Yi Sun-Shin and the Miraculous Victory on the Sea Breaking Barriers of the Imjin War
[Annotated Bibliography]
Sally Kim, Jasmine Kwon, Chaerin Park Senior Division Group Website Student Composed Words: 1197 Process Paper Words: 498 Media: 3 min 46 sec
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Annotated Bibliography
Primary Sources
Admiral Yi Sun-Sin: a Brief Overview of His Life and Achievements. Diamond Sutra Recitation Group, 2005.
This book provides an overview of the life of Yi Sun-Shin and his amazing war spirit
along with the tactics that led to his victories. This book gives a lot of information about
Yi Sun-Shin’s life itself without focusing too much on the wars so it helped us to
organize our website and conduct research on Yi Sun-Shin in general.
Deal, W.E. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. (Oxford University Press,
2007) Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan spans the beginning of the
Kamakura period in 1185 through the end of the Edo (Tokugawa) period in 1868, and
introduces the reader to the significant people and events-cultural, social, political, and
historical-and the everyday experiences and elements of material culture during this time.
This is one of the sources where the event of the Imjin War and Yi Sun-Shin are viewed
from the Japanese perspective, which provided us with information in different context
from that of the other Korean sources or modern day accounts.
Gilbert, Marc Jason. “Admiral Yi Sun-Shin, Turtle Ships, and Modern Asian History.”
Education about Asia, vol. 12, Association for Asian Studies., 2007, pp. 29–35.
The book Education about Asia is created and published by the Association for Asian Studies. The book includes a variety of information and sources, such as the articles on
all areas of Asia, essays describing classroom-tested educational programs and strategies, 2
a comprehensive guide to Asia-related print and digital resources, including movies,
documentaries, books, curriculum guides, and web resources, and thematic issues on
topics of particular interest and a special series on Asia in world history. From this book,
we have used the chapter that discusses Yi Sun-Shin, which provided us with useful
information about the impacts of his achievements and legacy in modern Asian History.
Hawley, Samuel Jay, 1960-. The Imjin War : Japan's Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and
Attempt to Conquer China. Seoul : Berkeley :Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch ;
Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 2005.
This is a book explaining the different events that happened during the Imjin War. This
book is very useful in a way that it shows the different situations in three different
countries: Korea, China and Japan. We used this book to find background information
about the Imjin War and the major events that happened in Korea, Japan and China.
Hitoshi, Nakano. “Concerning Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s Signed Letter Dated June 3 rd, 1593,”
Interaction and Transformations 1, 2003.
This book contains a number of cases in history where interactions between different
historical figures or groups have led to transformations in events that happened
throughout history. From this book, we have used the author Hitoshi Nakano’s analysis
of Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s letter to King Sonjo of the Chosun Dynasty, which demanded
the Chosun government to support Japan’s ambition of conquering China by opening the
path for the Japanese force. In viewing the Imjin War from different perspectives, this
source allowed us to have a better understanding of the invasion during the Imjin year in
the Japanese context and set a connection to that of the Korean context. 3
Hur, Nam-lin. Pacific Affairs, vol. 79, no. 4, 2006, pp. 695–697. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/40023802. Accessed 25 Jan. 2020.
This book, written by Nam-lin Hur, explains the Imjin War in detail. This book begins by
explaining the political and cultural background of Korea, Japan, and China. Then it
discusses the diplomatic breakdown that led to the war by describing major incidents and
battles from 1592 to 1598. Thus, by using this information from this book, we have
understood the background history of the Imjin War.
Jeon, Byeongho. Ah! The Battle of Myeongnyang: Admiral Yi's Miraculous Victory. Edited by JP Lee. Translated by Seojun Lee, Seojun Lee, 2016.
This book portrays the Battle of Myeong-ryang with 36 original poems from the Imjin
War with specialized illustrations. Taken from the original book, the poems in this book
are translated into English for foreign readers to easily understand. While there wasn’t
much contextual information provided from this book, this book was an interesting
source as it has taken the original tones of the quotes said by each individual during the
war, Yi Sun-Shin and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, for instance, and aligned them in a sequence
that well demonstrated the overall flow of the war. Moreover, we have also used the
illustrations from this book for our website.
