The physical stunts were coordinated by Joe Dunne.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Frankenheimer filmed two additional versions of the film's ending. In the first, Deirdre (McElhone) waits on the stairs next to the bistro and considers joining Sam (De Niro) and Vincent (Reno). Deciding against it, she walks up the stairs. As she gets into her car, IRA men drag her into a van and call her a traitor; it is implied that she is later killed. Sam and Vincent, unaware of Deidre's abduction, finish their conversation and depart. Although Frankenheimer said the test audience "hated" the ending because they did not want to see Deirdre die, he thought it "really worked". In the second ending, Deirdre walks to her car after Sam and Vincent leave the bistro; this ending was also rejected because it verged on being "too Hollywood", hinting at a sequel. Frankenheimer yielded to the test audience's response with a compromise ending; he said, "with the tremendous investment MGM/UA had in this movie, you have to kind of listen to the audience".


title: Ronin (film)

text: Jerry Goldsmith was originally commissioned to compose the score for "Ronin" but left the project. MGM executive vice-president for music Michael Sandoval assembled an A-list to replace Goldsmith. From Sandoval's three choices, Frankenheimer hired Czech composer Elia Cmíral, who said he "was far away from being even a 'B' composer at that time". Cmíral attended a private screening of the film's final version and considered its main theme, which at Frankenheimer's behest would incorporate qualities of "sadness, loneliness, and heroism". To achieve this, Cmíral performed with the duduk, an ancient, double-reed woodwind flute that originated in Armenia. Cmíral sent a demonstration to Frankenheimer, who "loved" it, and was signed as the film's composer. Cmíral's piece "Ronin Theme" was used for the opening scenes.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Cmíral's score for "Ronin", his first for a major film studio, was recorded in seven weeks at CTS Studio in London. It was orchestrated and conducted by Nick Ingman, edited by Mike Flicker, and recorded and mixed by John Whynot. Varèse Sarabande released the soundtrack album on compact disc in September 1998. For AllMusic, Jason Ankeny rated the album 4.5 out of 5 and called it a "profoundly visceral listening experience, illustrating an expert grasp of pacing and atmosphere".


title: Ronin (film)

text: "Ronin" had its world premiere at the 1998 Venice Film Festival on September 12, before a wide release on September 25. "Ronin" fared moderately well at the box office; it was the second-highest-grossing film in the United States during its opening weekend, grossing $16.7 million behind the action-comedy "Rush Hour"s $26.7 million, at 2,643 locations. The film dropped to fifth place on its second weekend and to seventh on its third, grossing $7.2 million and $4.7 million, respectively, at 2,487 locations. It dropped further until its sixth weekend, when it grossed $1.1 million (13th place) at 1,341 locations. The film ended its theatrical run with a gross of $41.6 million in the U.S. and Canada, and $70.7 million worldwide. "Ronin" was 1998's 11th-highest-grossing R-rated film.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Critical reception to "Ronin" was favorable; critics praised its ensemble cast, with many singling out Robert De Niro. Todd McCarthy in "Variety" credited De Niro with sustaining the film but a reviewer from the "Chicago Reader" disagreed. The film's action scenes, particularly the car chases, were generally praised; Janet Maslin in "The New York Times" called them "nothing short of sensational". These scenes were criticized by "The Washington Post" for their length and by McCarthy for their excessive jump cuts. Robert Fraisse's cinematography was routinely praised; Michael Wilmington in the "Chicago Tribune" called it superficially attractive and entertaining. Although the plot was criticized by the "Chicago Reader" as dull and "The Washington Post" as derivative, Wilmington called it a "familiar but taut tale". Some reviewers singled out the espionage scene in which De Niro and Natascha McElhone pose as tourists and photograph their targets at a Cannes hotel as one of the film's best.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Critics also evaluated Frankenheimer because the broad acclaim he received with the political thriller "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) established him as a director. Many said he was influenced by the works of fellow filmmaker and close friend Jean-Pierre Melville, particularly Melville's neo-noir film "Le Samouraï" (1967), but McCarthy wrote that "Ronin" lacks Melville's "world-weary, existential ennui". The film was considered to be a return to form for Frankenheimer, whose Emmy Awards for the television films "Against the Wall" (1994), "The Burning Season", "Andersonville" and "George Wallace" had resurrected his career, after it lost momentum during the 1970s and 1980s due to the director's alcohol addiction. "Ronin" was Frankenheimer's last well-received feature film; Wilmington called it the director's best theatrical film in decades despite lacking "The Manchurian Candidate" "blazing invention", and Stephen Prince called the film his "end-of-career masterpiece". Prince wrote:


title: Ronin (film)

text: With "Ronin", Frankenheimer vindicated his cinematic talents and aesthetic preferences. The film is stylistically bonded with the principles of his work as found in the earliest and best period of his career. Its aesthetic of realism places it with "Grand Prix", "The Train", and "The Gypsy Moths", and its minimalist conception of character and narrative detail bonds it to those productions as well. Frankenheimer had not lost his touch as a filmmaker, far from it. "Ronin" is smart, sharp, and witty, and it shows a greater facility for visual storytelling than most films made today, by younger directors, can muster.


title: Ronin (film)

text: In February 1999, MGM Home Entertainment released "Ronin" as a two-disc DVD that contained versions in widescreen and pan and scan formats, and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. The DVD also contains the alternative ending and an audio commentary by John Frankenheimer, who discusses the film's production history. MGM released a special edition DVD of the film in October 2004 and a two-disc collector's edition in May 2006, both of which have additional cast and crew interviews.


title: Ronin (film)

text: It was released on Blu-ray with its theatrical trailer in February 2009. In August 2017, Arrow Video released a special edition Blu-ray with a 4K resolution restoration from the original camera negative that was supervised and approved by cinematographer Robert Fraisse. Arrow's Blu-ray also includes archival bonus features that originally appeared on the MGM special edition DVD, together with Fraisse talking about his early cinematography career and his involvement with "Ronin".


title: Ronin (film)

text: The film's title was derived from the Japanese legend of "rōnin", samurai whose leader was killed and left them with no one to serve, and roamed the countryside as mercenaries and bandits to regain a sense of purpose. In Frankenheimer's film, the "rōnin" are former intelligence operatives who are unemployed at the end of the Cold War; devoid of purpose, they become highly-paid mercenaries. Michael Lonsdale's character elaborates on the analogy in an anecdote about the forty-seven "rōnin" told with miniatures, comparing the film's characters to the 18th-century "rōnin" of Japan. In his essay, "Action and Abstraction in "Ronin"", Stephen Prince wrote that the "rōnin" metaphor explores themes of "service, honor, and obligation to complex ways by showing that service may entail betrayal and that honor may be measured according to disparate terms". According to Stephen B. Armstrong, "Arguably Frankenheimer uses this story to highlight and contrast the moral and social weakness that characterize the band of "rōnin" in his film".


