Nam I (南怡; 1443 – 11 November 1468 by the lunar calendar, 27th day of the 10th lunar month) was a military officer and royal in-law of the early Joseon period.
Born~Died 1441 ~ 1468Last edited Oct 15, 2026, 2:51 PM
Nam I (南怡; 1443 – 11 November 1468 by the lunar calendar, 27th day of the 10th lunar month1) was a military officer and royal in-law of the early Joseon period.
His grandfather was Nam Hwi (南暉), Lord of Uisan (宜山君), and his grandmother was Princess Jeongseon (貞善公主)2, the fourth daughter of Taejong and Queen Wongyeong. His wife was the daughter of Chief State Councillor Kwon Lam (權擥). His family seat was Uiryeong. He was skilled in martial arts and, favored by Sejo, rose to Minister of War at the age of about twenty. However, after he was dismissed from that post, he resented it. Yu Ja-gwang (柳子光), Han Myeong-hoe (韓明澮), Sin Suk-ju (申叔舟) and others attacked him over a Chinese-style poem he had written, and he was executed (the Nam I incident). In the reign of Sunjo, in 1818 (the 18th year of Sunjo's reign), his descendant Nam Gong-cheol (南公轍), then Right State Councillor, and others petitioned for his rehabilitation.3 His posthumous name is Chungmu (忠武). Nam Gu-man was his sixth-generation cousin.4
Life
Early life
He was a great-grandson of Nam Jae (南在), a founding merit subject of Joseon who served as Chief State Councillor, and a grandson of Nam Hwi, Lord of Uisan. His father was Nam Bin (南份), a county magistrate, and his mother was the daughter of Hong Yeo-gong (洪汝恭), a county magistrate. Nam Gon (南袞), who later served as Chief State Councillor under , was a member of his clan. He married the daughter of Kwon Lam, a merit subject of , but his wife Lady Kwon died young, and Kwon Lam also died early. He took a second wife and had two more concubines. His second wife was executed together with him when he was put to death, and the two concubines were taken as slaves shortly after the Nam I incident.
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In 1460 (the 6th year of Sejo's reign), he passed the military examination, and in 1466 (the 12th year of Sejo's reign) he passed the Baryeong Examination (拔英試).5
In 1467 (the 13th year of Sejo's reign), he subdued bandits who robbed travelers and merchants along the roads in areas such as Pocheon and Yeongpyeong in Gyeonggi Province.
Yi Si-ae's Rebellion and campaign against the Jurchens
In 1467 (the 13th year of Sejo's reign), when Yi Si-ae's Rebellion broke out across the Hamgyong region, he became commander of the suppression force. He took part in the campaign alongside Gwiseong Jun (貴城君 準), Kang Sun (康純), Eo Yu-so and others, and he went out as vanguard. Afterward, his merits during the campaign became known at court, and he was promoted immediately to a senior rank, passing through the posts of Acting Deputy Chief Guard (行副護軍) to Acting Hogun (行 護軍). After the rebellion was pacified, he was recorded as a first-class merit subject of the Loyal Rebellion Suppression (敵愾功臣) and was enfeoffed as Lord of Uisan.6 Later, when the Jianzhou Guard (建州衛) Jurchen appeared in the northwestern border region, he served under Yun Pil-sang, Provincial Commissioner of Pyeongan Province, as Right Great Commander. He entered the enemy lines as vanguard and attacked the Hun River (Pajeo River) from Manpo, killing and executing the Jurchen leader Yi Man-ju and his son before returning. For these achievements, he was invested as a second-class military merit subject.
Afterward, after serving as Minister of Works, in 1468 (the 14th year of Sejo's reign) he concurrently held the post of Chief Commissioner of the Office of the Five Military Commands, and that same year, at the age of 27, he became Minister of War. However, after Sejo died, he came under open suppression from Han Myeong-hoe and Sin Suk-ju. In that same year, Sin Suk-ju and Han Myeong-hoe, who resented Nam I's promotion and expansion of influence, removed the new power that had emerged from the pacification of Yi Si-ae's Rebellion, and when they did so, he was dismissed from the Ministry of War and transferred to the post of Commander of the Gyeomsabok Guard (兼司僕將).
