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The Priest Wonho's Memories of Admiral Yi
Admiral Yi Sun-Sin is arguably the greatest naval commander of
all time. He is Korea's ultimate hero, His Chinese allies praised him during the 1692-98 Imjin War, and after the Japanese,
his fierce enemies, admitted his greatness, too.
The Priest Wonho's Memories of Admiral Yi tells the tale of the greatest
warrior of his day as seen through the eyes of an always humble but ever-surprising Buddhist Priest. Through the Memories
of the Priest Wonho we see the whole Imjin War occur. In 1592 Japan invades, and most of Korea collapses. China comes
to help Korea, but slowly, arrogantly, almost as dangerous to have as an ally as it is to have Japan as a foe.
Yet one Korean triumphs.
From a forgotten corner of Korea this naval hero's ports have remained unconquered. The Japanese focused on conquering the
major cities of Korea, and on trying to capture the king. They could not have guessed what a mistake they had made until it
was too late.
Except they couldn't go home. Their leader, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the Taiko, would not let them. His ego did not allow
for them to return to Japan defeated. Indeed, in the first year of the war, 1592, the
Japanese had won on land against the Koreans as easily as in 1939 the WWII Germans beat up Poland.
However, at the hands of Admiral Yi they had also suffered four horrible naval defeats. Plus the Chinese armies had proved
tougher than the Korean land forces had, though in time the Koreans on land learned to fight well, too.
The samurai could no longer conquesr, but they could also not go home. So from 1593-1597 the Japanese sat in and around Pusan.
In those years they only won one big victory on land. This was on land at the second battle of Chinju.
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