Jho, Sung-do. Yi Sun-Shin: a National Hero of Korea. Choongmoo-Kong Society, 1984.
This is a book that discusses Yi Sun-Shin’s achievements and why he remains as the
greatest hero of Korea for hundreds of years. Since our topic is mainly about how Yi
Sun-Shin overcame various obstacles to win in all of his wars, this book was very useful 4
to find information about how Yi Sun-Shin was able to overcome his adversities.
Jo, Seong-do, et al. Admiral Yi Sun-Sin: a National Hero of Korea. Sinseowon, 2005.
In this book, the author provides a general overview of the life of Yi Sun-Shin and the
story behind the rise of Yi Sun-Shin as the greatest war hero in Korea’s history. During
our research, we found this book helpful in learning the general big picture of Yi
Sun-Shin’s life. Moreover, we also gained information about the various challenges and
obstacles that Admiral Yi faced throughout his life, not only during the combats but also
in his earlier life as an Admiral, which involved other political conflicts with the Chosun
government.
Kim, Jong-Dae. Admiral Yi Sun-Shin of Korea. Translated by Rhyu K Philip, 2018.
This book is a biography of Admiral Yi Sun-Shin and includes an in-depth study on his
leadership quality. Especially, the author of this book takes high regard for the Battle of
Myeong-ryang, and the significance of the strategies used during the battle in relation to
other naval battles in history. From this book, we have gathered important information
about the three major battles depicted on our website, the Hansando, Myeong-ryang, and
Noryang battles, which helped us organize and analyze the major content for those three
battles. Moreover, the author’s thorough interpretation of each battle was useful in
coming up with our own analyses of the battles.
Kim, Kichung. “Resistance, Abduction, and Survival: The Documentary Literature of the Imjin
War (1592-98),” Korean Culture, 1999. 5
This documentary portrays the outcomes of the Imjin War, more specifically the effects
of the Japanese invasions in Korea from the year 1592 to 1598. Unlike some of the
sources having more focus on the triumphant moments of the war, this documentary puts
more emphasis on the tragic moments, the casualties, sacrifices, and resistance met by the
victims of the war. While our project tends to focus more on the actual ‘breaking barriers’
moments of the war, this source was one example where we gathered a lot of information
about the brutal sides of the war to bring about the glorious victories depicted in the final
moments of the battles, which were what made those victories possible.
Kim, Tae-Chun. “Yi Sun-sin’s Fame in Japan, Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities”, 47
June. 1978.
This journal is one of the rare sources, by this, we mean among the available sources, that
depict the Imjin War and Yi Sun-Shin in Japan’s perspective. Since we haven’t got much
chance to take Japan’s points of view during our early research, this journal gave us
valuable information that helped us better understand the Imjin War in a more broad
context. Moreover, when reading this journal, it was quite surprising to know how Yi
Sun-Shin is widely regarded in Japan and its history, even more than how he is depicted
in Korea, and how he has been regarded as one of the influential historical figures in
Japan.
Kyung Moon Hwang. A History of Korea. (Palgrave MacMillan, 2010). This book is an account of concise, lively history of Korea, which explores the richness
of Korean civilization from the ancient era through to the jarring transformation that
resulted in two distinctive trajectories through the modern world. This new edition of a 6
successful text brings it up-to-date with the latest scholarship and developments in
Korea's history. This book helped us gain a better contextual understanding of the period
before and after the mid-Chosun Dynasty when the Imjin War took place.
Lee, Ki-Baik. A New History of Korea. (Harvard University Asia Center, 1984). Translated twice into Japanese and currently being translated into Chinese as well,
Ki-baik Lee’s work presents a new periodization of his country’s history, based on a
fresh analysis of the changing composition of the leadership elite. The book is
noteworthy, too, for its full and integrated discussion of major currents in Korea’s
cultural history. The translation, three years in preparation, has been done by specialists
in the field. For our project, this book was used as an additional study of the periods of
the mid-Chosun Dynasty to learn more about the changes in the courses of historical
trends and actions in Korea caused by the Imjin War.
