Yi Ji-ran (李之蘭, 1331 – 10 May 1402 (9th day of the 4th lunar month)) was a Jurchen-born military official and politician in the late Goryeo and early Joseon periods. His Jurchen name was [[Tongdulan|Tongdulan]] (佟豆蘭), with the surname Tong (佟, Dong), and his given name was an abbreviation of Gurun D
Born~Died 1331 ~ 1402Last edited Oct 15, 2026, 2:51 PM
Titles: Lord of Cheonghae (靑海伯), Prince of Cheonghae (靑海君); Posts: Commander of a Thousand (金牌千戶, Geumpae Cheonhu), Chamchan Munha Busa Uiheung Chingunwi Jeoljesa (參贊門下府使 義興親軍衛節制使), Commissioner for Pacification of the Northeastern Circuit (東北面都安撫使), Commander-in-chief of the Military Command (都兵馬使), Chief Councillor of the Secretariat (門下侍郞贊成事)
Yi Ji-ran (李之蘭, 1331 – 10 May 1402 (9th day of the 4th lunar month)) was a Jurchen by origin and a military official and politician in the late Goryeo and early Joseon periods. His Jurchen name was Tongdulan (佟豆蘭), with the surname Tong (佟, Dong), and his given name was an abbreviation of Gurun Dulan Temur (古倫豆蘭帖木兒, Kurunturanteimur). The Songs of the Flying Dragons transcribes his Jurchen name in Hunminjeongeum script as Goron Turan Termul.1 His courtesy name was Sikhyeong (式馨), and his Buddhist monastic name was also Sikhyeong (式馨).2 He was also the founder of the Cheonghae Yi clan.
He swore brotherhood with Yi Seong-gye (李成桂), founder of the Joseon dynasty, and it is said that through this bond he later received the Yi surname and changed his name. From the time Yi Seong-gye was still a Goryeo military commander before becoming king, Yi Ji-ran followed him and took part in many battles, and he joined in the founding of Joseon, becoming a first-rank Meritorious Subject of the Founding. His name also appears in the first verse of the independence march "Yongjin-ga." The Hanyang Obaengnyeongga contains a story related to the "Hamhung Envoys" (함흥차사), and the person who changed the mind of King Taejo Yi Seong-gye was not the monk Muhak but Yi Ji-ran himself.
Life
The History of Goryeo (高麗史) records that he was a Jurchen from the Yuan and Mongol Empire, the son of Arabuka (阿羅不花),3 a Commander of the Golden Tablet (金牌千戶) of the Mongol Empire, and that he inherited his father's office and became a Commander of a Thousand (千戶). It says that when Arabuka once campaigned to the west, a large star hung over the roof of a well, and a man who observed the heavens prophesied, "This is the Morning Star, and a great man will surely be born beneath it." It is said that Yi Ji-ran was born afterward ().
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In the 20th year of King Gongmin (1371), he sent his subordinate Company Commander Bugae (甫介) with a hundred households to submit to the Goryeo court, and he remained at Cheongdae (靑海, present-day Bukcheong) before entering the service of Yi Seong-gye.
In the 6th year of King U (1380), he followed his sworn elder brother Yi Seong-gye in campaigns against the Wokou pirates, and at Unbong near Mount Jiri he killed the enemy commander Ajabaldo and inflicted a crushing defeat on the pirates, earning merit in the Battle of Hwangsan. The strength of Yi Seong-gye's army owed much to the Jurchen cavalry led by Yi Ji-ran. In the 9th year of the same king (1383), in the seventh month, over forty raiders from Liaoshen (遼瀋) invaded Dan-ju (端州). Yi Ji-ran, as Commander of a Thousand of Bukcheong, pursued them together with Yuk Ryeo, Senior Myriarch of Dan-ju (端州上萬戶), and Hwang Hui-seok, Senior Myriarch of Cheong-ju (靑州上萬戶), reaching places such as Seojuwi and Haeyang, where they beheaded six leaders. In August, Hobaldo (胡拔都) invaded Dan-ju, and because Deputy Myriarch Kim Tobuka (金同不花) defected to the enemy, the Goryeo army was defeated. At that time, Yi Ji-ran's mother had died, and he was observing mourning in his hometown of Bukcheong, but it is said that at Yi Seong-gye's summons he removed his mourning clothes and joined the campaign (History of Goryeo). However, he was defeated by Hobatu while leading the vanguard on the plain of Gilju (吉州).
In the 11th year of King U (1385), he advanced with Yi Seong-gye and drove back the Wokou who had invaded Tuaedong (兎兒洞) in Hamhung (咸興). For this merit he received the title Meritorious Subject for Assisting the Mandate (宣力佐命功臣) and became Vice Commissioner of the Secretariat (密直副使).
After the Wihwado Retreat, he became Co-Commissioner of the Council of Deliberation (商議同知密直司事) and Commissioner of the Council (會議都監事), and during the reign of King Chang he served as Co-Commissioner of the Secretariat (知密直司事).