When Han Myeong-hoe and Sin Suk-ju, through the mouths of meritorious senior officials such as Kang Hui-maeng (姜希孟) and Han Gye-hui (韓繼禧), criticized Nam I as incapable of performing the duties of Minister of War, King Yejong dismissed him from the post of Minister of War and appointed him to the post of Commander of the Gyeomsabok Guard.7
Conflict with Yu Ja-gwang
Yu Ja-gwang was of illegitimate birth and, like Nam I, had risen to prominence through merit in the Yi Si-ae's Rebellion. He was skilled at scheming and was a gifted strategist. However, he envied Nam I, who had received more of Sejo's favor despite having achieved merit alongside him. When Nam I was pushed out of the Ministry of War, Yu Ja-gwang made plans to eliminate him completely.8
Death
King Yejong did not originally like Nam I. Compared with Nam I, who was excellent in martial arts, strong and upright in character, and who monopolized the affection of his father Sejo, Yejong was not skilled at handling state affairs and did not enjoy Sejo's deep trust. For this reason, Yejong envied and resented him.8 Shortly after Yejong ascended the throne, in 1468 (the 14th year of Sejo's reign, the first year of Yejong's reign), someone fabricated a rumor that Nam I had committed adultery with a princess, and he suffered great humiliation. That year, while on night duty, he saw a comet appear and said it was a sign that the old would be removed and the new established. Yu Ja-gwang overheard this and falsely accused him of plotting treason together with Chief State CouncillorKang Sun and others, and he was imprisoned. Nam I asked the senior officials who were friends of his father-in-law Kwon Lam to intercede for him, but Han Myeong-hoe and Sin Suk-ju refused to grant it and ignored him. Kwon Lam's sons, because their sister had died young and they had no relations or contact with Nam I's household at the beginning of Yejong's reign, narrowly escaped the family's extermination. On 27 October 1468, Nam I was publicly exposed at the market street in front of the Gungi Office together with Kang Sun and others. Also, Jo Suk (趙淑) and others who had defended him were executed. After he was executed under the false charge of treason, his mother was also implicated. She was guilty of eating meat during mourning, and, on the charge of having committed adultery with her son, she was subjected to dismemberment (neungji cheosa).
Aftermath
It is noteworthy that, until the Imjin War, this incident was understood as a treason case, but afterward some unofficial histories defined it as a fabricated trial engineered by Yu Ja-gwang's slander and described Nam I as a man who was wrongly accused and unjustly killed at a young age. The representative book that recorded the Nam I trial as a fabricated case is the Yeonryeo Silgisul (燃藜室記述), which attributes it to Yu Ja-gwang's scheme.9 During the reign of Jungjong, because he had been unjustly sacrificed by Jo Gwang-jo (趙光祖) and others, public opinion favoring his rehabilitation formed, but it failed when Jo Gwang-jo and others were purged in the Gimyo Purge. Because of the two grueling literati purges caused by Yu Ja-gwang, the Sarim's evaluation of Yu Ja-gwang fell to an extreme low, and as a result Nam I's treason was transformed into an unjust false charge.
In 1818 (the 18th year of Sunjo's reign), on the petition of Right State Councillor Nam Gong-cheol, his official rank was restored together with Kang Sun. His tomb is located in Namjeon-ri, Bibong-myeon, Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province, and he is enshrined at Gubong Seowon (龜峯書院) in Changnyeong, at Yongmun Sa (龍門祠) in Yongsan, Seoul, and at Chungmin Sa (忠愍祠) in Seongdong, Seoul.
I will grind the stones of Baekdu Mountain with my sword until they are gone;
The waters of the Duman River, my horse will drink them dry;
If a man at twenty cannot pacify the nation,
who in later ages will be called a true man?
His poem that is famous reads: "I will grind the stones of Baekdu Mountain with my sword until they are gone. If a man at twenty cannot bring peace to the nation, who will be called a true man later?" Later, this poem was mainly used in propaganda materials for uprisings and demonstrations.
After liberation from Japanese colonial rule, at the anti-trusteeship demonstration, Kim Ku (金九) handwrote and presented to the demonstrators of the 23 June anti-trusteeship demonstration a poem by General Nam I, "If a man at twenty cannot pacify the nation, who will later be called a true man?", as encouragement.1011
Family
Great-grandfather: Nam Gyeong-mun (南景文, 1370 – 1395/1403 (?))