Lee, Min-Woong, Naval history of Imjinwar, 2004 This book is written by the author Lee Min-Woong, who tells a detailed story of Yi
Sun-Shin’s naval battles during the Imjin War. From relatively minor battles not widely
known by people to those major battles, the Hansando, Myeongryang, and Noryang
battles, the author provides a thorough analysis of Yi Sun-Shin’s techniques and war
tactics. From his analyses, we were able to gather a lot of useful information about the
uniqueness and significance of those tactics and gain insight about the innovative nature
of Yi Sun-Shin’s naval battles.
Lee, Peter H. “The ‘Imjin Nok’, or the ‘Record of the Black Dragon Year’: An Introduction.” 7
Korean Studies, vol. 14, 1990, pp. 50–83. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23717863.
Written by Peter H.Lee, this book discusses the Imjin nok, which is the first tale inspired
by the Japanese invasions of Korea between 1592 and 1598. The author concentrates on
four versions of the tale, examining their differences in content, structure, and style. For
our project, our group used the information from the book to explain the three major
battles in the Imjin War.
Park, Eugene Y. “Military Examinations in Late Chosŏn: Elite Substratification and Non-Elite
Accommodation.” Korean Studies, vol. 25, no. 1, 2001, pp. 1–50. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23719470. This book was written by Eugene Y. Park and it provides a general overview of late
Choson. Through reading this book, the team was able to learn about the elite sub
stratification process. Though this book was not directly related to our topic, it helped the
team to build background knowledge of the society during the late Choson.
Pak Yun-hŭi, and Sun Shin. Yi. Admiral Yi Sun Shin and His Turtleboat Armada. Hanjin Publ.
Co., 1978.
This book provides a lot of information about the achievements of admiral Yi Sun Shin
as well as his famous boat called Turtleboat. We used this book to collect more
information about Yi Sun Shin’s war techniques and tactics that led to the victory of
Korea in the war against Japan. This book also helped us to get a lot of background
information about the situations of Korea during the Imjin War. 8
Park, Yune-hee. Admiral Yi Sun-Shin and His Turtleboat Armada: a Comprehensive Account of the Resistance of Korea to the 16th Century Japanese Invasion. Hanjin, 1978.
This book provides detailed accounts of the creation of the Turtle Ships and its
significance in turning the tides of the combats for the Korean navy during the Imjin War.
Throughout the chapters, the author goes over in detail of Admiral Yi’s initiatives behind
creating the ships, the methods used to create ships, the challenges faced during the
process, testing of the ships, and the actual usage of ships during the battles. While the
significance of the Turtle Ships is commonly associated with the Imjin War, the author
takes a step further in analyzing the true technical and symbolic roles the Turtle Ships
played, as well as the insight into the brilliance of Admiral Yi as the leader and war
strategist.
Russel, Jesse. Cohn, Ronald. Battle of Hansan Island. Book On-Demand, 2012. This book provides detailed information about the Battle of Hansan Island. Our website
has a specific category that discusses the Battle of Hansan Island so we used this book to
learn about what happened during the war and Yi Sun-Shin’s achievements.
Seth, M.J. A History of Korea. (Rocwman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010). In this comprehensive yet compact book, Michael J. Seth surveys Korean history from
Neolithic times to the present. He explores the origins and development of Korean society, politics, and its cultural heritage from their inception to the two Korean states of
today. Telling the remarkable story of the origins and evolution of a society that
borrowed and adopted from abroad, Seth describes how various tribal peoples in the 9
peninsula came together to form one of the world's most distinctive communities. From
this book, we learned more about the general political, social, economic, and cultural
backgrounds of the periods before, during, and after the Imjin War.
Shaw, Jeffrey M. IMJIN WAR 1592-1598: the Japanese Invasion of Korea. Helion & Co LTD,
2020.