title: Ronin (film)

text: The film features a MacGuffin plot device in the form of a briefcase, the contents of which are important but unknown. "Chicago Sun-Times" critic Roger Ebert wrote that its content is identical to that of the equally-mysterious case in Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" (1994), also a MacGuffin. Michael Wilmington of the "Chicago Tribune" called "Ronin" an homage to "The French Connection" (1971), "The Parallax View" (1974), and "Three Days of the Condor" (1975); thriller films known for their lack of visual effects. Maitland McDonagh of "TV Guide" also compared the film to "The Day of the Jackal" (1973) and noted similarities between "Ronin"s opening scene and that of Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" (1992), in which a group of professional killers who have not met before assemble. According to Armstrong, the film's plot observes the conventions of heist films.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Frankenheimer employed a hyperrealistic aesthetic in his films "to make them look realer than real, because reality by itself can be very boring", and saw them as having a tinge of semi-documentary. He credited Gillo Pontecorvo's "The Battle of Algiers" (1966), a film he considered flawless and more influential than any other he had seen, with inspiring this style. According to Prince, "Frankenheimer's success at working in this realist style, avoiding special effects trickery, places the car chase in "Ronin" in the same rarefied class as the celebrated chase in "Bullitt" (1968)". The director credited the Russian film "The Cranes Are Flying" (1957) with inspiring invisible cuts in "Ronin". On the film's DVD audio commentary, Frankenheimer notes a wipe during the opening scenes made by two extras walking across the frame, which becomes a tracking shot of Jean Reno entering the bistro. His intention for the cut was to conceal the fact that the bistro's interior was a set; its exterior was filmed on location.


title: Ronin (film)

text: Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 69%, with an average rating of 6.3/10, based on 70 reviews. The website's consensus reads, ""Ronin" earns comparisons to "The French Connection" with strong action, dynamic road chase scenes, and solid performances". Rotten Tomatoes also ranked "Ronin" No. 101 on its list of the "140 Essential Action Movies To Watch Now". On Metacritic the film received "Generally favorable reviews", with an overall weighted average of 67 out of 100, based on 23 reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore during "Ronin" opening weekend gave the film an average grade of C+ on scale of A+ to F.


title: Ronin (film)

text: "Ronin" car chases were included on several media outlets' lists of the best depicted on film, including CNN (No. 2), "Time" (No. 12), Fandango (No. 6), "Complex" (No. 25), "The Daily Telegraph" (No. 10), "PopMatters" (No. 9), IGN (No. 9), Screen Rant (No. 8), "Business Insider" (No. 3), "Consequence of Sound" (No. 6), and Collider. Some critics have said the chase scenes in "" (2018) were influenced by those in "Ronin". Screen Rant ranked "Ronin" No. 1 on its list of the "12 Best Action Movies You've Never Heard Of". In 2014, "Time Out" polled several film critics, directors, actors, and stunt actors about their top action films; "Ronin" was 72nd on the list. "Paste" magazine ranked the film at No. 10 on its list of the "25 Best Movies of 1998". "Ronin" was included in the film reference book "101 Action Movies You Must See Before You Die".


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Japanese invasions of Korea of 1592–1598 involved two separate yet linked invasions: an initial invasion in 1592 (), a brief truce in 1596, and a second invasion in 1597 (). The conflict ended in 1598 with the withdrawal of Japanese forces from the Korean Peninsula after a military stalemate in Korea's southern provinces.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The invasions were launched by Toyotomi Hideyoshi with the intent of conquering the Korean Peninsula and China proper, which were ruled by the Joseon and Ming dynasties, respectively. Japan quickly succeeded in occupying large portions of the Korean Peninsula, but the contribution of reinforcements by the Ming, as well as the disruption of Japanese supply fleets along the western and southern coasts by the Joseon navy forced the Japanese forces to withdraw from Pyongyang and the northern provinces. Afterwards, with righteous armies (Joseon civilian militias) conducting guerrilla warfare against the occupying Japanese forces and supply difficulties hampering both sides, neither force was able to mount a successful offensive or gain any additional territory, resulting in a military stalemate. The first phase of the invasion ended in 1596, and was followed afterwards by ultimately unsuccessful peace negotiations between Japan and the Ming.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In 1597, Japan renewed its offensive by invading Korea a second time. The pattern of the second invasion largely mirrored that of the first. The Japanese had initial successes on land, capturing several cities and fortresses, only to be halted and forced to withdraw to the southern coastal regions of the peninsula. However, the pursuing Ming and Joseon forces were unable to dislodge the Japanese from these positions, where both sides again became locked in a ten-month long military stalemate.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: With Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death in 1598, limited progress on land, and continued disruption of supply lines by the Joseon navy, the Japanese forces in Korea were ordered to withdraw back to Japan by the new governing Council of Five Elders. Final peace negotiations between the parties followed afterwards and continued for several years, ultimately resulting in the normalization of relations. The Japanese invasions of Korea at the time were the largest seaborne invasions in history, with the Japanese committing over 300,000 men to the campaigns. The size and scale of the invasions would not be matched or surpassed for nearly 350 years until the Normandy landings of June 6, 1944, when nearly 352,000 Allied troops were committed to the invasion.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In Korean, the first invasion (1592–1593) is called the "Japanese Disturbance of Imjin" (倭 亂 ; "wae" "ran"), where 1592 is an "imjin" year in the sexagenary cycle. The second invasion (1597–1598) is called the "Second War of Jeong-yu" (丁酉). Collectively, the invasions are referred to as the Imjin War.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In Chinese, the wars are referred to as the "Wanli Korean Campaign", after the reigning Chinese emperor, or the "Renchen War to Defend the Nation" (壬辰衛國戰爭). "Imjin" is the Korean reading of the Chinese word "renchen" (壬辰)"."


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In Japanese, the war is called "Bunroku no eki" (文禄の役). "Bunroku" referring to the Japanese era name spanning the period from 1592 to 1596. The second invasion (1597–1598) is called ""Keichō no eki"" (慶長の役). During the Edo period (17–19th centuries), the war was also called ""Kara iri"" (唐入り "entry into China" or more accurately "entry into Tang", the dynasty whose name is synonym with China). Japan's ultimate purpose was the invasion of Ming China. However, during the war, as the reality that the conflict was largely confined to the Korean Peninsula seeped in, Toyotomi Hideyoshi would soon alter his original objectives.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In 1592, with an army of approximately 158,000 troops, Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched what would end up being the first of two invasions of Korea, with the intent of conquering Joseon Korea and eventually Ming China. Initially, the Japanese forces saw overwhelming success on land, capturing both Hanseong, the capital of Korea, and Pyongyang, and completing the occupation of large portions of the Korean Peninsula in three months. The Japanese forces, well-trained, confident, and experienced after the numerous battles and conflicts of the Sengoku period, typically held the field in most land engagements. This success on land, however, was constrained by the naval campaigns of the Korean navy which would continue to raid Japanese supply fleets in its coastal waters, hampering the Japanese advances as supply lines were disrupted along the Western Korean coast and Japanese naval reinforcements were repelled. These trends, with some exceptions on both sides, held true throughout much of the conflict.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Under the rule of the Wanli Emperor, Ming China quickly interpreted the Japanese invasions as a challenge and threat to the Imperial Chinese tributary system. The Ming's interest was also to keep the war confined to the Korean peninsula and out of its own territory (to avoid territorial destruction); they entered into the conflict by dispatching reinforcements to attack from the north. In the engagements that followed, the majority of the Joseon army was focused on defending the northern provinces from Japanese offensives, while also supporting Ming army campaigns to recapture territory occupied by the Japanese. Consequently, it was the combination of these Ming-led land campaigns and Joseon-led naval warfare that eventually forced the Japanese army to withdraw from Pyongyang to the south, where the Japanese continued to occupy Hanseong and the southern regions with the exception of the southwestern Jeolla Province. The pursuing Ming and Joseon armies attempted to advance further into the south, but were halted by the Japanese army at the Battle of Byeokjegwan. Subsequently, the Japanese armies launched a counterattack in an attempt to reoccupy the northern provinces but were repelled by the defending Joseon army at Haengju fortress. Additionally, Joseon's civilian-led armies actively waged guerrilla warfare against the Japanese forces in the south, which weakened the Japanese hold in the cities they occupied. Afterwards, with supply difficulties hampering both sides, neither the Japanese nor the combined Ming and Joseon forces were able to mount a successful offensive or gain any additional territory, resulting in a military stalemate in the areas between Hanseong and Kaesong. The war continued in this manner for five years, and was followed by a brief interlude between 1596 and 1597 during which Japan and the Ming engaged in ultimately unsuccessful peace talks.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In 1597, Japan renewed its offensive by invading Korea a second time. The pattern of the second invasion largely mirrored that of the first. The Japanese had initial successes on land, but the contribution of the Ming forces, as well as the Joseon navy's disruption of Japanese supply fleets, resulted in a withdrawal of Japanese forces towards the coastal regions of the peninsula. The pursuing Ming and Joseon forces, however, failed to dislodge the Japanese from their fortresses and entrenched positions in the southern coastal areas where both sides became locked in a ten-month long military stalemate.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: With Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death in September 1598, limited progress on land, and continued disruption of supply lines along the western and southern coasts by the Joseon navy, the remaining Japanese forces in Korea were ordered to withdraw back to Japan by the new governing Council of Five Elders. Final peace negotiations between the parties followed afterwards and continued for several years, ultimately resulting in the normalization of relations.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In 1392, General Yi Seonggye led a successful coup to take political power in Korea from U of Goryeo. Seonggye's followers forced him to take the crown as Taejo of Joseon, thus establishing a new dynasty. In search of a justification for its rule given the lack of a royal bloodline, the new regime received recognition from China and integration into the Imperial Chinese tributary system within the context of the Mandate of Heaven. Within this tributary system, China assumed the role of a "big brother", with Korea maintaining the highest position among the tributary states, which also included countries such as the Ryukyu Kingdom, Lan Xang, Đại Việt, and the Ayutthaya Kingdom, in return for accepting the subservient tributary role of a "younger brother".