Daughter: Nam Gu-eul-geum (南求乙金12; she was taken as a slave of Han Myeong-hoe)
Concubine: Lady Tak, Tak Mun-a (卓文兒12; she was taken as a slave of Sin Un (申雲))
Concubine: Yi Deok (李德12; she was taken as a slave of Yi Chim (李琛), Prince Miseong (密城君))
Traditional tales
Legend of Chukryeong Mountain
In Korea there are two mountains named Chukryeong Mountain: one at the border between Sudong-myeon, Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, and Sangmyeon, Gapyeong County (886 m), and another at the border between Jangseong, South Jeolla, and Gochang, North Jeolla (620.5 m). The origin of the name of the Chukryeong Mountain in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, is related to Nam I. On Chukryeong Mountain there is a rock called Nam I Rock, where Nam I is said to have trained in martial arts when he was young, and the legend that Nam I gave rise to the name is not without basis, as seen from the peak facing east toward Nami Island in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province.13
It is said that after King Yejong, having heard Yu Ja-gwang's false report of treason, cruelly executed the twenty-eight-year-old Nam I by "dismemberment by chariot (車裂刑)," a punishment in which the limbs were torn off, the local people, wishing to console his spirit, named the mountain associated with him Chukryeong Mountain. Although it is not widely known, the legend of its origin from General Nam I is more intimate. Moreover, on Chukryeong Mountain there is also Nam I Rock, where General Nam I is said to have trained in martial arts.13
Nam I's tomb
In Namjeon-ri, Bibong-myeon, Hwaseong City, Hyohaeng-gu, Gyeonggi Province, there clearly exists a tomb of Nam I. However, at Nami Island in Chuncheon, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, one can see a tomb of General Nam I, after which the island is named. There is a legend that General Nam I, who was subjected to dismemberment by chariot (거열형) on the false charge of treason by Yu Ja-gwang, was buried somewhere in this area. A heap of stones is said to have been handed down through legend, and a mound was made by covering it with soil and decorating it, which is what is now called the tomb of General Nam I, but it cannot be confirmed whether General Nam I is actually buried there. Legends concerning the "Nam Po" in Yeongyang, North Gyeongsang Province, where rebel groups were said to have been annihilated, and the "Infant General of the Nam Family" in the Guseong area of Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, are also linked to General Nam I. Thus, there are many legends about Nam I in present-day Korea. This shows how the regret over Nam I's death at the blooming age of twenty-eight has been passed down as a folktale-like legend.13
Nam I in shamanism
According to the historical manhwaJoseon Wangjo Sillok by the artist Park Si-baek, there is a story that when General Nam I was young, he saw and drove away an evil ghost that tormented a maiden, and according to legend, he is said to have fought various opponents, including ghosts and centipedes. In shamanism, General Nam I is one of the general deities served by shamans.
Infant general folktale
It is a figure legend concerning Nam I, the famous general of the early Joseon period, and literary records of it are preserved in the Yeonryeo Silgisul, the Cheongya Manjip (靑野謾集), and the Daedong Gimun (大東奇聞). Oral folk tales are also distributed throughout the country. The literary records are not pure folk tales but rather quotations from records about Nam I contained in various anthologies, and all have the same content. Notably, the account of Nam I's marriage process quoted from the Gukjo Gisa (國朝記事) section of the Yeonryeo Silgisul is the same as the currently orally transmitted folk tale, so it can be regarded as a record of folk transmission.
Miscellaneous
Family relations
His father-in-law Kwon Lam was a former colleague of Han Myeong-hoe and Sin Suk-ju and later a comrade who jointly carried out the Gyeyu Incident and the Sejo Restoration. However, after his wife Lady Kwon died early and his father-in-law Kwon Lam also died in 1465, he had no one to support him. Nam I was a grandson of Princess Jeongseon, daughter of Taejong, in a double affinal relation with Kwon Lam and Taejong. Kwon Lam's uncle Kwon Gyu (權侊) married Princess Gyeongan, the fifth daughter of Taejong, and their son Kwon Chong was the maternal nephew of Taejong and was Nam I's maternal first cousin once removed by marriage. He was also in-law with Kim Mun-gi; Kwon Chong's granddaughter Kwon Yeong-geum was the wife of Kim Hyeon-seok, son of Kim Mun-gi.