This book is about what happened during the Imjin War and the overall between Korea
and Japan. We used this book to research the Imjin War and find background information
about the wars that Yi Sun-Shin participated in. This book helped us to learn about what
happened between Japan and Korea.
Swope, Kenneth M. A Dragons Head and a Serpents Tail: Ming China and the First Great East
Asian War, 1592 1598. University of Oklahoma Press, 2016.
This book was one of the main primary sources we used during our research. In this
book, the author Kenneth M. Swope pays special attention to battles, movement, war
strategy and tactics, weaponry, technology, and even different points of view. The author
not merely informs history but does a great work of storytelling. Swope provides
different perspectives of the Imjin War including the Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese.
Swope, Kenneth M. “PERSPECTIVES ON THE IMJIN WAR.” The Journal of Korean Studies,
vol. 12, no. 1, 2007, pp. 154–161. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41490237. Accessed 25
Jan. 2020.
This book was written by Kenneth M. Swope and it provides a general overview of the
Imjin war, as well as the detailed contents of the major events, contributors, and
aftermath of the war. In each chapter, the author categorizes the information in a way that 10
highlights the differences among the nations, groups, and people involved in the war.
And by using that information, our group organized the categories of information and
further elaborated on the evidence to support the ideas depicted in ‘Breaking Barriers’
sections.
Underwood, Horace Horton. Korean Boats and Ships. Yonsei University Press, 1979.
This book is written by Horace Horton Underwood, an authority on the Korean marine,
and is published in the year 1979. This rare book deals with Korean traditional ships and
boats, and it records in detail such things as conventional types of ships, structures,
shipmates, seas, and rituals, and customs related to ships. As part of them, the book
includes several chapters about the Korean battleships during the period before, during,
and after the Imjin War, which includes ‘Geobukseon (Turtle Ship)’ as well as
‘Panokseon’. From this book, we have gathered useful information about the Turtle
Ships, about the unique and brilliant nature of their designs and ship-fighting tactics that
Yi Sun-Shin came up with, which, the author emphasizes, was a key to a victory in Yi
Sun-Shin’s battles.
Woodford, John. “Imjin War Diaries are Memorial of Invasions for Koreans,” The University
Record (University of Michigan), February 22, 1999.
This source is a secondary interpretation of the events that happened during the Imjin
War, from the year 1592 to 1598, based on the first-hand written records from the war by
Yi Sun-Shin. The author of this source provides a thorough analysis and interpretation of
Yi Sun-Shin’s war diaries, the ‘Nanjun Ilgi (난중일기)’, analyzing the significance of the
courses of actions taken by Yi Sun-Shin and the relationships between one event to 11
another in leading and changing the tides and the overall outcomes of the war. In his
analysis, the author also puts heavy emphasis on the importance of the first-hand records
from the historical events, as it allows future generations to get more accurate and vivid
information and evidence of the events. Accordingly, in our project as well, we have
incorporated various first-hand and secondary interpretations of the Imjin War and Yi
Sun-Shin.
Yi, Kwang-Su. Admiral Yi-Sun Shin (Soon-Shin): the Legendary Turtle Ship War Hero. New Ampersand Publishing, 2017.
This book is about admiral Yi Sun-Shin in general and provides an overview of all the
wars that he participated in. Because our website is mainly about Yi Sun-Shin and his
wars, we had to find a lot of information about Yi Sun-Shin’s contributions along with
achievements in these wars and this book helped to get a lot of necessary information.
Yi, Sun-sin. Nanjung Ilgi: War Diary of Admiral Yi Sun-Sin. Edited by Pow-key Sohn.
Translated by Tae-Hung Ha, Yonsei University Press, 1995.
This book is the English version of the Nanjung Ilgi (난중일기), which recorded in detail
the Japanese Invasion of Korean from 1592 to 1598. To compare it with the Korean
version and for the convenience of gathering the direct quotes stated by Yi Sun-Shin in
English, we have used this particular English version of the original Nanjung Ilgi. Apart
from research, we enjoyed reading this book in general as the book aligns various
spectacles and interesting records through Yi Sun-Shin’s points of view during the war.