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In 1402, the Japanese shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (despite not being the Emperor of Japan) was conferred the title of "King of Japan" by the Chinese emperor and through this title had similarly accepted a position in the imperial tributary system as of 1404. This relationship ended in 1408 when Japan, unlike Korea, chose to end its recognition of China's regional hegemony and cancel any further tribute missions. Membership in the tributary system was a prerequisite for any economic exchange with China; in exiting the system, Japan relinquished its trade relationship with China.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: One thousand years earlier, the Sui and Tang dynasties of China had complicated political and trading relations with the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Ming China, on the other hand, had close trading and diplomatic relations with the Joseon, which remained integrated in the imperial tributary system, but also received tribute and trade from Japan.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Ming China and Joseon Korea shared much in common. Both emerged during the fourteenth century after the end of the Yuan dynasty, embraced Confucian ideals in society, and faced similar threats (Jurchen raiders and wokou). Both had competing internal political factions, which would influence decisions made prior to and during the war. Because of close trade and common enemies, Joseon and Ming had a friendly alliance.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: By the last decade of the 16th century, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the most preeminent daimyō, had unified all of Japan in a brief period of peace. Since he came to hold power in the absence of a legitimate successor of the Minamoto lineage necessary for the imperial shōgun commission, he sought military power to legitimize his rule and to decrease his dependence on the imperial family. It is also suggested that Hideyoshi planned an invasion of China to fulfill the dreams of his late lord, Oda Nobunaga, and to mitigate the possible threat of civil disorder or rebellion posed by the large number of now-idle samurai and soldiers in unified Japan. It is also possible that Hideyoshi might have set a more realistic goal of subjugating the smaller neighbouring states (the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, and Korea) and treating the larger or more distant countries as trading partners, because throughout the invasion of Korea, Hideyoshi sought for legal tally trade with China.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Hideyoshi's need for military supremacy as a justification for his rule, which lacked shōgunal background, could have, on an international level, been eventually transformed into an order with Japan's neighboring countries below Japan. Hideyoshi did not take the title of Shōgun on the grounds that he lacked the necessary Minamoto descent, but since it was very common in 16th century Japan for genealogists to "discover" that someone had illustrious ancestry for the right price, that suggests that Hideyoshi was planning on creating a new office for himself to replace the "bakufu". Hideyoshi was also tempted by an external conflict to prevent internal rebellion within Japan, which would keep his newly formed state united against a common enemy, and prevent the "daimyōs" from acting on any ambitions against his rule. Fighting a war away from Japanese territory would also prevent territorial destruction, and maintain the infrastructure of the state. Such considerations would be consistent with the fact that Hideyoshi was not shōgun and had no links with the imperial bloodline.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Stephen Turnbull also suggests personal ambition and megalomania of Hideyoshi as reasons for the invasion. Hideyoshi had in a series of wars conquered Japan and now wanted to turn to bigger things, noting that he spoke not only of his desire to "slash his way" into Korea to invade China, but also the Philippines, and India. Furthermore, for thousands of years, China had been the intellectual, economic, military, and political center of East Asia, and traditionally, the states of East Asia had acknowledged the emperors of China as their overlords and paid tribute in exchange for being allowed to trade with China. Japan had usually resisted the demand to pay tribute to China, but shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu had acknowledged the emperor of China as his overlord in return for access to the huge Chinese market. Japan's right to pay tribute and, with it, the right to trade with China was ended in the 1540s by the Ming court in response to raids by Sino-Japanese pirates known as the "wakō".


