① (Baegui Jonggun Road) From the Prison Gate to the Old Home in Asan

Someday I mean to walk this road.

It is the road Admiral Yi Sun-sin — the commander who saved Joseon at sea during the Imjin War — traveled in the spring of 1597 as a baegui jonggun, a disgraced man ordered to serve as a common soldier without rank.

It runs from Seoul to Chogye in Hapcheon.

I have not walked it yet.

Before I walk it, I want to pave the road in writing first.

If anyone would like to come along, I hope these posts can serve as the itinerary.

I have set two principles.

We stop only at places the Admiral actually passed through or stayed.

Wherever possible, we sleep where the Admiral slept.

The schedule is 30 days. With no rest days, we walk a little over 20 km a day on average. Our guide is the Nanjung Ilgi, the Admiral's war diary. I read the Admiral's handwritten diary first, and where there is no handwritten text, I fill in from the Yi Chungmugong Jeonseo, his collected works.

I also settled one thing about dates. The dates in the Nanjung Ilgi are lunar. In this series I write the solar date next to the lunar date. These are the 1597 lunar dates converted to the solar (Gregorian) calendar we use today. I calculated them with a conversion program based on the lunar–solar calendar data of the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute. I also confirmed that the sexagenary day names of the calculated dates all match the day names written in the diary. For example, the 1st day of the 4th lunar month, when the Admiral walked out of the prison gate, is May 16 in the solar calendar, and its day name is sinyu (辛酉) on both sides.

👉 ㉚ The Differences Between the Original Draft and the Jeonseo Edition of the Nanjung Ilgi

This post covers the first five days: from Jonggak in Seoul to the Admiral's old home in Asan. The Admiral covered this road on horseback in three days. We will cover it on foot in five.

The Two Days Before Setting Out

4th Month, 1st Day (Solar May 16): Out of the Prison Gate

"I came out of the prison gate. Arriving at the house of Yun Gan's servant outside the South Gate (Sungnyemun), my nephews Bong and Bun (芬) and my son Ul (蔚), together with Yun Sa-haeng (尹士行) and Won-gyeong (遠卿), sat together in one hall and talked for a long time." (Nanjung Ilgi, 1st day of the 4th month, jeongyu year [1597])

Many people came that day. Yi Sun-sin (李純信), who shared the Admiral's name, came carrying a whole bottle of wine. Ryu Seong-ryong sent a servant. Panbusa Jeong Tak also sent someone to ask after him. Unable to refuse the drinks pressed on him, the Admiral got very drunk.

👉 ⑥ Admiral Yi's Namesake: Yi Sun-sin (李純信)

👉 ⑱ The Man Who Protected the Admiral at Court: Jeong Tak

4th Month, 2nd Day (Solar May 17): Late into the Night with Ryu Seong-ryong

"Toward dusk I entered the city, talked with the Chief State Councillor late into the night, and then parted and came out." (Nanjung Ilgi, 2nd day of the 4th month, jeongyu year)

He did not write what they talked about. This one short line seems to tell everything between the two men.

👉 ⑯ The Man Who Recommended the Admiral at Court: Ryu Seong-ryong

And the next morning, the Admiral left for the south.

What to Know First

A Good Time to Walk

The 3rd day of the 4th lunar month, when the Admiral left Seoul, is May 18 in the solar calendar. The 5th day of the 4th lunar month, when he reached his old home in Asan, is May 20. If you set out in mid-May, you walk the same road in the same season as the Admiral. It is before the heat, so it is a good time for walking, too.

Itinerary for the First Five Days

Day	Route	Distance	Date (lunar → solar)	Overnight
1	Jonggak, Seoul → Sungnyemun → Namtaeryeong Pass → Gwacheon → Indeogwon	about 22 km	4.3 → 5.18	near Indeogwon
2	Indeogwon → old Suwon county seat (Annyeong-dong, Hwaseong)	about 24 km	4.3 → 5.18	old Suwon (where the Admiral slept)
3	old Suwon → below Doksanseong Fortress → Osan	about 12 km	4.4 → 5.19	Osan
4	Osan → Sutan → Pyeongtaek County seat (Gaeksa-ri, Paengseong-eup)	about 22 km	4.4 → 5.19	Pyeongtaek County seat (where the Admiral slept)
5	Pyeongtaek County seat → Unseongyo Bridge → family burial hill → old home in Asan (Hyeonchungsa)	about 26 km	4.5 → 5.20	near Hyeonchungsa (where the Admiral slept)

The total is about 106 km.