For the most, this source was a valuable source as it is one of the very few sources that
directly conveyed Yi Sun-Shin’s personal thoughts and feelings regarding the war, that 12
were not explicitly shown from the other records of the war.
Yi, Sun-sin, Tae H. Ha, and Chong-yŏng Yi. Imjin Changch'o: Admiral Yi Sun-Sin's Memorials
to Court., 1981. Print.
Imjin Changch'o (임진장초) is Admiral Yi’s seven reports that requested an order on
military service by reporting the progress of Japanese Invasion of Korea to the King of
the Chosun dynasty. This specific version of the Imjin Changch'o is a English-translated
version of the original book. During our research this book provided us with information
about the important progress of the war reported by Yi Sun-Shin.
Yu, Seong-Yong., Kim, Hong Sik. Jingbirok(징비록), Memory of disastrous war, 2003 The book ‘Jinbirok’ is a first-hand account of the Imjin War (1592-1598) written by high
ranking Chosun scholar-official Yu Seong-Yong, for the purpose of preventing such an
invasion from happening again. Accordingly, the book reflects on the past mistakes that
had potentially led to the war, and the critical record of the events that happened during
the war. Currently, the book has become an invaluable source in the study of war
conflicts and Chinese-Korean-Japanese relations.
이순신, 『난중일기』, 국립중앙도서관, 1592-1598.
Nanjung Ilgi (난중일기) is the first-hand record of the Imjin War (1592-1598) by Yi Sun-Shin. In consists of seven volumes of notes written almost daily from January 1592
through November 1598, until the days before Yi Sun-si was killed on the cusp of a
decisive victory in the last sea battle of the war. The diary is without equal in world
history as a commander's battlefield accounts. Written as a personal journal, it describes
in detail the daily combat situations, the admiral's personal views and feelings, 13
observations on the weather, topographical features of battlefields and the lives of
common people. The style is simple and elegant. This war diary has been widely used in
modern Western countries as well as in Korea to study the sea battles during the
seven-year war. This book also was a valuable source for our research as it provided a
rare, first-hand record of the war by Admiral Yi himself.
Secondary Sources
“Battle of Hansan Island.” Military Wiki, military.wikia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hansan_Island.
This is a website showing the process of the battle of Hansando by indicating specific
dates and locations on a map where the major events happened. This was a good website
that helped us understand the overall flow of the Battle of Hansando from what were the
major events that happened during the battle to where exactly those events happened.
“Battle of Hansan Island.” Military Wiki, military.wikia.org/wiki/BattGroomes, Chris. “Battle of
Hansan Island - Imjin War.” The Imjin War,
sites.google.com/site/imjinprojectuga/battles-and-Warfares/hansan.e_of_Hansan_Island.
This source specifically discusses the Battle of Hansan Island. It provides a brief
summary of the battle and it shows the breaking barriers of the Hansando Battle by
showing how the innovative battle was fought. Through reading this source, the team was
able to learn how the great victory at the Hansan-do made history turning the tide of the
war in Korea’s favor.
Cartwright, Mark. “The Japanese Invasion of Korea, 1592-8 CE.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 30 Jan. 2020, 14
www.ancient.eu/article/1398/the-japanese-invasion-of-korea-1592-8-ce/.
This article provides a general overview of the war and brief biographies of Yi Sun-Shin
and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Starting from the first invasion in 1592 to the end of the Imjin
War in 1598, it points out the major events and turning points throughout the war.
Moreover, it also discusses some of the consequences and aftermath of the war in Korea,
and how it set forth the continuation of the Chosun Dynasty.
“Chungmugong Yi Sun-Sin - Naval Battles - Four Greatest Battles in the World - The Battle of Hansando.” Chungmugong Yi Sun-Sin, yi-sunsin.gyeongnam.go.kr/english/02battle/03_03.jsp.