Concubine Tak Mun-a
Tak Mun-a (卓文兒), a concubine of gisaeng origin, had once attended a banquet held in the palace, so Sin Un, Lord of Heungyang (興陽君), said he could not use her as a household slave and she was reassigned as a government slave.14
Sin Un, Lord of Heungyang (興陽君), reported:
"The concubine Tak Mun-a of the rebel minister Nam I, who was bestowed upon me previously, was a performer of ceremonial dances before the king. Therefore, I do not dare to use her as a household servant. Moreover, earlier, the gisaeng Wol-jung-mae (月中梅) and Cho-yo-gaeng (楚腰䡖) and others, who were concubines of the rebel, were all reassigned to their original service. I request that this be revised." The king issued an order to the Office of the Censor-General and the Office of Ceremonies that "The gisaeng Tak Mun-a bestowed on Sin Un is to be reassigned as a government slave of Jinhae."14
Sunjo Sillok, vol. 21, 1st entry of the 10th day (jeongmi) of the 3rd month, 18th year of Sunjo's reign (1818) ↩
Nam Gu-man, Yakcheon-jip, vol. 24, "Jenam Jangun Imyo" ↩
Sejo Sillok, vol. 45, 1st entry of the 27th day (jeonghae) of the 3rd month, 14th year of Sejo's reign (1468) ↩
Succeeded to the title following his grandfather Nam Hwi. ↩
Park Young-gyu, Hangwon-euro Boneun Joseon Wangjo Sillok (Deulbul, 1998), p. 125 ↩
Park Young-gyu, Hangwon-euro Boneun Joseon Wangjo Sillok (Deulbul, 1998), p. 126 ↩↩2
Park Young-gyu, Hangwon-euro Boneun Joseon Wangjo Sillok (Deulbul, 1998), p. 127 ↩
Kang Jun-man, Hanguk Hyeondaesa Sanchaek (1940s, vol. 2) (Inmul-gwa Sasangsa, 2004), p. 34 ↩
Cited from Do Jin-sun, Hanguk Minjokjuui-wa Nambuk Gwangye: Lee Seung-man, Kim Ku Sidae-ui Jeongchisa (Seoul National University Press, 1997), p. 154 ↩
Yejong Sillok, vol. 3, 1st entry of the 13th day (musin) of the 1st month, first year of Yejong's reign (1469, gichuk / Ming Chenghua year 5) ↩↩2↩3
Nam I (南怡; 1443 – 11 November 1468 by the lunar calendar, 27th day of the 10th lunar month1) was a military officer and royal in-law of the early Joseon period.
His grandfather was Nam Hwi (南暉), Lord of Uisan (宜山君), and his grandmother was Princess Jeongseon (貞善公主)2, the fourth daughter of Taejong and Queen Wongyeong. His wife was the daughter of Chief State Councillor Kwon Lam (權擥). His family seat was Uiryeong. He was skilled in martial arts and, favored by Sejo, rose to Minister of War at the age of about twenty. However, after he was dismissed from that post, he resented it. Yu Ja-gwang (柳子光), Han Myeong-hoe (韓明澮), Sin Suk-ju (申叔舟) and others attacked him over a Chinese-style poem he had written, and he was executed (the Nam I incident). In the reign of Sunjo, in 1818 (the 18th year of Sunjo's reign), his descendant Nam Gong-cheol (南公轍), then Right State Councillor, and others petitioned for his rehabilitation.3 His posthumous name is Chungmu (忠武). Nam Gu-man was his sixth-generation cousin.4
Life
Early life
He was a great-grandson of Nam Jae (南在), a founding merit subject of Joseon who served as Chief State Councillor, and a grandson of Nam Hwi, Lord of Uisan. His father was Nam Bin (南份), a county magistrate, and his mother was the daughter of Hong Yeo-gong (洪汝恭), a county magistrate. Nam Gon (南袞), who later served as under , was a member of his clan. He married the daughter of Kwon Lam, a merit subject of , but his wife Lady Kwon died young, and Kwon Lam also died early. He took a second wife and had two more concubines. His second wife was executed together with him when he was put to death, and the two concubines were taken as slaves shortly after the Nam I incident.
In 1460 (the 6th year of Sejo's reign), he passed the military examination, and in 1466 (the 12th year of Sejo's reign) he passed the Baryeong Examination (拔英試).5
In 1467 (the 13th year of Sejo's reign), he subdued bandits who robbed travelers and merchants along the roads in areas such as Pocheon and Yeongpyeong in Gyeonggi Province.
