"He killed with his own hands countless of them." Portrayal of Yi Sŏng-gye's Encounters with Waegu in the Yongbi'ŏchŏnga
Abstract
East Asia experienced climactic changes during the 14th century. Downfall of the Mongol empire and inner political turmoil in Japan (Nanboku-chō period) have created conditions for the rise of maritime piracy which has undermined peace and stability in the region.
Raids of Wägu 倭寇 pirates on the Korean peninsula started early in the 13th century, however, by the 1350s, their intensity rapidly increased. This period is often being called the golden era of Wägu.
Between years 1350 to 1391, there are 591 records in the History of Koryǒ (高麗史) of Wägu attacking Koryǒ s territory. They repeatedly attacked Japanese, Korean and Chinese coastlines and controlled the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago and the Korean peninsula.
Rise of Wägu became a serious international issue and unbearable problem for the Kingdom of Koryǒ which was already destabilized by conflicts on its northern border. Wägu were one of the causes of the kingdom's downfall.
The newly established kingdom of Chosŏn had to develop successful foreign policy and security measures to control this external thread. Given the military background of Chosŏn's founder Yi Sŏnggye 李成桂 (1335-1408) and his previous successful engagements with pirates, Chosǒn led several military campaigns against pirates and expedition to Tsushima island in 1396.
After 1409, Wägu became more focused on Chinese coastlines. For almost a decade pirates did not raid the Korean peninsula.
This changed in 1419, during the reign of King Sejong 世宗 (1397-1450), when another wave of pirate raids made its way to the peninsula. Wägu shifted their focus back on Chosŏn which consequently escalated another naval expedition to Tsushima.
After these events, Chosǒn took a different approach and started focusing on diplomatic and economic solutions. In this paper I intend to examine possible interpretation that during the King Sejong's administration, the notion of Yi Sŏnggye's successful military encounter with Wägu during the late Koryŏ, became important ideological element after the resurgence of Wägu attacks at the beginning of his reign.
The idea of the mythical founder-ruler who successfully fought foreign invaders became so important that it was canonized in the Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven (Yŏngbiŏchŏnga 龍飛御天歌) from 1445.