② Why Admiral Yi Stopped Performing the Royal Bowing Ritual

Manggwollye (望闕禮) was a ritual observed by officials posted away from the capital in the Joseon dynasty: rising before dawn on the first and fifteenth of every lunar month, and on major national holidays, to dress formally and bow in the direction of the distant palace where the king resided. It was a sacred duty, a way for provincial officials to demonstrate their loyalty to the throne. The Nanjung Ilgi records Admiral Yi Sun-sin rising at dawn to perform this ritual countless times.

So did Admiral Yi, this symbol of loyalty to the king, keep performing manggwollye without fail, right up until his final battle at Noryang? Here, the Nanjung Ilgi reveals a surprising fact most of us never knew.

After October 1, 1596, Manggwollye Vanishes from the Diary

From the diary's start on January 1, 1592, the Admiral performed manggwollye almost every single month without fail. But after the entry for October 1, 1596 (byeongsin year), the ritual disappears entirely from the Nanjung Ilgi — for the roughly two years remaining until his death at the Battle of Noryang.

Why would Admiral Yi, a man who guarded discipline as if his life depended on it, stop observing this vital ritual of loyalty for the final two years of his life? What happened after that last recorded manggwollye, in October 1596?

The Shadow of the Jeongyu War, and Admiral Yi's Imprisonment

The international situation at the time was moving fast. On October 1, 1596, Toyotomi Hideyoshi realized the peace negotiations with Ming China had been a sham, and ordered a second invasion of Joseon — the Jeongyu War. Word reached the Joseon court a week later, on October 9. Having been caught utterly unprepared during the first invasion, Joseon scrambled this time to get ready for war.

But the court's foolish response only invited greater disaster. King Seonjo, the ruler of Joseon, accepted Won Gyun's slanderous accusations against Yi Sun-sin, arrested him on charges of showing contempt for the court, and appointed Won Gyun as Naval Commander of the Three Provinces in his place. Because of this, the Nanjung Ilgi falls entirely silent for nearly six months, from October 11, 1596, until April 1, 1597, the day Admiral Yi walked out of the Uigeumbu prison gate.

(For what unfolded after he left the Uigeumbu prison, please see my ten-part series, "The Last Two Years of Admiral Yi Sun-sin," if you haven't already read it.)

What Was Admiral Yi Fighting For, Once He Stopped the Ritual?

From the moment he was appointed naval commissioner of Left Jeolla, exactly one year before the Imjin War broke out, Admiral Yi prepared for war without rest. The day before the invasion began, on April 12, 1592, by the lunar calendar, he had already mounted cannon on his turtle ships and completed their first test firing. Once the war began, he not only dominated the seas with an unbroken string of victories, but even without any support from the court, cultivated his own farmland to supply provisions, donating the surplus to the court while still strengthening his navy. And in return, Seonjo and his court tried to torture and kill this loyal servant.

After Won Gyun sank the Joseon navy at Chilcheollyang, Seonjo, without a trace of shame, reinstated Admiral Yi as Naval Commander of the Three Provinces — a title with nothing behind it. Dragging a body broken by torture, the Admiral returned to the battlefield and, in the miracle of Myeongnyang, saved Joseon once again.

What I want to point out here isn't simply the fact that the Admiral stopped performing manggwollye. It's that in his final two years, after he stopped the ritual, he fought far more fiercely than he had in the early and middle years of the war — until, at last, he died on that sea.

For the Admiral, the war was no longer about King Seonjo or his court.

He knew that if the Japanese were simply allowed to sail home unharmed, they would surely return one day to torment his people again — and so, in the waters of Noryang, a battle he did not strictly have to fight, he dealt Japan a crushing defeat, and willingly gave his own life.

Admiral Yi's last two years, once he had let go of manggwollye, were the purest and most exalted time of his life — a time when only his people lived and breathed in his heart.

👉 Next post: ③ The World's Three Great Naval Battles — and Why Admiral Yi Belongs Above Them

— Momcheolhak