25uiyongdan Altar

This altar commemorates the loyal devotion of twenty-five righteous people who died fighting valiantly against Japanese invaders while defending Suyeongseong Fortress during the Japanese invasions of Korea. In 1592, the twenty-fifth year of King Seonjo's reign, when the invasions broke out, Bak Hong, then serving as Left Naval Commander of Gyeongsang Province, abandoned the fortress and fled. At this time twenty-five defending soldiers and townspeople gathered at Seonseobawi Rock outside the fortress gate, swore an oath in blood, and resisted the enemy on sea and land for seven years. This story became known in 1609, the first year of King Gwanghaegun's reign, through a petition from local residents. The Prefect of Dongnae, Yi An-nul, gathered these events into a record called the Jeongbangnok, and had the two characters "Uiyong" (義勇, "righteous and brave") written and posted on the doors of the twenty-five's houses to honour their memory. Under King Sunjo, the Prefect of Dongnae, O Han-won, exempted their descendants from labour-service duties and composed a piece of writing in their praise. In 1853, the fourth year of King Cheoljong, the Left Naval Commander of Gyeongsang, Jang In-sik, erected a stele naming the site "Uiyongdan," and established a shrine hall and altar, holding memorial rites twice a year — on the last day bearing the cyclical sign jeong in the third and ninth lunar months. The rites were originally overseen by the Left Naval Commander of Gyeongsang, but after the Left Naval Base was abolished in 1894, the thirty-first year of Emperor Gojong's reign, under administrative reform, the head of Suyeong-myeon took charge; and after a Japanese township head was appointed during the Japanese colonial period, the Suyeong Girohoe, an association of village elders, took over as host. Today the rite is held only on the last jeong day of the ninth lunar month, hosted by the Suyeong Historic Sites and Folklore Preservation Society and the Suyeong Hyanguhoe.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Suyeong-gu, Busan

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물