Gwak Jae-u (; 1552–1617) was a

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

military general and patriot from

Uiryeong Uiryeong County () is a county in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Uiryeong County has a population of 27,550 (2019) and is one of the least populated counties in South Korea. History In 1938, Lee Byung-chull, a resident of Uiryeong, fou ...

. He was called the "Red Robe General" (천강홍의장군, 天降紅衣將軍) after his habit of wearing a coat made of red silk. In 1592, nine days into the

Imjin war The Imjin River ( in South Korea) or Rimjin River ( in North Korea) is the 7th largest river in Korea. It flows from north to south, crossing the Demilitarized Zone and joining the Han River downstream of Seoul, near the Yellow Sea. The river i ...

, he formed a

Righteous army Righteous armies, sometimes called irregular armies or militias, are informal civilian militias that have appeared several times in Korean history, when the national armies were in need of assistance. The first righteous armies emerged during th ...

to fight against the Japanese army. He originally did not have an official position, but King

Seonjo of Joseon Seonjo of Joseon (26 November 1552 – 16 March 1608) was the fourteenth king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea from 1567 to 1608. He was known for encouraging Confucianism and renovating state affairs at the beginning of his reign. However, politi ...

granted him a government position.

Background

Gwak was a

Yangban The ''yangban'' () were part of the traditional ruling class or gentry of dynastic Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. The ''yangban'' were mainly composed of highly educated civil servants and military officers—landed or unlanded aristocrats ...

. He had passed the examination to enter the civil service when he was thirty-four, but was denied a post as his essay portion was harshly critical of the government.Hawley, Samuel. ''The Imjin War'' (Seoul 2005), Royal Asiatic Society After that, he decided to give up taking the test and stay in hiding for life.

Raising an army

In 1592, Japanese regent

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

invaded Korea. Gwak began raising a militia to defend the free parts of Kyongsang province from the invaders.

Red Robe

While Jae-u's robe is often simply described as red, Samuel Hawley further elaborates that the robe was "dyed in the first menstrual blood of young girls, which he believed suffused the garment with yin energy that would repel the yang energy of Japanese bullets." Jae-u ultimately survived the war and died of old age at an unknown later date.

Legacy

There is a statue of Gwak Jae-u in Mangu Park in

Daegu Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

. Also, In Uiryeoung, 'Chungik-sa' enshrine Gwak Jae-u and his 17 subordinate.

References

External links