In the 4th year of King Gongyang (1392), he became Chief Councillor of the Office of Deliberation (知門下府事 判都評議使司事). He was then enfeoffed by the Ming as Lord of Cheonghae (靑海伯). In the same year, when Yi Seong-gye carried out the transfer of the mandate and ascended the throne as the new king, he was registered as a first-rank Meritorious Subject of the Founding, enfeoffed as Prince of Cheonghae (靑海君), and became Chamchan Munha Busa (參贊門下府使). The following year he became Military Commissioner of Gyeongsang Province (慶尙道節制使) and worked hard to repel the Wokou. In the 8th year of Taejo (1398), he distinguished himself in the Ming campaign against Jianzhou Wei, and he was appointed Chief Councillor of the Secretariat (門下侍郞贊成事). He was then reassigned to Judge of the Office of Justice (判刑曹事), Commissioner of the Uiheung Three Armies (義興三軍府事), and Commander of the Central Army (中軍節制使).
Even after Taejo stepped down, in the first year of King Jeongjong (1399) he was appointed Chief Plenipotentiary of the Secretariat (門下侍郞平章事). Shortly after King Taejong took the throne, he resigned from office and returned to his hometown. It is said that, to atone for having killed many people on many battlefields during his years as a military officer, he took refuge in Buddhism.4
He died on 9 April in the 2nd year of Taejong (1402). Before his death, he made a request to Taejong: "I am a man of my native land and am dying in a foreign country, so please cremate my body and bury it in my native land, so that it may follow the customs of my native land," and as a subject he left Taejong the admonition: "Be cautious and cultivate virtue, and preserve Joseon forever." When Yi Ji-ran died, Taejong suspended court audiences for three days, and at his request he was buried and given the posthumous name Yangnyeol (襄烈). He was 72 years old.
The Veritable Records of Taejong also records that at that time the Ming envoy Chuk Maeng-heon (祝孟獻) was staying at the Taepyeong Pavilion (太平館). When Yi Ji-ran died, Taejong cancelled his plan to personally visit the Taepyeong Pavilion and hold a banquet for the envoy, and instead sent the Chief Secretary Park Seok-myeong, who was to convey that the king's absence was due to the king's own illness rather than Yi Ji-ran's death (the court historian evaluated this as a consideration intended so that the envoy would not learn of the death of a senior minister of the state and could enjoy the banquet with peace of mind).
In the 10th year of Taejong (1410), he was enshrined in the ancestral shrine of Taejo along with other Joseon founding merit subjects, Jo Jun, Jo In-ok (趙仁沃), and Yi Hwa, a son of King Taejo, Grand Prince Uian.2 His descendants gathered his writings and compiled the Cheonghaebaek Jip (靑海伯集).
Appearance
The Stele of Yi Ji-ran describes his appearance, saying "his bearing was upright and handsome, like that of a woman." The Gyeonggi Museum in South Korea holds a portrait of Yi Ji-ran, which was kept at the Cheonghae Shrine (靑海祠) in Pocheon, where he was enshrined, until it was donated to the museum. It is a half-length portrait showing only the chest, and it is presumed to have been copied from an original full-length portrait, in the manner of an excerpt, for enshrinement in a shrine in the late Joseon period.
Family Relations
Yi Ji-ran was a Jurchen who converted to Goryeo and, as the closest confidant of Yi Seong-gye, founder of the Joseon dynasty, took part in the founding of the dynasty as a meritorious subject, and his descendants too were employed generation after generation in the Joseon court. In the 50th year of King Yeongjo (1774), 300 years after Yi Ji-ran's death, the Stele of Yi Ji-ran was erected, which records his paternal ancestry: his great-grandfather Buhae (浮海) achieved military merit under the Yuan and was enfeoffed as Commander of Five Thousand (五千戶); his father Awon (雅遠, Arabuka) rose to the rank of Grand General Who Conquers the West (征西大將軍) of the Yuan; and after Yi Ji-ran was employed in Joseon, Arabuka was posthumously granted the title Chief State Councillor (領議政府事) as a Meritorious Subject for Supporting the Throne (補祚功臣).
Yi Ji-ran had two wives: Lady Hamahn Gunbu Hyeahn Taek-ju (咸安郡夫人 惠安宅主) Yun (尹氏) and Lady Sangsan Gunbu (象山郡夫人) Goksan Kang (谷山康氏).5 Lady Sangsan Kang was the daughter of Ye-ui Pansu (禮儀判書) Kang Po-dae (康普戴) (Stele of Yi Ji-ran) and a niece on her mother's side of Queen Sindeok (神德王后), so Yi Ji-ran became the nephew-in-law of Taejo of Joseon. The Veritable Records of Taejong contains Yi Ji-ran's obituary, which records that he had three sons, Hwayeong (和英), Hwami (和美), and Hwasu (和秀) (the Stele of Yi Ji-ran records four sons). The History of Goryeo says there was one more son named Hwasang (和尙), and according to the Stele of Yi Ji-ran, all the sons were born to Lady Sangsan.
First wife: Lady Sangsan Goksan Kang (1349 – ?) – a niece of Queen Kang, the second consort of Taejo and the Queen Sindeok, by her father, Ye-ui Pansu Kang Po-dae (Kang Po-dae was a fifth-degree cousin of Queen Sindeok's father Kang Yun-seong, and incidentally, Lady Kang, Yi Ji-ran's wife, was older than her fifth-degree aunt Queen Sindeok Kang).
