Yeosu Iryangjanggunbangwaechukje Stele

The Stele for General Yi Ryang's Anti-Japanese Sea Wall was erected by later generations to commemorate the underwater sea wall that General Yi Ryang, who served as commander of the Jeolla Left Naval Headquarters, built to prevent Japanese pirate incursions. Yi Ryang (1446–1511), whose courtesy name was Jabang, was of the Hampyeong clan. In the third year of the reign of Yeonsangun (1497), when Japanese raiders invaded Heungyang in Jeolla-do, he was appointed manho (garrison commander) of Nokdo, where he won a decisive victory and killed many of the enemy. For this merit he was promoted to gaseondaebu, a junior second-grade court rank that qualified him as a dangsanggwan — a senior official entitled to attend court audiences — and at the same time was appointed commander of the Jeolla Left Naval Headquarters. There was a small island south of the Jeolla Left Naval Headquarters, and Yi Ryang carried out a major project to block the sea route between this island and Dolsando Island: piling rocks on the seabed to build an underwater fortification, so that no vessel — Japanese raiders included — could pass through. This underwater fortification came to be called "Janggunseong" (General's Fortress), or "Yi Ryang Janggun Bangwae Chukje" (General Yi Ryang's Anti-Japanese Sea Wall), and from this the island itself naturally came to be called Janggundo (General Island). The stele was first erected in the thirty-sixth year of King Sukjong's reign (1710) and repaired in the eleventh year of King Yeongjo's reign (1735). It commemorates the underwater stone sea wall built in the early Joseon period (1497) to defend against Japanese pirates, and it holds historical and academic value for what it reveals of the history of early Joseon coastal defence administration and the deeds of the people involved.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yeosu, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료