Yul-Gok - Chestnut Valley

38 Moves 5th Kup

Yul-Gok is the pseudonym of a great philosopher and scholar Yi I (1536-1584 AD) nicknamed the confucious of Korea.  The 38 movements refer to his birthplace on the 38th degree latitude and the diagram represents the scholar.

Yul Gok

Yi I (1536-1584, 31st year reign of King Chungjong - 17th year reign of King Sonjo)

Yi I was a famous scholar and statesman of the mid-Choson period. His ancestral home was in Toksu. His courtesy name was Suk-hon, His pen names were Yulgok and Sokdam. He was posthumously titled Munsong.

Yi I was born in the house of his maternal grandparents in North P'yongch'on, Kangnung, Kangwon Province, in 1536, the 31st year of the reign of King Chungjong. The house he was born in is called Ojukhon today.

He passed as many as nine state-administered examinations given to recruit ranking officials including the one he took at the age of 29.

Yulgok served as a government envoy to China in 1568, and in the following year urged for political reforms in a book titled "Tonghomundap". In 1574 at the age of 40, he compiled a book on the dualistic theory of Chu Hsi, and six years later, was appointed a government minister and also the vice director of the Royal Academy.

As the founder of "Kiho" school emphasizing the importance of "ki" (vital force or matter), he was the two most outstanding philosopher of Choson, together with Yi Hwang of the "Yongnam" School who emphasized the primacy of "i" (reason) as the fundamental factor in the existence of all the universe. He was the author of many books, and later "The Complete Works of Yulgok" was published.

Yulgok died at the age of 49 on January 15, 1584. His mortuary tablet was enshrined in the shrine of King Sonjo. Today, memorial rites are performed in Songdam and Tamwon of Kangnung.