Son: Yi Hwasang (李和尙) – official post Minister of Works (工曹判書).
Son: Yi Hwayeong (李和英) – Jurchen name Yeori Bulhwa (亦里不花). Died on 27 October 1424 (6th year of Sejong). Official post Right Military Commissioner (判右軍府使).
Yi Hwayeong, Right Military Commissioner (判右軍府事), died. Hwayeong was a Jurchen and was the son of Yi Ji-ran (李之蘭), Lord Cheonghae (靑海伯), Duke Yangnyeol (襄烈公), a founding merit subject under Taejo. He began his career at the age of eighteen, first becoming a Junior Commander (郞將), and after several promotions reached the rank of Court Attendant Junior Officer (司僕正), then moved to Grand General of Merit Preservation (保功大將軍), and in the 7th year of Taejo he was promoted to Supreme General (上將軍). In the 1st year of Taejong he was specially appointed Vice Minister of Rites (禮曹典書), in the 2nd year Co-Commander of the Seungchubu (承樞府同知摠制), in the 6th year promoted to Commander-in-chief (都摠制), in the 9th year Deliberative Councillor (知議政府事), in the 15th year Chamchan of the State Council (議政府參贊), and in the 5th year of Sejong Commander-in-chief of the Left Army (判左軍都摠制府事). Since Hwayeong followed Taejo from his youth, at the beginning of the dynasty he received the registration scroll and land of a Secondary Meritorious Subject (原從功臣), and in the 2nd year of Jeongjong, for defending Taejong, he received more land and slaves. In the 2nd year of Taejong, when he was in mourning at a temporary dwelling due to the death of a parent, he heard of the danger to Taejong and was the first to rush back to his service. Taejong, admiring his loyalty, took off his own robe and put it on him, and afterward continued to bestow favors. In autumn of the 5th year of Sejong, he had an audience and reported his intention to return to his hometown, and the king held a farewell banquet in the suburbs. Hwayeong was upright in mind and frugal in conduct. He died at his residence from illness, and when news of his death arrived, court audiences were suspended for three days, and the government took charge of the funeral. His posthumous name was Muhu (武厚), since "one who is dignified and strong is called Mu (武), and one whose thinking is without error is called Hu (厚)." His other sons were Yi Hyoryang (李孝良), Yi Hyojeong (李孝貞), Yi Hyoon (李孝溫), Yi Hyogeom (李孝儉), Yi Hyoyang (李孝讓), and Yi Hyogang (李孝綱).
Son: Yi Hwami – died on 28 April 1414 (14th year of Taejong). Official post Judge of the Hanseong Prefecture (判漢城府使).
When Chamchong Chamchongjae (僉摠制) Yi Hwami died, rice and beans of thirty seok, one hundred sheets of paper, and a coffin were sent as condolence gifts. Yi Hwami was the son of Lord Cheonghae (靑海伯) Yi Ji-ran (李之蘭). His martial talent somewhat resembled his father's bearing.
Son: Yi Hwasu – official post Vice Minister of Rites (禮曹參判).
Yi Ji-ran (李之蘭) first married Lady Hyeahn Taek-ju Yun (惠安宅主 尹氏), and secondly married Lady Gun Bu-in Kang (君夫人 康氏), a niece on her mother's side of Queen Sindeok Kang (神德王后 康氏), the second queen of Taejo of Joseon (朝鮮 太祖). Therefore, Yi Seong-gye was also his wife's aunt's husband (妻姑母夫). Yi Ji-ran (李之蘭), four years older than Yi Seong-gye, became the nephew-in-law of Yi Seong-gye (Yi Seong-gye was the wife's aunt's husband of Yi Ji-ran and his sworn elder brother), and at the same time he was the younger sworn brother of Yi Seong-gye, with whom he swore brotherhood.
Anecdotes
In the General Preface of the Veritable Records of Taejo (太祖實錄 總序), it is recorded that when Yi Seong-gye was injured after falling from his horse, Yi Bang-won (later Taejong of Joseon) ordered Jeong Do-jeon and Jo Jun, Yi Seong-gye's close aides and advisers, to be imprisoned and eliminated, and ordered the assassination of Jeong Mong-ju (鄭夢周). Yi Ji-ran declined, saying, "This is a matter our lord (Yi Seong-gye) does not know about, so I will not take part." Later, however, in the Muin Jeongsa (the First Prince's Rebellion), in which Yi Bang-won eliminated Jeong Do-jeon and his two half-brothers and consequently led to his father Taejo's abdication, Yi Ji-ran joined Yi Bang-won's side and rose to the ranks of the Jeongsa Meritorious Subjects (定社功臣).
He swore brotherhood with Yi Seong-gye, who was four years younger than himself, and served him as an elder brother, and while Yi Seong-gye was a military commander, he followed him in many battles including the Battle of Hwangsan, and distinguished himself. The Songs of the Flying Dragons (龍飛御天歌) contains a passage in which Taejo Yi Seong-gye, referring to Yi Ji-ran, evaluated him: "In riding horses and hunting, there may be others as skilled as Duran, but in facing battle and defeating enemy forces, there is no one better than Duran."
