The Hamgyong campaign, also known as

Katō Kiyomasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Azuchi–Momoyama and Edo periods. His court title was Higo-no-kami. His name as a child was ''Yashamaru'', and first name was ''Toranosuke''. He was one of Hideyoshi's Seven Spears of Shizugatake. Biography ...

's northern campaign, was

's invasion of the northeastern Korean province of

Hamgyeong Hamgyong Province () was one of the Eight Provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. Hamgyŏng was located in the northeast of Korea. The provincial capital was Hamhŭng. Names The province was first established as Yonggil ( ko, 영길, , '' ...

during the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598). The campaign was largely due to the help of Korean defectors who also handed over to the Japanese their princes Sunhwa and Imhae. The Japanese reached the northeastern edge of Hamgyeong, crossed the Duman River, and attacked the Orangai

Jurchens Jurchen (Manchu: ''Jušen'', ; zh, 女真, ''Nǚzhēn'', ) is a term used to collectively describe a number of East Asian Tungusic-speaking peoples, descended from the Donghu people. They lived in the northeast of China, later known as Manch ...

, but met with heavy resistance. Katō returned south and took up residence in Anbyeon while

Nabeshima Naoshige was a warlord of the Sengoku and early Edo periods and progenitor of the Nabeshima lords of the Saga Domain. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Nabeshima Naoshige"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 680. Naoshige was the second son of . His moth ...

headquartered in Gilju. By winter local resistance began pushing back at Japanese occupation and laid siege to Gilju.

Campaign

Katō Kiyomasa and Nabeshima Naoshige invaded Hamgyeong with a force of 20,000 following the taking of

Gaeseong Kaesong (, ) is a special city in the southern part of North Korea (formerly in North Hwanghae Province), and the capital of Korea during the Taebong kingdom and subsequent Goryeo dynasty. The city is near the Kaesong Industrial Region close to ...

. Both the South Army Commander and provincial governor of Hamgyeong fled without any resistance. The Japanese met their first real resistance at Haejungchang, a warehouse near Gilju. The North Army Commander Han Gukham led an attack on the Japanese and forced them to take shelter in the warehouse. He then advanced on their position but was unable to take the fortified warehouse in the face of massed gunfire. They retreated into a nearby mountain cave where they would later be caught in an ambush by the Japanese that night. The Japanese fired on them and once they panicked, went in and cut them down. Han Guknam managed to escape only to be caught by Korean defectors who handed him over to the Japanese. Katō marched further north and was received by Korean defectors who handed over the two Korean princes, Prince Imhae and Prince Sunhwa. Katō then crossed the Duman River with 8,000 troops and 3,000 Korean defectors into the territory of the Orangai

. He proceeded to take a relatively undefended fortress. The next day nearly 10,000 Jurchens attacked the Japanese but withdrew after a heavy downpour started blowing in their direction. Katō quickly retreated back across the Duman River and south to Anbyeon where he wrote back to

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 ...

References

Works cited

* {{citation , last=Hawley , first=Samuel , year=2005 , title=The Imjin War , publisher=The Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch/UC Berkeley Press , isbn=978-89-954424-2-5 Battles of the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) Jurchen history Military history of Japan 1592 in Japan Military history of Korea 1592 in Asia