The distances are estimates. I used two figures as a baseline. The Yi Sun-sin Research Institute, commissioned by the Navy, established the route from the Uigeumbu (the State Tribunal) to Unseongyo Bridge in Pyeongtaek as 82.1 km (Etoday, 2015). Asan City gives the "Yi Sun-sin Baegui Jonggun Trail" from Unseongyo Bridge to Hyeonchungsa as 22.9 km. The daily split is my own rough estimate. I will correct it as I walk.

Day 1 — Jonggak to Indeogwon (about 22 km)

The Admiral's day: the first part of the 3rd day of the 4th lunar month (solar May 18)

Where the Prison Gate Stood

We start in front of Exit 1 of Jonggak Station. The Uigeumbu of Joseon stood near here. The Seoul Metropolitan Government has put up a sign here marking the "Starting Point of the Baegui Jonggun Road of Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin."

From here we walk to Sungnyemun. The place where the Admiral stayed for two days after leaving the prison gate was "outside the South Gate." We, too, pass Sungnyemun and head south.

The Han River and Namtaeryeong Pass

The diary does not say where the Admiral crossed the Han River. The great road of Joseon, the Samnam Daero, crossed the river at Dongjak Ferry and went over Namtaeryeong Pass. The Seoul city signage, too, describes the route as going over Namtaeryeong to Suwon. Since the Admiral passed Indeogwon, it is likely he took this road. But this is only a guess.

We cross the Dongjak Bridge on foot. We pass Sadang, go over Namtaeryeong Pass, pass Gwacheon, and reach Indeogwon.

Indeogwon, Where He Lay Down Alone to Rest

"State Tribunal officer Yi Sa-bin (李士贇), the clerk Yi Su-yeong (李壽永), and the constable Han Eon-hyang (韓彦香) went ahead to Suwon. I rested my horse at Indeogwon (Indeogwon, Uiwang City) and lay down quietly to rest." (Nanjung Ilgi, 3rd day of the 4th month, jeongyu year)

The State Tribunal men who were escorting the Admiral went on ahead to Suwon. The Admiral lay down alone at Indeogwon. It was his third day out of prison.

The first day stops here. The Admiral went on to Suwon that day, but since we are walking, we split his day in two.

Day 2 — Indeogwon to Old Suwon (about 24 km)

The Admiral's day: the latter part of the 3rd day of the 4th lunar month (solar May 18)

The Suwon of the Diary Is Not Today's Suwon

"At dusk I entered Suwon and slept at the house of a soldier, whose name I do not know, who ran errands under the Gyeonggi Inspector." (Nanjung Ilgi, 3rd day of the 4th month, jeongyu year)

One thing needs pointing out here. The Suwon where the Admiral slept is not today's Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon.

The Suwon government office of 1597 lay below Hwasan Mountain — today's Annyeong-dong, Hwaseong City, where the royal tombs of Yungneung and Geolleung are. In 1789, when King Jeongjo moved the tomb of his father, Crown Prince Sado, to this spot, he moved the town to the foot of Paldalsan Mountain. The fortress built around that new town is Hwaseong.

So we pass Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon and go on further south. On the second night we stay near Yunggeolleung. Where the soldier's house the Admiral slept in stood, we cannot know. It must have been somewhere within the old town.

That night Sin Bok-ryong came with wine to comfort the Admiral. Suncheon magistrate Ryu Yeong-geon also came to see him.

Day 3 — Old Suwon to Osan (about 12 km)

The Admiral's day: the first part of the 4th day of the 4th lunar month (solar May 19)

Below Doksanseong Fortress

"I set out early and arrived below Dokseong (Yangsan-ri, Taean-eup, Suwon City), where panja (判刺) Jo Bal (趙撥) had prepared wine, pitched a tent, and was waiting." (Nanjung Ilgi, 4th day of the 4th month, jeongyu year)

Dokseong is Doksanseong, a mountain fortress now in Osan City. The place name in parentheses is an old annotation from the translation and differs from today's administrative districts.

In the winter of the imjin year (1592), Gwon Yul set up camp in this fortress and held off the enemy. The Commander-in-Chief the Admiral was now on his way to report to was that very Gwon Yul. The Admiral wrote that he passed "below" the fortress. Climbing up to it is something we add.

Jo Bal had pitched a tent by the roadside and set out wine. That is how he greeted a man going south as a criminal.

The Old Road to Jinwi, and Osan

"I drank until drunk, set off, went straight along the old Jinwi road (Bongnam-ri, Jinwi-myeon, Pyeongtaek County), and rested my horse by a stream. / Arriving at Osan, I had lunch at the house of Hwang Cheon-sang (黃天祥)." (Nanjung Ilgi, 4th day of the 4th month, jeongyu year)

Jinwi-guro (振威舊路) reads as meaning "the old road to Jinwi." Judging from the order of the diary, the place where he rested his horse by the stream lies between Doksanseong and Osan.