The Songs of the Flying Dragons also says that once, while racing on horseback with Yi Seong-gye to chase a deer, the deer escaped beneath a fallen tree, and Yi Ji-ran whipped his horse and went around the tree, whereas Taejo jumped over the tree on the spot, got back on the horse that had come out from under the trunk, pursued the deer and shot it down. Yi Ji-ran said, "My lord is a genius; no human strength can follow you."
The Sunoji (旬五志) by the mid-Joseon scholar Hong Man-jong (洪萬宗) contains an anecdote about Yi Seong-gye: when a woman carrying a water jar on her head passed along the road, Yi Seong-gye first threw an iron ball and made a hole in the jar, and before the water could leak out, Yi Ji-ran threw a small ball of mud and plugged the hole. It is also said that Yi Ji-ran, who secretly harbored an intention to harm Yi Seong-gye, took advantage of a night when Yi Seong-gye went to the outhouse and shot arrows at him three times, thinking he had been killed by the arrows. However, Yi Seong-gye calmly finished his business in the outhouse, came out, and returned the arrows to Yi Ji-ran, after which Yi Ji-ran never again dared to oppose Yi Seong-gye rashly.
The History of Goryeo records that at the Battle of Hwangsan, when attacking the Wokou commander Ajabaldo, in the midst of the fierce fighting, Yi Ji-ran saw a Wokou soldier carrying a spear sneaking up on Yi Seong-gye, and he shouted in alarm, "Sir, look behind you!" repeatedly, but Yi Seong-gye did not hear him amid the fierce battle. Yi Ji-ran then shot and killed, with his own bow, the Wokou soldier who was trying to stab Yi Seong-gye. It is also said that to kill Ajabaldo, who wore armor all over his body, Yi Seong-gye first shot an arrow that struck the top of Ajabaldo's helmet and knocked it off, and in the gap created by the helmet being removed, Yi Ji-ran shot again and was able to kill Ajabaldo.
The Stele of Yi Ji-ran, erected in the 50th year of King Yeongjo (1774), records the circumstances under which Yi Ji-ran swore brotherhood with Yi Seong-gye as follows: During the Zhizheng era, when Yi Seong-gye attacked Go Gwang-seong (고광성), Yi Seong-gye's mother Choe (崔氏) dreamed of an old man who said, "There is a man skilled in archery at Gaegang (价江), who will assist the Hegemon-King (覇王)." When Yi Seong-gye went to Gaegang as the dream indicated, he found Tongdulan (Yi Ji-ran) hunting deer there. Yi Seong-gye, finding this strange, swore brotherhood with him and arranged a marriage between him and a niece of his wife, Lady Kang (康氏, Queen Sindeok).
The Stele of Yi Ji-ran also records an anecdote in which, when King U went hunting to the west and reached Daeryeong (大寧), he had the military officials shoot arrows at a target of two cun of white metal. Yi Seong-gye stepped forward and hit the target with one arrow, and King U was pleased, but Yi Ji-ran remarked, "Why do you show so much of your skill to others?" and gently criticized him, and Yi Seong-gye, repenting, admired Yi Ji-ran's wisdom even more.
He was a sixth cousin of Aisin Gioro Mentemu, who was posthumously honored as Emperor Yuan of the Qing dynasty's Ancestor Zhao (肇祖原皇帝) (Qing).
The Jangsugundo (將帥軍圖), a painting record of the moment when Yi Seong-gye, Shim Deok-bu, and Yi Ji-ran swore brotherhood and resolved to turn back just before the Wihwado Retreat, has newly been discovered.6
Ancestral Origin
On the "Mount Chu" (楚山) where the tiger howls and the dragon submerged in the Pei marsh (沛澤)/ spits clouds and creates wind, its momentum is so vast!/ The lonely deer of Qin does not know where to go...
A single sijo poem attributed to Yi Ji-ran survives in the Hwawon Akbo (花源樂譜), a late Joseon collection of sijo.2
Joseon Pyeongjeon "Stories of Naturalized Immigrants Who Became Part of Our History," by Shin Byeong-ju, Geulhangari (2011, pp. 441–448)
Naturalized Surnames That Changed Our History, "Yi Ji-ran, Jurchen (Cheonghae Yi clan)," by Park Gi-hyeon, Yeoksaui Achim (2007, pp. 94–104)
Dictionary of Korean Language and Literature Sources, "Yi Ji-ran (李之蘭)," co-authored by Lee Eung-baek, Kim Won-gyeong, Kim Seon-pung et al., Hanguk Sajeon Yeonguusa (1998 edition)
Archery of Joseon Seen from the 21st Century, "Joseon Period," by Lee Jung-hwa, translated by Kim Yi-su, Hankuk Academic Information (2010, pp. 235–253)
A Study on Yi Ji-ran, by Wang Yeong-il, doctoral dissertation, Korea University (2003)
Dictionary of Korean Language and Literature Sources, "Yi Ji-ran (李之蘭)," co-authored by Lee Eung-baek, Kim Won-gyeong, Kim Seon-pung et al., Hanguk Sajeon Yeonguusa (1998 edition); "Archery of Joseon Seen from the 21st Century," Joseon Period, by Lee Jung-hwa, translated by Kim Yi-su, Hankuk Academic Information (2010, pp. 235–253) ↩↩2↩3
The Stele of Yi Ji-ran, erected in the 50th year of King Yeongjo (1774), three hundred years after Yi Ji-ran's death, gives his name as Awon (雅遠). ↩
Yeollyeo Silgisul, vol. 2, "Old Affairs and Complete Accounts of the Taejo Period" (太祖朝 古事本末). ↩
Yi Ji-ran (李之蘭, 1331 – 10 May 1402 (9th day of the 4th lunar month)) was a Jurchen by origin and a military official and politician in the late Goryeo and early Joseon periods. His Jurchen name was Tongdulan (佟豆蘭), with the surname Tong (佟, Dong), and his given name was an abbreviation of Gurun Dulan Temur (古倫豆蘭帖木兒, Kurunturanteimur). The Songs of the Flying Dragons transcribes his Jurchen name in Hunminjeongeum script as Goron Turan Termul.1 His courtesy name was Sikhyeong (式馨), and his Buddhist monastic name was also Sikhyeong (式馨).2 He was also the founder of the Cheonghae Yi clan.