Yi Si-ae's Rebellion and campaign against the Jurchens
In 1467 (the 13th year of Sejo's reign), when Yi Si-ae's Rebellion broke out across the Hamgyong region, he became commander of the suppression force. He took part in the campaign alongside Gwiseong Jun (貴城君 準), Kang Sun (康純), Eo Yu-so and others, and he went out as vanguard. Afterward, his merits during the campaign became known at court, and he was promoted immediately to a senior rank, passing through the posts of Acting Deputy Chief Guard (行副護軍) to Acting Hogun (行 護軍). After the rebellion was pacified, he was recorded as a first-class merit subject of the Loyal Rebellion Suppression (敵愾功臣) and was enfeoffed as Lord of Uisan.6 Later, when the Jianzhou Guard (建州衛) Jurchen appeared in the northwestern border region, he served under Yun Pil-sang, Provincial Commissioner of Pyeongan Province, as Right Great Commander. He entered the enemy lines as vanguard and attacked the Hun River (Pajeo River) from Manpo, killing and executing the Jurchen leader Yi Man-ju and his son before returning. For these achievements, he was invested as a second-class military merit subject.
Afterward, after serving as Minister of Works, in 1468 (the 14th year of Sejo's reign) he concurrently held the post of Chief Commissioner of the Office of the Five Military Commands, and that same year, at the age of 27, he became Minister of War. However, after Sejo died, he came under open suppression from Han Myeong-hoe and Sin Suk-ju. In that same year, Sin Suk-ju and Han Myeong-hoe, who resented Nam I's promotion and expansion of influence, removed the new power that had emerged from the pacification of Yi Si-ae's Rebellion, and when they did so, he was dismissed from the Ministry of War and transferred to the post of Commander of the Gyeomsabok Guard (兼司僕將).
When Han Myeong-hoe and Sin Suk-ju, through the mouths of meritorious senior officials such as Kang Hui-maeng (姜希孟) and Han Gye-hui (韓繼禧), criticized Nam I as incapable of performing the duties of Minister of War, King Yejong dismissed him from the post of Minister of War and appointed him to the post of Commander of the Gyeomsabok Guard.7
Conflict with Yu Ja-gwang
Yu Ja-gwang was of illegitimate birth and, like Nam I, had risen to prominence through merit in the Yi Si-ae's Rebellion. He was skilled at scheming and was a gifted strategist. However, he envied Nam I, who had received more of Sejo's favor despite having achieved merit alongside him. When Nam I was pushed out of the Ministry of War, Yu Ja-gwang made plans to eliminate him completely.8
Death
King Yejong did not originally like Nam I. Compared with Nam I, who was excellent in martial arts, strong and upright in character, and who monopolized the affection of his father Sejo, Yejong was not skilled at handling state affairs and did not enjoy Sejo's deep trust. For this reason, Yejong envied and resented him.8 Shortly after Yejong ascended the throne, in 1468 (the 14th year of Sejo's reign, the first year of Yejong's reign), someone fabricated a rumor that Nam I had committed adultery with a princess, and he suffered great humiliation. That year, while on night duty, he saw a comet appear and said it was a sign that the old would be removed and the new established. Yu Ja-gwang overheard this and falsely accused him of plotting treason together with Chief State CouncillorKang Sun and others, and he was imprisoned. Nam I asked the senior officials who were friends of his father-in-law Kwon Lam to intercede for him, but Han Myeong-hoe and Sin Suk-ju refused to grant it and ignored him. Kwon Lam's sons, because their sister had died young and they had no relations or contact with Nam I's household at the beginning of Yejong's reign, narrowly escaped the family's extermination. On 27 October 1468, Nam I was publicly exposed at the market street in front of the Gungi Office together with Kang Sun and others. Also, Jo Suk (趙淑) and others who had defended him were executed. After he was executed under the false charge of treason, his mother was also implicated. She was guilty of eating meat during mourning, and, on the charge of having committed adultery with her son, she was subjected to dismemberment (neungji cheosa).