Hwang Cheon-sang said the Admiral's baggage was heavy and lent a horse to carry it. The Admiral wrote, "I can only be grateful."

We end the third day early and stay in Osan. We make it a day for climbing up and down Doksanseong and resting feet tired from two days of walking.

Day 4 — Osan to the Pyeongtaek County Seat (about 22 km)

The Admiral's day: the latter part of the 4th day of the 4th lunar month (solar May 19)

Crossing Sutan

"Passing Sutan, I lodged at the house of Yi Nae-eun-son (李內隱孫) in Pyeongtaek County; the man of the house received me very warmly. The room where I slept was very small, but he had even lit a warm fire, so that I sweated." (Nanjung Ilgi, 4th day of the 4th month, jeongyu year)

Sutan (水灘), as the name says, is a shallows where one crosses water. I have not yet found its exact location.

The Old Site of Pyeongtaek County

The Pyeongtaek County of that time is not today's downtown Pyeongtaek. The old government office was in Gaeksa-ri, Paengseong-eup. The area around today's Paengseong-eup Administrative Welfare Center has been identified as the site of the magistrate's hall, and in 2021 Pyeongtaek City put up a sign marking the old government office site. The office buildings all disappeared during the Japanese colonial period. Only the guesthouse and the local Confucian school remain (Kyeonggi Ilbo, 2023).

We do not know where Yi Nae-eun-son's house was. He was the man who lit a warm fire in a small room for the Admiral. We, too, stay near this old town.

Day 5 — Pyeongtaek County Seat to the Old Home in Asan (about 26 km)

The Admiral's day: the 5th day of the 4th lunar month (solar May 20)

At Sunrise, to the Family Burial Hill

"At sunrise I set out and went straight to the family burial hill (Baegam-ri, Yeomchi-eup, Asan City). The trees had twice been burned by wildfires, a sight I could not bear to look at. I bowed and wailed below the graves and did not rise for a long time." (Nanjung Ilgi, 5th day of the 4th month, jeongyu year)

Leaving Paengseong, we cross the Anseongcheon Stream. Unseongyo Bridge is the border between Pyeongtaek and Asan. From here on is Chungcheong Province.

The "Yi Sun-sin Baegui Jonggun Trail" created by Asan City runs 22.9 km from Unseongyo Bridge to Hyeonchungsa. This trail passes the tomb of Yi Chungmugong. The Admiral's tomb came into being after his death; it is not a place the Admiral of 1597 passed. Stopping there to bow is our own wish.

The translation's annotation places the family burial hill at Baegam-ri, Yeomchi-eup — the village where Hyeonchungsa stands. Below those graves, the Admiral did not rise for a long time.

At Dusk, the Old Home

"In the evening I came down, went to my mother's family home, and bowed at the shrine. From there I went to my nephew Noe's house and wailed and bowed at the ancestral shrine. I heard the news that my uncle of Namyang had died." (Nanjung Ilgi, 5th day of the 4th month, jeongyu year)

"Around dusk I arrived at our house and bowed before the spirit tablets of my father-in-law and mother-in-law, then went to the shrines of my second elder brother (Yo-sin, 堯臣) and of Yeo-pil's (Woo-sin, 禹臣) wife, my sister-in-law, and came back and went to bed. My heart was not at ease." (Nanjung Ilgi, 5th day of the 4th month, jeongyu year)

That day the Admiral only bowed: to his ancestors, at his mother's family home, to his father-in-law and mother-in-law, at the houses of the brothers who had died before him. And he wrote only, "My heart was not at ease."

We cannot know where his mother's family home or his nephew Noe's house stood. We go straight from the burial hill to Hyeonchungsa.

Why We Stop at Hyeonchungsa

The Hyeonchungsa shrine was built in 1706. The Admiral never saw that building. Still, I decided to stop there, because the Admiral's old home stands within it. It is the "our house" of the diary — the house where the spirit tablets of his father-in-law and mother-in-law were kept.

On the fifth night we stay close to Hyeonchungsa, beside the old home where the Admiral slept.

Next on the Itinerary

The Admiral stayed in this house for eight days, waiting for his mother, who was coming north by sea.

On the 13th day of the 4th lunar month (solar May 28), the Admiral went out to the coast to meet his mother. There he heard the news of her death. The next post covers that road: from the old home to Gebawi, and back again to the old home.

👉 ③ My Mother's Death, on the Road as a Disgraced Soldier

👉 Next post: ② (Baegui Jonggun Road) From the Old Home to Gebawi

— Momcheolhak