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: By seeking to invade China, Hideyoshi was in effect claiming for Japan the role traditionally played by China in East Asia as the center of the East Asian international order. He rallied support in Japan as a man of relatively humble origins who owed his position to his military might. Finally, during the 1540s–1550s, the "wakō" had staged a series of samurai raids into Korea, some of which were so large as to be "mini-invasions". Hideyoshi mistakenly thought his enemies were weak.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Hideyoshi planned for a possible war with Korea long before he had completed the unification of Japan. He made preparations on many fronts. As early as 1578, Hideyoshi, then fighting under Oda Nobunaga against Mōri Terumoto for control of the Chūgoku region, informed Terumoto of Nobunaga's plan to invade China. In 1585, Hideyoshi told the Portuguese Jesuit Father Gaspar Coelho of his wish to conquer all of East Asia. Hideyoshi asked Coelho to send a message to his master, King Philip II of Spain, who was also King Philip I of Portugal, asking that he make his navy available to help Japan (Ming China, Spain, and Portugal were the main naval powers of the time). However Philip refused Hideyoshi, preferring not to upset China. The defeat of the Odawara-based Hōjō clan in 1590 finally brought about the second unification of Japan, and Hideyoshi began preparing for the next war.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Beginning in March 1591, the Kyūshū "daimyōs" and their labor forces constructed Nagoya Castle in Nagoya, Saga (modern-day Karatsu, Saga, not to be confused with present day Nagoya city in Aichi Prefecture) as the center for the mobilization of the invasion forces. In 1592, Hideyoshi sent a letter to the Philippines demanding tribute from the Spanish governor general and stating that Japan had already received tribute from Korea (which was a misunderstanding) and the Ryukyus.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: As for the military preparations, the construction of as many as 2,000 ships may have begun as early as 1586. To estimate the strength of the Korean military, Hideyoshi sent an assault force of 26 ships to the southern coast of Korea in 1587. On the diplomatic front, Hideyoshi began to establish friendly relations with China long before he had completed the unification of Japan. He also helped to police the trade routes against the wokou.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In 1587, Hideyoshi sent his first envoy Yutani Yasuhiro, to Korea, which was during the rule of King Seonjo, to re-establish diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan (broken since the Wokou raid in 1555). Hideyoshi hoped to use as a foundation to induce the Korean court to join Japan in a war against China. Yasuhiro, with his warrior background and an attitude disdainful of the Korean officials and their customs, failed to receive the promise of future ambassadorial missions from Korea.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Around May 1589, Hideyoshi's second embassy, consisting of Sō Yoshitoshi (or Yoshitomo, 柳川調信), Yanagawa Shigenobu, and Buddhist monk Genso (玄蘇) reached Korea and secured the promise of a Korean embassy to Japan in exchange for a group of Korean rebels which had taken refuge in Japan.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In 1587, Hideyoshi had ordered the adopted father of Yoshitoshi and the daimyō of Tsushima Island, Sō Yoshishige, to offer the Joseon Dynasty an ultimatum of submitting to Japan and participating in the conquest of China, or facing the prospect of open war with Japan. However, as Tsushima Island enjoyed a special trading position as the single checkpoint to Korea for all Japanese ships and had permission from Korea to trade with as many as 50 of its own vessels, the Sō family had a vested interest in preventing conflict with Korea, and delayed the talks for nearly two years. Even when Hideyoshi renewed his order, Sō Yoshitoshi reduced the visit to the Korean court to a campaign to better relations between the two countries. Near the end of the ambassadorial mission, Yoshitoshi presented King Seonjo a brace of peafowl and matchlock guns – the first advanced firearms to come to Korea. Ryu Seong-ryong, a high-ranking scholar official, suggested that the military put the arquebus (a matchlock firearm) into production and use, but the Korean court failed to appreciate its merits. This lack of interest and underestimation of the power of the arquebus greatly contributed to the failures of the Korean army early in the war.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In April 1590, the Korean ambassadors including Hwang Yun-gil and Kim Saung-il left for Kyoto, where they waited for two months while Hideyoshi was finishing his campaign against the Hojo clan. Upon his return, they exchanged ceremonial gifts and delivered King Seonjo's letter to Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi mistakenly assumed that the Koreans had come to pay a tributary homage to Japan. For this reason the ambassadors were not given the formal treatment that was due to diplomatic representatives. In the end, the Korean ambassadors asked for Hideyoshi to write a reply to the Korean king, for which they waited 20 days at the port of Sakai. The letter, redrafted as requested by the ambassadors on the ground that it was too discourteous, invited Korea to submit to Japan and join in a war against China.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Upon the ambassadors' return, the Joseon court held serious discussions concerning Japan's invitation; while Hwang Yun-gil reported conflicting estimates of Japanese military strength and intentions. They nonetheless pressed that a war was imminent. Kim Saung-il claimed that Hideyoshi's letter was nothing but a bluff. Moreover, the court, aware only that Japan was in turmoil with various clan armies fighting each other, substantially underrated the combined strength and abilities of many Japanese armies at the time. Some, including King Seonjo, argued that Ming should be informed about the dealings with Japan, as failure to do so could make Ming suspect Korea's allegiance, but the court finally concluded to wait further until the appropriate course of action became definite.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In the end, Hideyoshi's diplomatic negotiations did not produce the desired result with Korea. The Joseon Court approached Japan as a country inferior to Korea, and saw itself as superior according to its favored position within the Chinese tributary system. It mistakenly evaluated Hideyoshi's threats of invasions to be no better than the common wokou Japanese pirate raids. The Korean court handed to Shigenobu and Genso, Hideyoshi's third embassy, King Seonjo's letter rebuking Hideyoshi for challenging the Chinese tributary system. Hideyoshi replied with another letter, but since it was not presented by a diplomat in person as expected by custom, the court ignored it. After this denial of his second request, Hideyoshi proceeded to launch his armies against Korea in 1592.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The core of the Japanese forces were the samurai, the military caste of Japan who dominated Japanese society. Japanese society was divided into four castes: samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants, in that order. The samurai caste owned most of the land in Japan, had the sole right to carry swords and to execute on the spot any commoner who was insufficiently deferential, and were allowed to own horses and ride into battle. The standard samurai weapon by 1592 was the yari, a spear meant to stab, often with a cross-blade that allowed a samurai to pull his opponent from his horse. If samurai wished to cut his opponent rather than stab, the weapons were the ōdachi, an extremely long sword with a huge handle, or the naginata, a polearm with very sharp curved blade. The most famous of all the samurai weapons was the katana, a sword described by the British military historian Stephen Turnbull as "...the finest edged weapon in the history of warfare". Samurai never carried shields, with the "katana" being used to deflect blows. By 1592, the armor of the samurai was lamellae made from iron or leather scales tied together which had been modified to include solid plate to help protect the samurai from bullets. Samurai engaged in psychological warfare by wearing an iron mask into battle with a mustache made of horsehair and a "sinister grin" attached to the outside.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Overall, 158,800 soldiers, laborers and transport troops (of whom a quarter had firearms) were prepared to take part in the invasion, with roughly a third of the force being armed fighting units (samurai, their attendants and ashigaru conscripts), while the other two thirds filled a support function (doctors, priests, secretaries, boatmen and labourers). Following table shows the forces of Gotō Sumiharu, who held the fief of Fukue (assessed at 140,000 koku) on the Gotō archipelago. Family records show he led a force of 705, with 27 horses, 220 of which were fighting men while 485 filled a support role. The breakdown of the fighting contingent was the following:


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Another daimyō whose military service quota has been preserved in a written record is Shimazu Yoshihiro, whose contribution broke down to:


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The majority of the Japanese fighting troops sent into Korea were ashigaru (light infantry), who were usually conscripted peasants armed with spears, tanegashima (Japanese arquebuses), or yumi (Japanese bows). Unlike the samurai with their expensive suits of armor, the "ashigaru" wore cheap suits of iron armour around their chests. The "ashigaru" armed with arquebuses were trained to fight in the European style, with the men trained to fire their guns in formation to create a volley of fire, then to go down on their knees to reload, while the men behind them fired, and the cycle repeated over and over again.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The commander of the Japanese First Division and overall commander of the invasion force was Konishi Yukinaga, a "daimyō" of Uto from Higo Province in Kyushu, chosen as commander of the invasion force more because of his diplomatic skills than military skills, as Toyotomi Hideyoshi did not expect the Koreans to resist. Konishi had converted to Catholicism in 1583, and was known to the Spanish and Portuguese as Dom Agostinho. Katō Kiyomasa who led the Second Division into Korea was known in Japan as "Toranosuke" ("the young tiger") and to the Koreans as the "devil general" on the account of his ferocity. Katō was one of the "Seven Spears of Shizugatake", a group of seven samurai who distinguished themselves in combat at the Battle of Shizugatake in 1583, where samurai had fought one another "mano a mano", and where Katō demonstrated his skills with a cross-bladed spear with great effect by cutting so many men, whose severed and salted heads were thereafter tied to a stalk of green bamboo and carried by one of Katō's attendants into battle. Katō was a devoted follower of Nichiren Buddhism, a type of Buddhism closely associated with militarism and ultra-nationalism in Japan, and his relations with the Catholic Konishi were extremely unfriendly, to the extent that the two men almost never met during the campaign in Korea. Katō's battle standard was a white pennant which carried a message alleged to be have been written by Nichiren himself reading "Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō" ("Hail to the Lotus of the Divine Law"). The naval commander was Wakisaka Yasuharu, another of the "Seven Spears of Shizugatake", who had been named "daimyō" of the island of Awaji in the Seto Inland Sea in 1585, where he learned much about seafaring as the island is located close to whirlpools which are notoriously dangerous for sailors. Toyotomi Hideyoshi never left Japan, remaining near Kyoto; however, the idea of conquering China was his obsession, and throughout the war, he refused to accept defeat, treating the war as simply a question of willpower, believing if only his samurai fought hard enough, he could take China. Turnbull writes: "In a tactical sense, therefore, Hideyoshi cannot be considered as one of the commanders, but, as his will drove the whole project along until he died, his political influence cannot be underestimated".