Aftermath
It is noteworthy that, until the Imjin War, this incident was understood as a treason case, but afterward some unofficial histories defined it as a fabricated trial engineered by Yu Ja-gwang's slander and described Nam I as a man who was wrongly accused and unjustly killed at a young age. The representative book that recorded the Nam I trial as a fabricated case is the Yeonryeo Silgisul (燃藜室記述), which attributes it to Yu Ja-gwang's scheme.9 During the reign of Jungjong, because he had been unjustly sacrificed by Jo Gwang-jo (趙光祖) and others, public opinion favoring his rehabilitation formed, but it failed when Jo Gwang-jo and others were purged in the Gimyo Purge. Because of the two grueling literati purges caused by Yu Ja-gwang, the Sarim's evaluation of Yu Ja-gwang fell to an extreme low, and as a result Nam I's treason was transformed into an unjust false charge.
In 1818 (the 18th year of Sunjo's reign), on the petition of Right State Councillor Nam Gong-cheol, his official rank was restored together with Kang Sun. His tomb is located in Namjeon-ri, Bibong-myeon, Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province, and he is enshrined at Gubong Seowon (龜峯書院) in Changnyeong, at Yongmun Sa (龍門祠) in Yongsan, Seoul, and at Chungmin Sa (忠愍祠) in Seongdong, Seoul.
I will grind the stones of Baekdu Mountain with my sword until they are gone;
The waters of the Duman River, my horse will drink them dry;
If a man at twenty cannot pacify the nation,
who in later ages will be called a true man?
His poem that is famous reads: "I will grind the stones of Baekdu Mountain with my sword until they are gone. If a man at twenty cannot bring peace to the nation, who will be called a true man later?" Later, this poem was mainly used in propaganda materials for uprisings and demonstrations.
After liberation from Japanese colonial rule, at the anti-trusteeship demonstration, Kim Ku (金九) handwrote and presented to the demonstrators of the 23 June anti-trusteeship demonstration a poem by General Nam I, "If a man at twenty cannot pacify the nation, who will later be called a true man?", as encouragement.1011
Family
Great-grandfather: Nam Gyeong-mun (南景文, 1370 – 1395/1403 (?))
Daughter: Nam Gu-eul-geum (南求乙金12; she was taken as a slave of Han Myeong-hoe)
Concubine: Lady Tak, Tak Mun-a (卓文兒12; she was taken as a slave of Sin Un (申雲))
Concubine: Yi Deok (李德12; she was taken as a slave of Yi Chim (李琛), Prince Miseong (密城君))
Traditional tales
Legend of Chukryeong Mountain
In Korea there are two mountains named Chukryeong Mountain: one at the border between Sudong-myeon, Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, and Sangmyeon, Gapyeong County (886 m), and another at the border between Jangseong, South Jeolla, and Gochang, North Jeolla (620.5 m). The origin of the name of the Chukryeong Mountain in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, is related to Nam I. On Chukryeong Mountain there is a rock called Nam I Rock, where Nam I is said to have trained in martial arts when he was young, and the legend that Nam I gave rise to the name is not without basis, as seen from the peak facing east toward Nami Island in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province.13
It is said that after King Yejong, having heard Yu Ja-gwang's false report of treason, cruelly executed the twenty-eight-year-old Nam I by "dismemberment by chariot (車裂刑)," a punishment in which the limbs were torn off, the local people, wishing to console his spirit, named the mountain associated with him Chukryeong Mountain. Although it is not widely known, the legend of its origin from General Nam I is more intimate. Moreover, on Chukryeong Mountain there is also Nam I Rock, where General Nam I is said to have trained in martial arts.13
Nam I's tomb
In Namjeon-ri, Bibong-myeon, Hwaseong City, Hyohaeng-gu, Gyeonggi Province, there clearly exists a tomb of Nam I. However, at Nami Island in Chuncheon, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, one can see a tomb of General Nam I, after which the island is named. There is a legend that General Nam I, who was subjected to dismemberment by chariot (거열형) on the false charge of treason by Yu Ja-gwang, was buried somewhere in this area. A heap of stones is said to have been handed down through legend, and a mound was made by covering it with soil and decorating it, which is what is now called the tomb of General Nam I, but it cannot be confirmed whether General Nam I is actually buried there. Legends concerning the "Nam Po" in Yeongyang, North Gyeongsang Province, where rebel groups were said to have been annihilated, and the "Infant General of the Nam Family" in the Guseong area of Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, are also linked to General Nam I. Thus, there are many legends about Nam I in present-day Korea. This shows how the regret over Nam I's death at the blooming age of twenty-eight has been passed down as a folktale-like legend.13
Nam I in shamanism
According to the historical manhwaJoseon Wangjo Sillok by the artist Park Si-baek, there is a story that when General Nam I was young, he saw and drove away an evil ghost that tormented a maiden, and according to legend, he is said to have fought various opponents, including ghosts and centipedes. In shamanism, General Nam I is one of the general deities served by shamans.
