Reviewing the Location of Place-name ‘gumi’ on Nanjungilgi (Diary of Yi Sun-shin) and Imjin Jangcho (Drafts of Imjin War Reports of Yi Sun-shin)

Abstract

In Nanjungilgi[亂中日記](Diary of Yi Sun-shin) and Imjin Jangcho[壬辰狀草](Drafts of Imjin War Reports of Yi Sun-shin), which record Yi Sun-shin’s achievement and the activities of the Joseon navy, four place names followed by ‘-gumi’ appear. The first is Imokgumi, a region where Yi Sun-shin was on the path of inspecting his territory just before the Imjin War, and the second is Hwajungumi, one of several regions where the Joseon navy fought just before the Battle of Busanpo. The third is Wondugumi, a region near Hansando Island where the headquarters of the Joseon navy was located during the Imjin War. And the fourth is Gunyeonggumi, a region where Yi Sun-shin was on the path of rebuilding the Joseon navy before the Battle of Myeongnyang. The review of the locations of these four places deserve serious study. However research on the four ‘gumi’ places has not yet been properly conducted. The purpose of this paper is to review the locations of the ‘gumi’ places in Nanjungilgi and Imjin Jangcho. As a result of examining various related historical records and research materials, the location of Imokgumi could be determined and the location of Hwajungumi could be estimated. As for Gunyeonggumi, it was reviewed whether the location estimated by the recently published related paper had the characteristics of the ‘gumi’ topography. It is difficult to find related materials that can identify the location of Wondugumi, so the review of this will be postponed to a later date.