⑬ 23 Battles, 23 Victories: The Truth Behind the Number

People call Admiral Yi Sun-sin the commander of “23 battles, 23 victories, undefeated.”

I've used that phrase myself, more than once.

But where does this number -- 23 battles -- actually come from?

No One Ever Cited a Source

In 2004, the KBS drama Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-sin used this exact phrase. It ran for two years and the phrase spread widely. In 2005, the KTV channel aired a special titled “Yi Sun-sin: The Conditions Behind 23 Battles, 23 Victories, Undefeated.” In 2014, a book with the same title was published. Popular lecturers folded the same number straight into their talks.

But no one ever specified exactly which 23 battles made up that count.

The Academic World Cites a Different Number

Professor Je Jang-myeong of the Korea Naval Academy examined the Nanjung Ilgi and the Annals of King Seonjo. His 2007 study put the number at 43 battles, 38 victories, and 5 inconclusive engagements. In 2012, he revised that to 45 battles, 40 victories, and 5 inconclusive.

Professor Im Won-bin, director of the Yi Sun-sin Research Institute at Soonchunhyang University, said the same thing in 2012: there is no basis for “23 battles, 23 victories.”

The 23 Battles I Counted Myself

So I counted them myself.

Listing every named naval battle in chronological order gives 25.

I excluded Chilcheollyang from that count. That battle was commanded not by Admiral Yi but by Won Gyun -- and it stands as the Joseon navy's only defeat.

I also excluded Jangmunpo. Admiral Yi didn't lead that engagement, and there was no real fighting to speak of there either.

Subtract those two from 25, and 23 remains.

I don't want to dismiss what the scholars are saying when they call “23 battles, 23 victories” unfounded. There may well be battles I don't know about, and whether the real number is 43 or 45 makes no difference to me. One fact doesn't change: across all these battles, Admiral Yi never once lost.

The Full List of the 23 Battles

Below is the complete list of the 23 battles I compiled. Some are recorded in the Nanjung Ilgi itself; others survive only through the official reports Admiral Yi submitted to the court. I'm including this list here in the hope that it might be useful to anyone researching Admiral Yi going forward.

No.	Battle	Date	Recorded in the Nanjung Ilgi?
1	Battle of Okpo	May 1592	Reported only via dispatch
2	Battle of Hapo	May 1592	Reported only via dispatch
3	Battle of Jeokjinpo	May 1592	Reported only via dispatch
4	Battle of Sacheon	May 1592	Recorded
5	Battle of Dangpo	June 1592	Recorded
6	Battle of Danghangpo	June 1592	Recorded
7	Battle of Yulpo	June 1592	Recorded
8	Battle of Hansan Island	July 1592	Reported only via dispatch
9	Battle of Angolpo	July 1592	Reported only via dispatch
10	Battle of Jangnimpo	August 1592	Reported only via dispatch
11	Battle of Hwajungumi	September 1592	Reported only via dispatch
12	Battle of Dadaepo	September 1592	Reported only via dispatch
13	Battle of Seopyeongpo	September 1592	Reported only via dispatch
14	Battle of Jeolyeongdo	September 1592	Reported only via dispatch
15	Battle of Choryangmok	September 1592	Reported only via dispatch
16	Battle of Busanpo	September 1592	Reported only via dispatch
17	Battle of Ungpo	Feb.–Mar. 1593	Recorded
18	Second Battle of Danghangpo	March 1594	Recorded
19	Battle of Eollanpo	August 1597	Recorded
20	Battle of Byeokpajin	September 1597	Recorded
21	Battle of Myeongnyang	September 1597	Recorded
22	Battle of Jeoldo	July 1598	Not recorded (diary missing Jan. 5–Sep. 14, 1598)
23	Battle of Noryang	November 1598	Not recorded (he died that day; last entry is Nov. 17)

In my next post, I'll introduce some of the battles from this list that I haven't had the chance to cover yet.

👉 Next post: ⑭ The Battles of Busanpo and Ungpo

— Momcheolhak.