This is a source of the background story of Admiral Yi Sun-Shin and the battle of
Hansando. This website introduces the battle in detail including the leaders, Choson’s
preparation process, commanders, and even the aftermath of the battle. Through using
this information, our group used this source to support our ‘breaking barriers’ category of
the website in the Battle of Hansando.
“Chungmugong Yi Sun-Shin.” Chungmugong Yi Sun-Shin, www.gyeongnam.go.kr/yisunshin_eng/index.gyeong?menuCd=DOM_000010202005003
000.
This website is one of the official websites under the Korean government that manage the
memorials, museums, historical sites, and records regarding Yi Sun-Shin and his legacy.
From this website, we have gathered more detailed information about the background
history of the Imjin War, historical figures involved in the war, the turtle ships, and the 15
legacy of the war in Korea. We have also used some of the images from this website for
our website.
“Hansando Naval Battle.” Arirang Culture, YouTube, 7 Mar. 2017,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws0EZnDj4CY.
This documentary from Arirang Culture provides visual and auditory evidence of the
battle of Hansando. Since Arirang is a Korean program, this documentary shows Korean
perspectives of the battle. We used this documentary to consider different perspectives of
viewing the battle of Hansando. The visual sources helped our group to further
understand the documentary.
“Imjin War.” Korea Creative Content Academy,
www.culturecontent.com/content/contentView.do?content_id=cp052705420001.
This article discusses what happened during the Imjin War and the different events that
led to the victory of Korea. It also mentions the contribution of Yi Sun-Shin. We used
this article to do research on the events during the Imjin War and the different strategies
Yi Sun-Shin used to defeat the Japanese military.
Jaakkola, Eetu. “Yi Sun-Shin.” The MY HERO Project, myhero.com/yi-sun-shin.
This website does not provide detailed information about Yi Sun-Shin’s life nor the wars
that he participated in. However, it provides a brief description of what kind of hero Yi
Sun-Shin was and how he became the greatest historical figure in Korea. This article
helped us to get a brief idea of how we would organize our information and project in
general.
Joongang Ilbo “[Cover Story] The Name of Victory, Yi Sun-Shin, in the 3 Naval Battles.” 16
Joongang Ilbo, 16 Aug. 2014, news.joins.com/article/15554033.
This article introduces the different wars that Yi Sun-Shin participated and the war tactics
Yi Sun-Shin used to defeat the Japanese. This article was very useful because it does not
just introduce Yi Sun-Shin’s contributions but describes in detail about what exactly
happened during that war. This article helped us to understand the wars and what actually
happened.
Kim, Han-min, director. The Admiral: Roaring Currents. CJ Entertainment, 2014.
The Admiral: Roaring Currents, ‘명량’ in Korean, is a 2014 South Korean epic
action-war film based on the historical Battle of Myeong-ryang. For our website, we used
an image and a clip from this film to include multi-media sources and to support our
content in discussion of the Battle of Myeon-ryang.
Korea Herald. “`Imjin War` Meets a Western Perspective.” The Korea Herald, 6 Apr. 2010, www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20051109000013.
This article discusses the varying perspectives on the Imjin War, including the Korean,
Japanese, Chinese, and Western perspectives, as well as the secondary interpretation of
the book ‘The Imjin War’ by Samuel Hawley, which is also cited above. Throughout the
article, it incorporates the interpretations of Samuel Hawley on the Imjin War to discuss
the differences and similarities in the perspectives on the war and on Yi Sun-Shin shared
by different countries, especially Korea, Japan, and China, the stakeholders of the war.
From this source, we were able to gather more information about the different points of
view regarding our topic. 17
“Learn More Yi Sun-Sin.” Yi Sun-Sin World, www.yisunsinworld.com/.
This website is run by Yi Sun-Shin American Institute in the States, and provides a
variety of sources to study about Yi Sun-Shin. Since this website was created for the
English users mainly, we were able to gather more professional sources written in
English to help our research. Starting from documents, video lectures, to academic
research, we have used different kinds of sources from this website to gather useful
accounts of Yi Sun-Shin for our website.