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Ming Chinese army was the largest in Asia, with a total of around 845,000 troops. However, in 1592 the Imperial Army was engaged in wars with the Mongols and in crushing a rebellion in the northwest. The Ming army was capable of considerable feats of organization, for example bringing 400 artillery guns across 480 km of harsh landscape to provide firepower against the Mongols.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The core of the Ming army was the infantry, divided into five sections; those armed with guns, swords, archers with fire arrows, archers with ordinary arrows, and spearmen, backed up by the cavalry and artillery. The basic weapons for the Chinese infantry were the crossbow and the arquebus, while the cavalry were usually mounted archers. Chinese infantry wore conical iron helmets and suits of armor made from leather or iron.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: According to Turnbull, "Chinese field artillery and siege cannon were the finest in the region". Chinese artillery was made from cast iron, and were divided into several types, the most important were the "great general gun" and the "folang zhi" (佛朗支), the latter being breech-loaded artillery guns.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: One of the Chinese commanders was Li Rusong, a man who has been traditionally disparaged in Japanese accounts. In Turnbull's estimate, he was "one of Ming China's most accomplished generals". Although Li was defeated at the Battle of Pyokjeyek, his defeat was temporary. He was an able strategist who achieved his goal of forcing the Japanese out of Korea, and Japanese accounts focusing on his defeat at Pyokjeyek served to distract from his achievements.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Another Chinese naval commander was Chen Lin, a native of Guangdong who proved pivotal in defeating Japan and defending Korea. After helping win the war, Chen was celebrated as a hero in Korea and China. Chen subsequently became the founder of the Gwangdong Jin clan of Korea, and today his descendants are spread across China and Korea. Chen was given the nickname Guangdong Master for his naval and military accomplishments.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Officers in the Joseon Army and Navy came exclusively from the aristocracy, but unlike the high militarist Japanese aristocracy trained to be soldiers from their youth onward, for the Joseon aristocracy, scholarship was valued and war was disparaged as something unworthy of a Confucian gentleman-scholar. The quality of Korean generalship was very variable with some Korean officers being able and others being men who had not devoted much time to the study of war, preferring archery, writing, practicing their calligraphy, and reading Confucian classics. Korean infantrymen wore a Chinese-style hat and helmet, but no armor. The standard Korean sword was the hwando, a curved sword commonly used by Joseon soldiers during peacetime that is shorter, but lighter than its Japanese counterpart. A uniquely Korean weapon was the flail, a -long hardwood stick, painted red, acting as the handle for a chain attached to a shaft with iron nails. Joseon infantrymen often fought as archers, and a Japanese source from 1592 commented Koreans were superior as soldiers to the Japanese only as archers because their bows had a range of against the of Japanese archers.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The standard Korean gun was the seungja "victory gun", a handheld shotgun-like cannon attached to a staff. Korean artillery however was much superior to Japanese artillery, and unlike the Japanese, the Koreans had built ships capable of carrying heavy cannons.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Turnbull wrote that Korea's salvation was its navy. The standard Korean ship was the panokseon, a warship that was not much different from the standard Japanese warships except for the fact that Korean ships carried heavy cannons while the Japanese ships did not. The famous "turtle ships" that were heavily armored and armed and that were to wreak havoc on the Japanese ships were a minority of the Korean navy's ships. Korean and Japanese accounts both talk much of the "turtle ships", but no such ship has survived, and historians still debate about what turtle ships looked like, though most now agree that they were in fact turtle-shaped. Admiral Yi Sun-sin, who began the war as the Left Naval Commander of Jeolla Province, was to become the commander of the Korean navy and was described by Turnbull as "Korea's greatest hero" and "one of the outstanding naval commanders in the entire history of the world".


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The two major security threats to Joseon and Ming China at the time were the Jurchen people, who raided along the northern borders, and the wokou, who pillaged the coastal villages and trade ships.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: This defensive stance within an environment of relative peace pushed the Koreans to depend on the strength of their fortresses and warships. With the transmission of gunpowder and firearms technology from China during Goryeo, Korea improved upon the original Chinese firearm designs, the thunder crash bomb, and developed advanced cannon which were used with great efficiency at sea. Even though China was the main source of new military technologies in Asia, Korea was a manufacturing base for both cannon and shipbuilding during this era.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Japan, on the other hand, had been in a state of civil war for over a century, which had the result of turning the island nation into a very proficient warlike society. When traders from the Portuguese Empire arrived in Japan and introduced arquebuses and muskets, the Japanese warlords were quick to adapt to this disruptive innovation, producing "en masse" the tanegashima matchlock. In the ongoing civil strife, the Japanese refined the drills and tactics to make best use of the new weapon, thus giving them a great advantage over the Korean armies.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Korean cannon were not adapted for effective use on land, and firearms were of a less advanced design. The small arms carried by Japanese soldiers proved to be particularly effective during land engagements and sieges. This strategic difference in weapons development and implementation contributed to the trend during the war of Japanese dominance on land and Korean dominance at sea.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: As Japan had been at war since the mid-15th century, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had 500,000 battle-hardened soldiers at his disposal to form a remarkable professional army in Asia for the invasion of Korea. While Japan's chaotic state had left the Koreans with a very low estimate of Japan as a military threat, there was a new sense of unity among the different political factions in Japan, as indicated by the "sword hunt" in 1588 (the confiscation of all weapons from the peasants). Along with the hunt came "The Separation Edict" in 1591, which effectively put an end to all Japanese "wokou" piracy by prohibiting the daimyōs from supporting the pirates within their fiefs. Ironically, the Koreans believed that Hideyoshi's invasion would be just an extension of the previous pirate raids that had been repelled before. As for the military situation in Joseon, the Korean scholar official Ryu Seong-ryong observed, "not one in a hundred [Korean generals] knew the methods of drilling soldiers": rising in rank depended far more on social connections than military knowledge. Korean soldiers were disorganized, ill-trained, and ill-equipped, and they had been used mostly in construction projects such as building castle walls.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: There were several defects with the organization of the Joseon-era Korean military defense system. One example was a policy that stated that local officers could not individually respond to a foreign invasion outside of their jurisdiction until a higher ranking general, appointed by the king's court, arrived with a newly mobilized army. This arrangement was highly inefficient since the nearby forces would remain stationary until the mobile border commander arrived on the scene and took control. Secondly, as the appointed general often came from an outside region, he was likely to be unfamiliar with the natural environment, the available technology, and manpower of the invaded region. Finally, as a main army was never maintained, new and ill-trained recruits conscripted during war constituted a significant part of the army.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Korean court managed to carry out some reforms, but they remained problematic. For example, the military training center established in 1589 in Gyeongsang Province recruited mostly men either too young or too old to be good soldiers, augmented by some adventure-seeking aristocrats and slaves buying their freedom, because able-bodied men of the right age, targeted by the policy, had higher priorities such as farming and other economic activities.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The dominant form of the Korean fortresses was the "sanseong" ("mountain fortress"), which consisted of a stone wall that continued around a mountain in a serpentine fashion. These walls were poorly designed with little use of towers and cross-fire positions (usually seen in European fortifications), and were mostly low in height. It was a wartime policy for these fortresses to serve as refuge castles and for everyone to evacuate to one, with those who failed to do so being assumed to be collaborators with the enemy; however, the policy never held any great effect because the fortresses were out of reach for most refugees.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Toyotomi Hideyoshi mobilized his army at Nagoya Castle, located in the old Hizen Province on Kyushu, newly built for the sole purpose of housing the invasion forces and the reserves. None of the original structures remain, but the castle's ruined foundations survive in the formerly separate town of Chinzei, now part of the city of Karatsu in Saga Prefecture. The first invasion consisted of nine divisions totaling 158,800 men, of which the last two of 21,500 were stationed as reserves on Tsushima Island and Iki Island, respectively. The Japanese used a total of 320,000 troops throughout the entire war.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: On the other side, Joseon maintained only a few military units with no field army, and its defense depended heavily on the mobilization of the citizen soldiers in case of emergency. During the first invasion, Joseon deployed a total of 84,500 regular troops throughout, assisted by 22,000 irregular volunteers.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Ming troops never numbered more than 60,000 troops in Korea at any point of the war. Over the course of the war, the Ming sent in total 166,700 troops, and also sent 17 million "liang" worth of silver and supplies to Korea (equivalent to about half a year of revenue for the Ming Empire).