He swore brotherhood with Yi Seong-gye (李成桂), founder of the Joseon dynasty, and it is said that through this bond he later received the Yi surname and changed his name. From the time Yi Seong-gye was still a Goryeo military commander before becoming king, Yi Ji-ran followed him and took part in many battles, and he joined in the founding of Joseon, becoming a first-rank Meritorious Subject of the Founding. His name also appears in the first verse of the independence march "Yongjin-ga." The Hanyang Obaengnyeongga contains a story related to the "Hamhung Envoys" (함흥차사), and the person who changed the mind of King Taejo Yi Seong-gye was not the monk Muhak but Yi Ji-ran himself.
Life
The History of Goryeo (高麗史) records that he was a Jurchen from the Yuan and Mongol Empire, the son of Arabuka (阿羅不花),3 a Commander of the Golden Tablet (金牌千戶) of the Mongol Empire, and that he inherited his father's office and became a Commander of a Thousand (千戶). It says that when Arabuka once campaigned to the west, a large star hung over the roof of a well, and a man who observed the heavens prophesied, "This is the Morning Star, and a great man will surely be born beneath it." It is said that Yi Ji-ran was born afterward ().
Stele of Yi Ji-ran
In the 20th year of King Gongmin (1371), he sent his subordinate Company Commander Bugae (甫介) with a hundred households to submit to the Goryeo court, and he remained at Cheongdae (靑海, present-day Bukcheong) before entering the service of Yi Seong-gye.
In the 6th year of King U (1380), he followed his sworn elder brother Yi Seong-gye in campaigns against the Wokou pirates, and at Unbong near Mount Jiri he killed the enemy commander Ajabaldo and inflicted a crushing defeat on the pirates, earning merit in the Battle of Hwangsan. The strength of Yi Seong-gye's army owed much to the Jurchen cavalry led by Yi Ji-ran. In the 9th year of the same king (1383), in the seventh month, over forty raiders from Liaoshen (遼瀋) invaded Dan-ju (端州). Yi Ji-ran, as Commander of a Thousand of Bukcheong, pursued them together with Yuk Ryeo, Senior Myriarch of Dan-ju (端州上萬戶), and Hwang Hui-seok, Senior Myriarch of Cheong-ju (靑州上萬戶), reaching places such as Seojuwi and Haeyang, where they beheaded six leaders. In August, Hobaldo (胡拔都) invaded Dan-ju, and because Deputy Myriarch Kim Tobuka (金同不花) defected to the enemy, the Goryeo army was defeated. At that time, Yi Ji-ran's mother had died, and he was observing mourning in his hometown of Bukcheong, but it is said that at Yi Seong-gye's summons he removed his mourning clothes and joined the campaign (History of Goryeo). However, he was defeated by Hobatu while leading the vanguard on the plain of Gilju (吉州).
In the 11th year of King U (1385), he advanced with Yi Seong-gye and drove back the Wokou who had invaded Tuaedong (兎兒洞) in Hamhung (咸興). For this merit he received the title Meritorious Subject for Assisting the Mandate (宣力佐命功臣) and became Vice Commissioner of the Secretariat (密直副使).
After the Wihwado Retreat, he became Co-Commissioner of the Council of Deliberation (商議同知密直司事) and Commissioner of the Council (會議都監事), and during the reign of King Chang he served as Co-Commissioner of the Secretariat (知密直司事).
In the 4th year of King Gongyang (1392), he became Chief Councillor of the Office of Deliberation (知門下府事 判都評議使司事). He was then enfeoffed by the Ming as Lord of Cheonghae (靑海伯). In the same year, when Yi Seong-gye carried out the transfer of the mandate and ascended the throne as the new king, he was registered as a first-rank Meritorious Subject of the Founding, enfeoffed as Prince of Cheonghae (靑海君), and became Chamchan Munha Busa (參贊門下府使). The following year he became Military Commissioner of Gyeongsang Province (慶尙道節制使) and worked hard to repel the Wokou. In the 8th year of Taejo (1398), he distinguished himself in the Ming campaign against Jianzhou Wei, and he was appointed Chief Councillor of the Secretariat (門下侍郞贊成事). He was then reassigned to Judge of the Office of Justice (判刑曹事), Commissioner of the Uiheung Three Armies (義興三軍府事), and Commander of the Central Army (中軍節制使).