Lee, Nae Won, and Joung Eun Lee. “Great Teachings of Yi Sun-sin.”
This document is part II of Yi Sun-sin educational series that begins with “A Brief Study
of Yi Sun-sin.”, written by the same authors. Continuing from the first document, from
this document, we learned more about the reputations of Yi Sun-Shin and interpretation
of the significance of his achievements during the Imjin War. For our website, we have
used some of those interpretations in discussing the major achievements made by Yi
Sun-Shin.
Lee, Nae Won., and Lee, Joung Eun. “A Brief Study of Yi Sun-sin.”
This document is the first part of Yi Sun-Shin educational series by the authors.
Throughout the document, the authors introduce and analyse Yi Sun-Shin, about his life,
his naval battles, and his legacy. From the well-organized information, we used this
document to organize our own content for the website and supplement some of the
information about the three battles discussed. 18
Niderost, Eric. “The Imjin War: The Japanese Invasion of Korea.” Warfare History Network, 5
Oct. 2015,
warfarehistorynetwork.com/2015/10/05/the-imjin-war-the-japanese-invasion-of-korea/.
This is a website about the background story of the Imjin War. It is not focused on a
specific area of the war but it provides an overview of how the war progressed. It also
talks about the Barriers of the war which is our theme involved in our topic. This source
helped us to understand the breaking barriers that the Koreans had to overcome to
achieve victory.
“Spirit of Korea _ Yi Sun-Shin(이순신).” YouTube, Arirang Culture, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw8p-D6kDAM&list=LLIHIgW3ie5euaelvssXUNRw&ind
ex=12&t=41s.
This short documentary is about the story of Yi Sun-Shin and his achievements. This
video provides a well-organized summary of the course of the battles in the Imjin War
and their outcomes in relation to Yi Sun-Shin. For our website, we have used part of this
documentary for our ‘Background History’ section as an introductory video of our topic.
Syeda, Seema. “Yi Sun-Sin: History's Greatest Admiral.” Military History Matters, 15 Apr.
2019, www.military-history.org/articles/yi-sun-sin-historys-greatest-admiral.htm.
This is an article that why Yi Sun-sin is one of the greatest admirals in history and his
achievements. Since our topic was mainly about Yi Sun-Sin, this article helped us find
background information about what kind of admiral Yi Sun-Sin was and what were the
factors that led to his victories. 19
“The East Asian War of 1592–98: International Perspectives-Introduction.” Taylor & Francis, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00094633.2019.1606646.
This journal discusses the international perspectives on the Imjin War, which is called the
Eastern Asia War of 1592-98 in the journal. This is one of the sources where we were
able to gather information about the different perspectives on the war and Yi Sun-Shin
from a more broad, international context, compare them with Korea’s and Japan’s
perspectives.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Yi Sun-Shin.” Encyclopædia Britannica,
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 12 Dec. 2019,
www.britannica.com/biography/Yi-Sun-shin.
This is an article that provides background information about Yi Sun-Shin. Although this
article does not talk about the wars or Yi Sun-Shin’s war tactics, it provides a lot of
information about his life in general. We used this article to do basic research on how Yi
Sun-Shin became part of the military and the wars that he participated in.
“The Imjin War.” The Imjin War, Yi Sun Sin: VANK, www.prkorea.com/yisunsin/imjin.htm.
This website organizes the information about the Imjin War and Yi Sun-Shin into
different sections. In one section, it discusses contributions of Yi Sun-Shin’s war
strategies and achievements to Korea and to the international community, where we have
learned more about the international reputation of Yi Sun-Shin. Moreover, from the
section where it discusses ‘the truth about Yi Sun-Shin’, we also learned more about
some of the more unknown facts about Yi Sun-Shin as an Admiral and as an individual. 20
“Yi Sun Shin.” Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0044900.
This website provides information about the overall life of Yi Sun Shin and how he
contributed in the wars between Korea and Japan. The article also discusses many of the
war tactics and strategies that Yi Sun Shin used. We could find a lot of information about
the background of Yi Sun Shin and his military efforts.
