Sangju Imnan Bukcheon Battlefield

About this place

Sangju Imnan Bukcheon Battlefield is a sacred site of national defense where, during the Imjin War, the central and provincial armies of Joseon met the main force of the Japanese army in a pitched battle and some 900 men laid down their lives. In 1592, when the Japanese landed at Busan, about 60 men of Joseon's central army marched south to stop them. It was here that these men, together with some 800 able-bodied men mustered overnight by the Sangju magistrate Gwon Gil and by Bak Geol—about 900 in all—fought desperately against some 17,000 Japanese troops and perished to the last man. To honor their patriotic spirit, the Chungnyeolsa shrine was built, and the spirit tablets of the fallen—Yun Seom, Gwon Gil, Kim Jong-mu, Yi Gyeong-ryu, Bak Ho, Kim Jun-sin, Kim Il, Bak Geol, and the unnamed martyrs—were enshrined there. Originally, only a stele (sauibi) recording this remained in the Sangju area, but in 1990 a shrine and an exhibition hall were built and buildings that had belonged to the old Sangju government office were relocated here, turning the place into a park. There stand Taepyeongnu, which was the gate tower of the Sangju district office; Sangsangwan, the guest house used by envoys of the court; and Chimcheonjeong, a government pavilion that the Sangju magistrate Jeong Gon-su built outside the south gate of the Sangju town fortress in 1577 (the 10th year of King Seonjo) and named Yeondang, which scholars used as a place of rest and of literary composition. Every year on June 4 (solar calendar), a memorial rite is held to honor the spirits of these men, and the site serves as a living hall of history education for later generations.