Even after Taejo stepped down, in the first year of King Jeongjong (1399) he was appointed Chief Plenipotentiary of the Secretariat (門下侍郞平章事). Shortly after King Taejong took the throne, he resigned from office and returned to his hometown. It is said that, to atone for having killed many people on many battlefields during his years as a military officer, he took refuge in Buddhism.4
He died on 9 April in the 2nd year of Taejong (1402). Before his death, he made a request to Taejong: "I am a man of my native land and am dying in a foreign country, so please cremate my body and bury it in my native land, so that it may follow the customs of my native land," and as a subject he left Taejong the admonition: "Be cautious and cultivate virtue, and preserve Joseon forever." When Yi Ji-ran died, Taejong suspended court audiences for three days, and at his request he was buried and given the posthumous name Yangnyeol (襄烈). He was 72 years old.
The Veritable Records of Taejong also records that at that time the Ming envoy Chuk Maeng-heon (祝孟獻) was staying at the Taepyeong Pavilion (太平館). When Yi Ji-ran died, Taejong cancelled his plan to personally visit the Taepyeong Pavilion and hold a banquet for the envoy, and instead sent the Chief Secretary Park Seok-myeong, who was to convey that the king's absence was due to the king's own illness rather than Yi Ji-ran's death (the court historian evaluated this as a consideration intended so that the envoy would not learn of the death of a senior minister of the state and could enjoy the banquet with peace of mind).
In the 10th year of Taejong (1410), he was enshrined in the ancestral shrine of Taejo along with other Joseon founding merit subjects, Jo Jun, Jo In-ok (趙仁沃), and Yi Hwa, a son of King Taejo, Grand Prince Uian.2 His descendants gathered his writings and compiled the Cheonghaebaek Jip (靑海伯集).
Appearance
The Stele of Yi Ji-ran describes his appearance, saying "his bearing was upright and handsome, like that of a woman." The Gyeonggi Museum in South Korea holds a portrait of Yi Ji-ran, which was kept at the Cheonghae Shrine (靑海祠) in Pocheon, where he was enshrined, until it was donated to the museum. It is a half-length portrait showing only the chest, and it is presumed to have been copied from an original full-length portrait, in the manner of an excerpt, for enshrinement in a shrine in the late Joseon period.
Family Relations
Yi Ji-ran was a Jurchen who converted to Goryeo and, as the closest confidant of Yi Seong-gye, founder of the Joseon dynasty, took part in the founding of the dynasty as a meritorious subject, and his descendants too were employed generation after generation in the Joseon court. In the 50th year of King Yeongjo (1774), 300 years after Yi Ji-ran's death, the Stele of Yi Ji-ran was erected, which records his paternal ancestry: his great-grandfather Buhae (浮海) achieved military merit under the Yuan and was enfeoffed as Commander of Five Thousand (五千戶); his father Awon (雅遠, Arabuka) rose to the rank of Grand General Who Conquers the West (征西大將軍) of the Yuan; and after Yi Ji-ran was employed in Joseon, Arabuka was posthumously granted the title Chief State Councillor (領議政府事) as a Meritorious Subject for Supporting the Throne (補祚功臣).
Yi Ji-ran had two wives: Lady Hamahn Gunbu Hyeahn Taek-ju (咸安郡夫人 惠安宅主) Yun (尹氏) and Lady Sangsan Gunbu (象山郡夫人) Goksan Kang (谷山康氏).5 Lady Sangsan Kang was the daughter of Ye-ui Pansu (禮儀判書) Kang Po-dae (康普戴) (Stele of Yi Ji-ran) and a niece on her mother's side of Queen Sindeok (神德王后), so Yi Ji-ran became the nephew-in-law of Taejo of Joseon. The Veritable Records of Taejong contains Yi Ji-ran's obituary, which records that he had three sons, Hwayeong (和英), Hwami (和美), and Hwasu (和秀) (the Stele of Yi Ji-ran records four sons). The History of Goryeo says there was one more son named Hwasang (和尙), and according to the Stele of Yi Ji-ran, all the sons were born to Lady Sangsan.
First wife: Lady Sangsan Goksan Kang (1349 – ?) – a niece of Queen Kang, the second consort of Taejo and the Queen Sindeok, by her father, Ye-ui Pansu Kang Po-dae (Kang Po-dae was a fifth-degree cousin of Queen Sindeok's father Kang Yun-seong, and incidentally, Lady Kang, Yi Ji-ran's wife, was older than her fifth-degree aunt Queen Sindeok Kang).
Son: Yi Hwasang (李和尙) – official post Minister of Works (工曹判書).
Son: Yi Hwayeong (李和英) – Jurchen name Yeori Bulhwa (亦里不花). Died on 27 October 1424 (6th year of Sejong). Official post Right Military Commissioner (判右軍府使).