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Since its introduction by the Portuguese traders on the island of Tanegashima in 1543, the arquebus had become widely used in Japan. While both Korea and China had also been introduced to firearms similar to the Portuguese arquebus, most were older models. The Korean soldiers' small arms were hand cannons with a simple mechanism and with either a gunstock or wooden shaft attached. After the Japanese diplomats presented the Korean court arquebuses as gifts, the Korean scholar-official Ryu Seong-ryong advocated the use of the new weapon, but the Korean court failed to realize its potency. In contrast, the Japanese often deployed the arquebus in combination with archery in war.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: During siege actions, Chinese deployed rattan shields and iron pavises (large shields), reputed to be musket-proof. The Chinese used a variety of weapons, including the Chinese long bow, swords, firearms, early kinds of land mines, and early hand grenades.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Koreans also demonstrated massive use of "hwacha" – multiple rocket-propelled arrows, notably during the Siege of Pyongyang in January 1593. It had the ability to fire up to 200 "singijeon", a type of rocket arrow, all at one time. The "hwacha" consisted of a two-wheeled cart carrying a board filled with holes into which the "singijeon" were inserted. Although the Chinese had their own rocket arrows, the Chinese opted for hand-carried "hu dun pao", or "crouching tiger cannons".


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Japanese defeated successive Korean armies with a combination of muskets, spears, and swords. While muskets used by the Japanese were superior to Korean bows in terms of penetration and range, the former lacked the fire rate of the latter. Numerous battle accounts from the Annal of Joseon dynasty and various essays, diaries of Korean officials and Korean sword show that musket alone could not ensure victory. By employing both musket and "arme blanche" ("cold steel", swords, lances, spears, and the like), the Japanese were able to achieve success during the early phase of war. Indeed, the ferocious charge of Japanese troops with spears and swords were often more decisive than with muskets. This was because the Koreans were poorly trained in close combat, and lacked battlefield experience and discipline. Thus Korean soldiers were unable to hold their line against charging Japanese soldiers. The following words from a Korean military official named Shi-eon Lee to the Korean king discusses this weakness:


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The King asked him [Shi-eon Lee], "You have already told me about the low accuracy of Japanese muskets. Why, then, are Korean armies having great problem with defeating them?"


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: "The Korean soldiers cower before the enemy and flee for their lives even before they have engaged the enemy. As for the commanders, they seldom leave their positions because they fear that they might be executed for deserting. However, there is a limit to executing deserting soldiers since there are so many of them. Truly, the Japanese aren't good musketeers, but they advance so rapidly that they appear right in front of the Koreans in the time Koreans can shoot only two arrows. It is said that Koreans are good archers, but they seldom hit the targets when the enemy is too far away, and are too scared to shoot when the enemy is near because they fear Japanese swords. Archery often becomes useless because Koreans, fearing the Japanese arme blanche, can barely shoot. The Japanese are reputed to be good swordsmen, but it is possible for Koreans to draw swords and hold their ground. However, the Koreans seldom do this and merely run for their lives."


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: However, another Korean official, Yu Song-nyong, claims that the Japanese arquebusiers had undeniable superiority over long distances, which (along with low discipline and combat experience of the Korean army) was the main cause of defeats:


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In the 1592 invasion, everything was swept away. Within a fortnight or a month the cities and fortresses were lost, and everything in the eight directions had crumbled. Although it was [partly] due to there having been a century of peace and the people not being familiar with warfare that this happened, it was really because the Japanese had the use of muskets that could reach beyond several hundred paces, that always pierced what they struck, that came like the wind and the hail, and with which bows and arrows could not compare.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Today, the Japanese exclusively use muskets to attack fortifications. They can reach [the target] from several hundred paces away. Our country’s bows and arrows cannot reach them. At any flat spot outside the walls, the Japanese will build earthen mounds and “flying towers.” They look down into the fortifications and fire their bullets so that the people inside the fortifications cannot conceal themselves. In the end the fortifications are taken. One cannot blame [the defenders] for their situation.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Japanese soldiers also relied on their advantage in ranged combat. One of the Japanese commanders wrote home in 1592:


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Please arrange to send us guns and ammunition. There is absolutely no use for spears. It is vital that you arrange somehow to obtain a number of guns. Furthermore, you should certainly see to it that those person departing [for Korea] understand this situation. The arrangements for guns should receive your closest attention.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: When the troops come [to Korea] from the province of Kai, have them bring as many guns as possible, for no other equipment is needed. Give strict orders that all men, even the samurai, carry guns.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Koreans seldom employed field artillery, with cannon being mainly used in siege action and for defending castles. There were only very few instances of Koreans employing artillery in the field, with largely ineffective results. Some irregular Korean units with government-supplied weapons fired explosive shells from mortars, but this occurred only in isolated instances. The Chinese were more active in employing field artillery than the Koreans. One of the notable Chinese field guns was the "Great General Cannon", a large breech-loading cannon with a two-wheeled cart, shooting an iron ball weighing about 10 kilograms. The Japanese employed field artillery only where strategically advantageous in both siege and field warfare situations, often using captured pieces where available.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Koreans actively deployed their cavalry divisions in action. But the terrain was often mountainous, which was not generally suitable for cavalry, the farmland tended to have many ditches, and it was often barren and lacked grass essential for feeding the horses. In addition, Japanese use of the arquebus at long range and in concentrated volleys negated any possibility of effective cavalry tactics. Korean cavalrymen's primary weapons were bows, with swords and lances holding only subsidiary positions. Most cavalry action for the Koreans took place in the Battle of Chungju at the beginning of the war, where they were outnumbered and wiped out by Japanese infantry. Although the Japanese divisions also fielded cavalry they usually dismounted when engaged in action, acting more as mounted infantry. While specialized firearms were used on horseback, most cavalrymen preferred the conventional "yari" (spear), but its use was limited by the increasing use of firearms by the Koreans and Chinese.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In contrast to the Japanese advantages on land, the Koreans possessed an advantage at sea. Because of advanced artillery and shipbuilding technology, along with an extensive naval history against Japanese pirates, the Korean navies fielded highly advanced and formidable ships. By the time of the Japanese invasion, Korea employed the "panokseon", a powerful galley-type ship armed with cannon that outranged most Japanese vessels. The Korean navy used this naval superiority to disrupt the Japanese logistical network off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula. This advantage, however, did not affect Japan's ability to continuously reinforce its armies through the supply route from Tsushima in Japan to Busan in Korea, especially once Korean naval bases in the immediate area were neutralized by Japanese ground forces. The Korean navy led by Yi Sun-sin would withdraw and re-base in the northern border of Jeolla Province. While not able to entirely prevent reinforcement, the Korean navy continued to harass and inflict losses on the Japanese supply fleets throughout the duration of the war.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: As virtually all Japanese ships in the first phase of the war lacked cannon artillery, Korean ships outranged and bombarded Japanese ships with impunity outside the range of the Japanese muskets, arrows, and catapults. When the Japanese attempted to outfit cannon to their ships, their lightweight ship design prohibited using more than a few per vessel, and vessels usually lacked the firepower or range of their Korean counterparts. In order to bolster their fleet, the Japanese considered employing two Portuguese galleons in the invasion.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: In addition to a lack of effective naval armament, most Japanese ships were modified merchant vessels more suited for transportation of troops and equipment than fielding artillery weapons.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Bozhou rebellion by the Chiefdom of Bozhou, which lasted from 1589–1600, was going on in Bozhou (Zunyi, Guizhou) in southwestern China at the same time as the Imjin war in Korea. After winning the war, General Chen Lin would later return to Guizhou to quell the uprisings.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: During the period between the first and second invasions, the Korean government had a chance to examine the reasons why they had been easily overrun by the Japanese. Ryu Seong-ryong, the Prime Minister, spoke out about the Korean disadvantages.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Ryu pointed out that Korean castle defenses were extremely weak, a fact which he had pointed out before the war. He noted how Korean castles had incomplete fortifications and walls that were too easy to scale. He also wanted cannons set up in the walls. Ryu proposed building strong towers with gun turrets for cannons. Besides castles, Ryu wanted to form a line of defenses in Korea. In this kind of defense, the enemy would have to scale many walls in order to reach the capital, Hanseong.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Ryu also pointed out how efficient the Japanese Army was, since it took them only one month to reach Hanseong, and how well organized the Japanese were. He noted how the Japanese moved their units in complex maneuvers, often weakening their enemy with the use of arquebuses, then attacking with melee weapons.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: King Seonjo and the Korean court finally began to reform the military. In September 1593, the Military Training Agency (훈련도감, alternately translated as Military Training Command) was established. The agency carefully divided the army into units and companies. Within the companies were squads of archers, arquebusiers, swordsmen, and spear infantry. The agency set up divisional units in each region of Korea and garrisoned battalions at castles. The agency, which originally had less than 80 troops, soon grew to about 10,000.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: One of the most important changes was that both upper-class citizens and slaves were subject to the draft. All males had to enter military service to be trained and familiarized with weapons.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: It was also around this time that the military officer and military scholar Han Gyo (한교) wrote the martial arts manual "Muyejebo", based on the book "Jixiao Xinshu" by the famous Chinese general Qi Jiguang.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: On May 23, 1592, the First Division of the Japanese invasion army, consisting of 7,000 men led by Konishi Yukinaga, left Tsushima in the morning, and arrived outside the port city of Busan in the evening. Korean naval intelligence had detected the Japanese fleet, but Won Gyun, the Right Naval Commander of Gyeongsang Province, misidentified the fleet as trading vessels on a mission. A later report of the arrival of an additional 100 Japanese vessels raised his suspicions, but he did nothing about it. Sō Yoshitoshi landed alone on the Busan shore to ask the Koreans for safe passage to China one last time; the Koreans refused as they had previously done, and Sō Yoshitoshi laid siege to the city. Konishi Yukinaga attacked the nearby fort of Dadaejin the next morning. Japanese accounts claim that the battles resulted in the complete annihilation of Korean forces (one claims 8,500 deaths, and another, 30,000 heads), while a Korean account claims that the Japanese themselves took significant losses before sacking the city of Busan. Jeong Bal, the Korean commander at Busan, was killed by a Japanese bullet, and with his death, Korean morale collapsed. In the meantime Konishi took the fort of Dadaejin, where under heavy volleys of supporting fire, the Japanese were able to place ladders against the walls, and took the fort. Konishi ordered that no prisoners be taken, and the entire garrison was massacred. Konishi and the First Division then turned north, marching to take Hanseong. The disciplined Japanese brought down a rain of bullets that was lethal to anyone not taking cover. On the morning of May 25, 1592, the First Division arrived at the Dongnae Fortress. Konishi sent a message to Song Sang-hyeon, the commander of the fortress, explaining to him that his objective was the conquest of China and if the Koreans would just submit, their lives would be spared. Song replied "It is easy for me to die, but difficult to let you pass", which led Konishi to order that no prisoners be taken to punish Song for his defiance. The resulting Siege of Dongnae lasted twelve hours, killed 3,000, and resulted in Japanese victory. The Japanese took no prisoners and killed everyone at Dongnae, civilian and military, even killing all of the cats and dogs there. Konishi's intention was to terrify the Koreans into submission by showing them what the price of resisting Japan was, but he instead stimulated Korean resistance, as ordinary Koreans were enraged at an enemy who invaded without provocation and behaved so brutally.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: After taking Dongnae, Konishi took the castle of Miryang, which he followed up by taking Daegu, which surrendered without opposition as the Koreans were concentrating their army further north. Having crossed the Nakdong River, Konishi learned that the Koreans were concentrating their troops at Sangju. In the meantime, desperate Korean envoys had been sent to the Forbidden City in Beijing to ask the Wanli Emperor to protect his loyal vassals in Korea by sending an army to drive out the Japanese. The Chinese assured the Koreans that an army would be sent, but they were engaged in a major war in Ningxia, and the Koreans would have to wait for the arrival of their assistance.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Katō Kiyomasa's Second Division landed in Busan on May 27, and Kuroda Nagamasa's Third Division, west of Nakdong River, on May 28. The Second Division took the abandoned city of Tongdo on May 28, and captured Gyeongju on May 30. The Third Division, upon landing, captured the nearby Gimhae castle by keeping the defenders under pressure with gunfire while building ramps up to the walls with bundles of crops. By June 3, the Third Division captured Unsan, Changnyeong, Hyeonpung, and Seongju. Meanwhile, Konishi Yukinaga's First Division passed the Yangsan mountain fortress (captured on the night of the Siege of Dongnae, when its defenders fled after the Japanese scouting parties fired their arquebuses), and captured the Miryang castle on the afternoon of May 26. The First Division secured the Cheongdo fortress in the next few days, and destroyed the city of Daegu. By June 3, the First Division crossed the Nakdong River, and stopped at the Seonsan mountain.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Upon receiving the news of the Japanese attacks, the Joseon government appointed General Yi Il as the mobile border commander, as was the established policy. General Yi headed to Mungyeong near the beginning of the strategically important Choryong Pass to gather troops, but he had to travel further south to meet the troops assembled at the city of Daegu. There, General Yi moved all troops back to Sangju, except for the survivors of the Siege of Dongnae who were to be stationed as a rearguard at the Choryong Pass. On June 4, General Yi deployed a force of less than 1,000 men on two small hills to face the approaching First Division. Assuming that the sight of rising smoke was from the burning of buildings by a nearby Japanese force, General Yi sent an officer to scout on horseback; however, as he neared a bridge, the officer was ambushed by Japanese musket fire from below the bridge, and was beheaded. The Korean troops, watching him fall, were greatly demoralized. Soon the Japanese began the Battle of Sangju with their arquebuses; the Koreans replied with their arrows, which fell short of their targets. The Japanese forces, having been divided into three, attacked the Korean lines from both the front and the two flanks; the battle ended with General Yi Il's retreat and 700 Korean casualties.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: General Yi Il then planned to use the Choryong Pass, the only path through the western end of the Sobaek mountain range, to check the Japanese advance. However, another commander appointed by the Joseon government, Sin Rip, had arrived in the area with a cavalry division and moved 100,000 combined troops to the Chungju fortress located above the Choryong Pass. Rather than face a siege, Sin Rip decided to fight a battle in the open fields of Tangeumdae, which he felt ideal for the deployment of his cavalry unit. Since the cavalry consisted mostly of new recruits, however, Sin Rip was concerned that his troops may easily be tempted to flee the battle. As a result, he felt the need to trap his forces in the triangular area formed by the convergence of the Tancheon and Han rivers in the shape of a "Y". This field, however, was dotted with flooded rice paddies and was generally not suitable for cavalry action.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: On June 5, 1592 the First Division of approximately 18,000 men led by Konishi Yukinaga left Sangju and reached an abandoned fortress at Mungyeong by nightfall. The next day, the First Division arrived at Tangeumdae in the early afternoon, where they faced the Korean cavalry unit at the Battle of Chungju. Konishi divided his forces into three and attacked with arquebuses from both flanks as well as the front. The Korean arrows fell short of the Japanese troops, which were beyond their range, and General Sin's two charges failed to break the Japanese lines. General Sin then killed himself in the river, and the Koreans that tried to escape by the river either drowned or were decapitated by the pursuing Japanese.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Second Division led by Katō Kiyomasa arrived at Chungju, with the Third Division camped not far behind. There, Katō expressed his anger against Konishi Yukinaga for not waiting at Busan as planned, and attempting to take all of the glory for himself; Nabeshima Naoshige then proposed a compromise of dividing the Japanese troops into two separate groups to follow two different routes to Hanseong (the capital and present-day Seoul), and allowing Katō Kiyomasa to choose the route that the Second Division would take to reach Hanseong. The division of the Japanese forces was mainly due to the rivalry between Katō and Konishi, but there was a certain "strategic merit" in dividing their forces in that Katō's advance into northeastern Korea would protect the Japanese from any attempt by the Jurchen leader Nurhaci to attack their eastern flank. However, the division of the Japanese forces also meant that Konishi would have to take on the Chinese alone when their army arrived in Korea.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The two divisions began the race to capture Hanseong on June 8, and Katō took the shorter route across the Han River while Konishi went further upstream where smaller waters posed a lesser barrier. Konishi arrived at Hanseong first on June 10 while the Second Division was halted at the river with no boats with which to cross. The First Division found the castle undefended with its gates tightly locked, as King Seonjo had fled the day before. The Japanese broke into a small floodgate, located in the castle wall, and opened the capital city's gate from within. Katō's Second Division arrived at the capital the next day (having taken the same route as the First Division), and the Third and Fourth Divisions the day after. Meanwhile, the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Divisions had landed on Busan, with the Ninth Division kept in reserve on the island of Iki.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Parts of Hanseong had already been looted and torched, including bureaus holding the slave records and weapons, and they were already abandoned by its inhabitants. General Gim Myeong-won, in charge of the defenses along the Han River, had retreated. The king's subjects stole the animals in the royal stables and fled before him, leaving their king to rely on farm animals. In every village, the king's party was met by inhabitants, lined up by the road, grieving that their king was abandoning them, and neglecting their duty of paying homage. Parts of the southern shore of the Imjin River were burnt to deprive the Japanese troops of materials with which to make their crossing, and General Gim Myeong-won deployed 12,000 troops at five points along the river.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: While the First Division rested in Hanseong (present-day Seoul), the Second Division began heading north, only to be delayed for two weeks by the Imjin River. The Japanese sent a message to the Koreans on the other bank requesting them to open way to China, but the Koreans rejected this. Afterwards, the Japanese commanders withdrew their main forces to the safety of the Paju fortress; the Koreans saw this as a retreat, and 13,000 Korean troops launched an attack at dawn against the remaining Japanese troops on the southern shore of the Imjin River. The main Japanese body counterattacked against the isolated Korean troops, and acquired their boats. The Korean troops under General Gim Myeong-won retreated with heavy losses to the Kaesong fortress.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: With the Kaesong castle having been sacked shortly after General Gim Myeong-won retreated to Pyongyang, the Japanese troops divided their objectives: the First Division would pursue the Korean king in Pyongan Province in the north (where Pyongyang is located); the Second Division would attack Hamgyong Province in the northeastern part of Korea; the Sixth Division would attack Jeolla Province at the southwestern tip of the peninsula; the Fourth Division would secure Gangwon Province in the mid-eastern part of the peninsula; and the Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Divisions would stabilize the following provinces respectively: Hwanghae Province (below Pyongan Province), Chungcheong Province (below Gyeonggi Province); Gyeongsang Province (in the southeast where the Japanese first had landed); and Gyeonggi Province (where the capital city is located).


