Busan Garrison Fort

Busanjin was established in 1407, the seventh year of King Taejong of Joseon, as the naval headquarters of Gyeongsangjwa-do, the region east of the Nakdonggang River, and together with eleven subordinate naval garrison forts under its command it was responsible for defending the south-eastern coast. At the time, naval troops were in principle stationed aboard ships at sea. However, in 1490, the twenty-first year of King Seongjong, Busanjinseong (the old Busanjin fortress), with a circumference of 2,026 cheok, was built at the foot of Jeungsan Hill as a mooring place for warships and to protect naval personnel and supplies. In the first battle of the Imjin War, in 1592, the twenty-fifth year of King Seonjo, the garrison commander of Busanjin, Jeong Bal, together with his soldiers and the local people, fought to the end, but Busanjinseong ultimately fell. The Japanese general Mori Terumoto then demolished Busanjinseong and built the main fortress, Jeungsan Waeseong, a Japanese-style fortress, on the summit of Jeungsan. He also built an auxiliary fort on the coast to the south-east to defend the main fortress: Jaseongdae Waeseong, a jiseong, that is, a supplementary fortress built outside the original fortress. After the Imjin War ended, in 1607, the fortieth year of King Seonjo, the Joseon navy moved its garrison to Jaseongdae Waeseong and used it as the Busanjin Cheomsayeong, the garrison command post. At that time Busanjinseong had a circumference of 1,791 bo 4 cheok (about 2.4 km), with 483 sections of yeocheop, a parapet wall built along the top of the fortress wall, and gate towers, tall structures built above the gates, on its east, west, south and north sides, called respectively Jindongmun, Geumnugwan, Jinnammun and Gujangnu. At the summit within the fortress, the Mangongdan altar was built in memory of the Ming Chinese general Wan Shide, who had fought in the Imjin War; in the outer fortress area to the north-west stood Gongjingwan, a guest house, and its ancillary buildings, while in the inner fortress area to the south-east stood government offices and other ancillary buildings. During the Japanese colonial period the fortress was demolished under an urban redevelopment plan, and its original appearance almost entirely disappeared; in 1974, restoration work on Busanjinseong rebuilt the east gate, Jindongmun (formerly Geonchunmun), the west gate, Geumnugwan, and the command post, Seunggajeong (formerly Jinnamdae). Today, within Busanjinseong Park, there remain the Japanese-style fortress wall then known as Jaseongdae, the command post Seunggajeong, and the stele erected by the descendants of the Ming Chinese general Cheon Man-ri, who fought in the Imjin War, in memory of their ancestor of the Yeongyang Cheon clan. To the west of the east gate stands a stele pavilion preserved in honour of General Choe Yeong, who distinguished himself in suppressing Japanese pirates at the end of Goryeo. Busanjinseong preserves five hundred years of the history of the Joseon navy, and is also highly valuable as a subject of research into the Japanese-style fortress built during the Imjin War and into the naval garrison fortress of the late Joseon period that later made use of it.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Dong-gu, Busan

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물