Yi Hwayeong, Right Military Commissioner (判右軍府事), died. Hwayeong was a Jurchen and was the son of Yi Ji-ran (李之蘭), Lord Cheonghae (靑海伯), Duke Yangnyeol (襄烈公), a founding merit subject under Taejo. He began his career at the age of eighteen, first becoming a Junior Commander (郞將), and after several promotions reached the rank of Court Attendant Junior Officer (司僕正), then moved to Grand General of Merit Preservation (保功大將軍), and in the 7th year of Taejo he was promoted to Supreme General (上將軍). In the 1st year of Taejong he was specially appointed Vice Minister of Rites (禮曹典書), in the 2nd year Co-Commander of the Seungchubu (承樞府同知摠制), in the 6th year promoted to Commander-in-chief (都摠制), in the 9th year Deliberative Councillor (知議政府事), in the 15th year Chamchan of the State Council (議政府參贊), and in the 5th year of Sejong Commander-in-chief of the Left Army (判左軍都摠制府事). Since Hwayeong followed Taejo from his youth, at the beginning of the dynasty he received the registration scroll and land of a Secondary Meritorious Subject (原從功臣), and in the 2nd year of Jeongjong, for defending Taejong, he received more land and slaves. In the 2nd year of Taejong, when he was in mourning at a temporary dwelling due to the death of a parent, he heard of the danger to Taejong and was the first to rush back to his service. Taejong, admiring his loyalty, took off his own robe and put it on him, and afterward continued to bestow favors. In autumn of the 5th year of Sejong, he had an audience and reported his intention to return to his hometown, and the king held a farewell banquet in the suburbs. Hwayeong was upright in mind and frugal in conduct. He died at his residence from illness, and when news of his death arrived, court audiences were suspended for three days, and the government took charge of the funeral. His posthumous name was Muhu (武厚), since "one who is dignified and strong is called Mu (武), and one whose thinking is without error is called Hu (厚)." His other sons were Yi Hyoryang (李孝良), Yi Hyojeong (李孝貞), Yi Hyoon (李孝溫), Yi Hyogeom (李孝儉), Yi Hyoyang (李孝讓), and Yi Hyogang (李孝綱).
Son: Yi Hwami – died on 28 April 1414 (14th year of Taejong). Official post Judge of the Hanseong Prefecture (判漢城府使).
When Chamchong Chamchongjae (僉摠制) Yi Hwami died, rice and beans of thirty seok, one hundred sheets of paper, and a coffin were sent as condolence gifts. Yi Hwami was the son of Lord Cheonghae (靑海伯) Yi Ji-ran (李之蘭). His martial talent somewhat resembled his father's bearing.
Son: Yi Hwasu – official post Vice Minister of Rites (禮曹參判).
Yi Ji-ran (李之蘭) first married Lady Hyeahn Taek-ju Yun (惠安宅主 尹氏), and secondly married Lady Gun Bu-in Kang (君夫人 康氏), a niece on her mother's side of Queen Sindeok Kang (神德王后 康氏), the second queen of Taejo of Joseon (朝鮮 太祖). Therefore, Yi Seong-gye was also his wife's aunt's husband (妻姑母夫). Yi Ji-ran (李之蘭), four years older than Yi Seong-gye, became the nephew-in-law of Yi Seong-gye (Yi Seong-gye was the wife's aunt's husband of Yi Ji-ran and his sworn elder brother), and at the same time he was the younger sworn brother of Yi Seong-gye, with whom he swore brotherhood.
Anecdotes
In the General Preface of the Veritable Records of Taejo (太祖實錄 總序), it is recorded that when Yi Seong-gye was injured after falling from his horse, Yi Bang-won (later Taejong of Joseon) ordered Jeong Do-jeon and Jo Jun, Yi Seong-gye's close aides and advisers, to be imprisoned and eliminated, and ordered the assassination of Jeong Mong-ju (鄭夢周). Yi Ji-ran declined, saying, "This is a matter our lord (Yi Seong-gye) does not know about, so I will not take part." Later, however, in the Muin Jeongsa (the First Prince's Rebellion), in which Yi Bang-won eliminated Jeong Do-jeon and his two half-brothers and consequently led to his father Taejo's abdication, Yi Ji-ran joined Yi Bang-won's side and rose to the ranks of the Jeongsa Meritorious Subjects (定社功臣).
He swore brotherhood with Yi Seong-gye, who was four years younger than himself, and served him as an elder brother, and while Yi Seong-gye was a military commander, he followed him in many battles including the Battle of Hwangsan, and distinguished himself. The Songs of the Flying Dragons (龍飛御天歌) contains a passage in which Taejo Yi Seong-gye, referring to Yi Ji-ran, evaluated him: "In riding horses and hunting, there may be others as skilled as Duran, but in facing battle and defeating enemy forces, there is no one better than Duran."
The Songs of the Flying Dragons also says that once, while racing on horseback with Yi Seong-gye to chase a deer, the deer escaped beneath a fallen tree, and Yi Ji-ran whipped his horse and went around the tree, whereas Taejo jumped over the tree on the spot, got back on the horse that had come out from under the trunk, pursued the deer and shot it down. Yi Ji-ran said, "My lord is a genius; no human strength can follow you."