“Yi Sun Shin’s Leadership and Tactics in the Battle of Noryang - E-Journal 2018 ISSN
2465-809X(Online).” Korea Maritime Security Forum,
komsf.or.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=m45&wr_id=37.
This article discusses how Yi Sun-Shin’s leadership and tactics during the battle of
Noryang contributed to the victory of Korea against Japan. Our website has a specific
category for the battle of Noryang so we used this article to find information about what
happened during the war and the war tactics of Yi Sun-Shin.
“문화재청 현충사 관리소.” 현충사 관리소, hcs.cha.go.kr/cha/idx/SubIndex.do?mn=HCS.
This website is one of the official websites under the Korean government that manages
the memorials, museums, historical sites, and records regarding Yi Sun-Shin and his
legacy. From this website, we have gathered information about the life of Yi Sun-Shin
and other studies associated to Yi Sun-Shin. Moreover, we have also contacted with the
associate of this website and conducted an interview for a further research.
여수거북선사이버해전체험관, www.gbs.go.kr/main.html.
This website is an official Korean website that manages the hosting of ‘Geobukseon
(turtleship) Experience Center’. For the info session, this website provides detailed 21
information about the origins of the turtle ship, characteristics of the Korean battleships,
structures of the turtle ship, turtle ships’ role during the war and their legacy. The
information from this website was useful in building context for the discussion of turtle
ships in our website.
충무공 이순신, www.yisunshinusa.com/.
This website has various kinds of primary sources, such as paintings, images, first-hand
records, and secondary sources, such as documentary, research studies, experts’ analysis,
and journals, about Yi Sun-Shin and the Imjin War. From this website, we read several
journals written by the professors and experts on the Imjin War and Yi Sun-Shin to
gather information. Moreover, we have also contacted the head manager of this website
and conducted an interview for a further research.
Interviews
Lee, Chung Sun. "Interview with Chungsun Lee." Interview through email communication. 31
Jan. 2020.
Lee Chungsun is the Manager of the Hyeonchungsa Management Office, as well as the
Director of the Education Department in Chungmugong Yi Sun-Shin Memorial Museum.
From the interview, we asked him several questions regarding Yi Sun-Shin and the Imjin
War to help our research. “ I believe he is a great figure in that there were many difficult
situations during the seven years of the war, and he was able to overcome it.” From this 22
interview, we learned from the modern day expert’s view on Yi Sun-Shin to make further
analysis of our topic.
Lee, Nae Won. "Interview with Naewon Lee." Interview through email communication. 2 Feb.
2020.
Lee Nae Won is the true expert of Yi Sun-Shin, who has dedicated over 20 years to study
the life and history of Yi Sun-Shin. Throughout his career of studying Yi Sun-Shin and
Korean history, Director Lee served number of occupations and was honored for his
dedication: He is the Director of the U.S. Korean School Conference, founder of the U.S.
Yi Sun-Shin Education Headquarters, member of the Korean-American Educational
Researchers Association, and received commendation for meritorious service in education from Korea’s President, Education deputy Prime Minister, and Secretary of
State for Culture, Education, and Sports. “That is why I concluded that Yi Sun-Shin was ‘a saint with a sword - a man with a heart of a saint, but had to grab a weapon to defend
his nation.’” This interview was beneficial to our group because it provided insight on how significant figure Yi Sun-Shin was, not only in Korean history, but in international
naval warfare history.
Yuh, Leighanne. "Interview with Leighanne Yuh." Interview through email communication. 30
Jan. 2020.
Leighanne Yuh is the Professor of Korean History at Korea University and an Assistant
Professor, Associate Editor of The International Journal of Korean History. She was able
to provide us with information about the Imjin War and Yi Sun-Shin in a more modern
perspective that provided us with new insight on ways to view our topic. “I find the 23 contemporary focus on Yi in movies (e.g. 명량), books, and other media interesting given the current political situation and tensions with Japan.” She also recommended us several resources that helped us do further research on different perspectives regarding our topic.