Infant general folktale
It is a figure legend concerning Nam I, the famous general of the early Joseon period, and literary records of it are preserved in the Yeonryeo Silgisul, the Cheongya Manjip (靑野謾集), and the Daedong Gimun (大東奇聞). Oral folk tales are also distributed throughout the country. The literary records are not pure folk tales but rather quotations from records about Nam I contained in various anthologies, and all have the same content. Notably, the account of Nam I's marriage process quoted from the Gukjo Gisa (國朝記事) section of the Yeonryeo Silgisul is the same as the currently orally transmitted folk tale, so it can be regarded as a record of folk transmission.
Miscellaneous
Family relations
His father-in-law Kwon Lam was a former colleague of Han Myeong-hoe and Sin Suk-ju and later a comrade who jointly carried out the Gyeyu Incident and the Sejo Restoration. However, after his wife Lady Kwon died early and his father-in-law Kwon Lam also died in 1465, he had no one to support him. Nam I was a grandson of Princess Jeongseon, daughter of Taejong, in a double affinal relation with Kwon Lam and Taejong. Kwon Lam's uncle Kwon Gyu (權侊) married Princess Gyeongan, the fifth daughter of Taejong, and their son Kwon Chong was the maternal nephew of Taejong and was Nam I's maternal first cousin once removed by marriage. He was also in-law with Kim Mun-gi; Kwon Chong's granddaughter Kwon Yeong-geum was the wife of Kim Hyeon-seok, son of Kim Mun-gi.
Concubine Tak Mun-a
Tak Mun-a (卓文兒), a concubine of gisaeng origin, had once attended a banquet held in the palace, so Sin Un, Lord of Heungyang (興陽君), said he could not use her as a household slave and she was reassigned as a government slave.14
Sin Un, Lord of Heungyang (興陽君), reported:
"The concubine Tak Mun-a of the rebel minister Nam I, who was bestowed upon me previously, was a performer of ceremonial dances before the king. Therefore, I do not dare to use her as a household servant. Moreover, earlier, the gisaeng Wol-jung-mae (月中梅) and Cho-yo-gaeng (楚腰䡖) and others, who were concubines of the rebel, were all reassigned to their original service. I request that this be revised." The king issued an order to the Office of the Censor-General and the Office of Ceremonies that "The gisaeng Tak Mun-a bestowed on Sin Un is to be reassigned as a government slave of Jinhae."14
Sunjo Sillok, vol. 21, 1st entry of the 10th day (jeongmi) of the 3rd month, 18th year of Sunjo's reign (1818) ↩
Nam Gu-man, Yakcheon-jip, vol. 24, "Jenam Jangun Imyo" ↩
Sejo Sillok, vol. 45, 1st entry of the 27th day (jeonghae) of the 3rd month, 14th year of Sejo's reign (1468) ↩
Succeeded to the title following his grandfather Nam Hwi. ↩
Park Young-gyu, Hangwon-euro Boneun Joseon Wangjo Sillok (Deulbul, 1998), p. 125 ↩
Park Young-gyu, Hangwon-euro Boneun Joseon Wangjo Sillok (Deulbul, 1998), p. 126 ↩↩2
Park Young-gyu, Hangwon-euro Boneun Joseon Wangjo Sillok (Deulbul, 1998), p. 127 ↩
Kang Jun-man, Hanguk Hyeondaesa Sanchaek (1940s, vol. 2) (Inmul-gwa Sasangsa, 2004), p. 34 ↩
Cited from Do Jin-sun, Hanguk Minjokjuui-wa Nambuk Gwangye: Lee Seung-man, Kim Ku Sidae-ui Jeongchisa (Seoul National University Press, 1997), p. 154 ↩
Yejong Sillok, vol. 3, 1st entry of the 13th day (musin) of the 1st month, first year of Yejong's reign (1469, gichuk / Ming Chenghua year 5) ↩↩2↩3