The Sunoji (旬五志) by the mid-Joseon scholar Hong Man-jong (洪萬宗) contains an anecdote about Yi Seong-gye: when a woman carrying a water jar on her head passed along the road, Yi Seong-gye first threw an iron ball and made a hole in the jar, and before the water could leak out, Yi Ji-ran threw a small ball of mud and plugged the hole. It is also said that Yi Ji-ran, who secretly harbored an intention to harm Yi Seong-gye, took advantage of a night when Yi Seong-gye went to the outhouse and shot arrows at him three times, thinking he had been killed by the arrows. However, Yi Seong-gye calmly finished his business in the outhouse, came out, and returned the arrows to Yi Ji-ran, after which Yi Ji-ran never again dared to oppose Yi Seong-gye rashly.
The History of Goryeo records that at the Battle of Hwangsan, when attacking the Wokou commander Ajabaldo, in the midst of the fierce fighting, Yi Ji-ran saw a Wokou soldier carrying a spear sneaking up on Yi Seong-gye, and he shouted in alarm, "Sir, look behind you!" repeatedly, but Yi Seong-gye did not hear him amid the fierce battle. Yi Ji-ran then shot and killed, with his own bow, the Wokou soldier who was trying to stab Yi Seong-gye. It is also said that to kill Ajabaldo, who wore armor all over his body, Yi Seong-gye first shot an arrow that struck the top of Ajabaldo's helmet and knocked it off, and in the gap created by the helmet being removed, Yi Ji-ran shot again and was able to kill Ajabaldo.
The Stele of Yi Ji-ran, erected in the 50th year of King Yeongjo (1774), records the circumstances under which Yi Ji-ran swore brotherhood with Yi Seong-gye as follows: During the Zhizheng era, when Yi Seong-gye attacked Go Gwang-seong (고광성), Yi Seong-gye's mother Choe (崔氏) dreamed of an old man who said, "There is a man skilled in archery at Gaegang (价江), who will assist the Hegemon-King (覇王)." When Yi Seong-gye went to Gaegang as the dream indicated, he found Tongdulan (Yi Ji-ran) hunting deer there. Yi Seong-gye, finding this strange, swore brotherhood with him and arranged a marriage between him and a niece of his wife, Lady Kang (康氏, Queen Sindeok).
The Stele of Yi Ji-ran also records an anecdote in which, when King U went hunting to the west and reached Daeryeong (大寧), he had the military officials shoot arrows at a target of two cun of white metal. Yi Seong-gye stepped forward and hit the target with one arrow, and King U was pleased, but Yi Ji-ran remarked, "Why do you show so much of your skill to others?" and gently criticized him, and Yi Seong-gye, repenting, admired Yi Ji-ran's wisdom even more.
He was a sixth cousin of Aisin Gioro Mentemu, who was posthumously honored as Emperor Yuan of the Qing dynasty's Ancestor Zhao (肇祖原皇帝) (Qing).
The Jangsugundo (將帥軍圖), a painting record of the moment when Yi Seong-gye, Shim Deok-bu, and Yi Ji-ran swore brotherhood and resolved to turn back just before the Wihwado Retreat, has newly been discovered.6
Ancestral Origin
On the "Mount Chu" (楚山) where the tiger howls and the dragon submerged in the Pei marsh (沛澤)/ spits clouds and creates wind, its momentum is so vast!/ The lonely deer of Qin does not know where to go...
A single sijo poem attributed to Yi Ji-ran survives in the Hwawon Akbo (花源樂譜), a late Joseon collection of sijo.2
Joseon Pyeongjeon "Stories of Naturalized Immigrants Who Became Part of Our History," by Shin Byeong-ju, Geulhangari (2011, pp. 441–448)
Naturalized Surnames That Changed Our History, "Yi Ji-ran, Jurchen (Cheonghae Yi clan)," by Park Gi-hyeon, Yeoksaui Achim (2007, pp. 94–104)
Dictionary of Korean Language and Literature Sources, "Yi Ji-ran (李之蘭)," co-authored by Lee Eung-baek, Kim Won-gyeong, Kim Seon-pung et al., Hanguk Sajeon Yeonguusa (1998 edition)
Archery of Joseon Seen from the 21st Century, "Joseon Period," by Lee Jung-hwa, translated by Kim Yi-su, Hankuk Academic Information (2010, pp. 235–253)
A Study on Yi Ji-ran, by Wang Yeong-il, doctoral dissertation, Korea University (2003)
Dictionary of Korean Language and Literature Sources, "Yi Ji-ran (李之蘭)," co-authored by Lee Eung-baek, Kim Won-gyeong, Kim Seon-pung et al., Hanguk Sajeon Yeonguusa (1998 edition); "Archery of Joseon Seen from the 21st Century," Joseon Period, by Lee Jung-hwa, translated by Kim Yi-su, Hankuk Academic Information (2010, pp. 235–253) ↩↩2↩3
The Stele of Yi Ji-ran, erected in the 50th year of King Yeongjo (1774), three hundred years after Yi Ji-ran's death, gives his name as Awon (雅遠). ↩
Yeollyeo Silgisul, vol. 2, "Old Affairs and Complete Accounts of the Taejo Period" (太祖朝 古事本末). ↩