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The First Division under Konishi Yukinaga proceeded northward, and sacked Pyongsan, Sŏhŭng, Pungsan, Hwangju, and Chunghwa along the way. At Chunghwa, the Third Division under Kuroda Nagamasa joined the First, and continued to the city of Pyongyang located behind the Taedong River. A total of 10,000 Korean troops guarded the city against the 30,000 advancing Japanese. They were led by various commanders including the Generals Yi Il and Gim Myeong-won, and their defense preparations had assured that no boats were available for Japanese use.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: At night, the Koreans silently crossed the river and launched a successful surprise attack against the Japanese encampment. However, this alerted the rest of the Japanese army, which attacked the rear of the Korean positions and destroyed the remaining reinforcements crossing the river. The remainder of the Korean troops then retreated back to Pyongyang, and the Japanese troops gave up their pursuit of the Koreans to observe the manner in which the Koreans had crossed the river.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The next day, using what they had learned from observing the retreating Korean troops, the Japanese began sending troops to the other shore over the shallow points in the river, in a systematic manner, and at this sight the Koreans abandoned the city overnight. On July 20, 1592, the First and Third Divisions entered the deserted city of Pyongyang. In the city, they managed to capture 100,000 tons of military supplies and grain.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The Fourth Division under the command of Mōri Yoshinari set out eastward from the capital city of Hanseong in July, and captured a series of fortresses along the eastern coast from Anbyon to Samcheok. The division then turned inward to capture Jeongseon, Yeongwol, and Pyeongchang, and settled down at the provincial capital of Wonju. There Mōri Yoshinari established a civil administration, systematized social ranks according to the Japanese model, and conducted land surveys. Shimazu Yoshihiro, one of the generals in the Fourth Division, arrived at Gangwon Province late, due to the Umekita Uprising, and finished the campaign by securing Chuncheon.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: Katō Kiyomasa, leading the Second Division of more than 20,000 men, crossed the peninsula to Anbyon County with a ten-day march, and swept north along the eastern coast. Among the castles captured was Hamhung, the provincial capital of Hamgyong Province. There a part of the Second Division was assigned to defense and civil administration.


title: Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)

text: The rest of the division, 10,000 men, continued north, and fought a battle on August 23 against the southern and northern Hamgyong armies under the command of Yi Yong at Songjin. A Korean cavalry division took advantage of the open field at Songjin, and pushed the Japanese forces into a grain storehouse. There the Japanese barricaded themselves with bales of rice, and successfully repelled a formation charge from the Korean forces with their arquebuses. While the Koreans planned to renew the battle in the morning, Katō Kiyomasa ambushed them at night; the Second Division completely surrounded the Korean forces with the exception of an opening leading to a swamp. Those that fled were trapped and slaughtered in the swamp.