[Korea Root] First Female Uibyeong Commander... Descendant of 'Haeju Yoon' Clan, Activist Yoon Hee-sun

Grew up as a noble family's daughter... Filial piety, upright character, and intelligence
Descendant of Yun Heepyeong, a merit subject of the Jungjong coup, married into the Goheung Yu clan

[Asia Economy Reporter Ra Young-cheol] Approximately 14,300 independence activists have been awarded medals and honors by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs. Among them, women account for only about 270, which is 1.8% of the total. Except for a very small number of female independence activists including Yu Gwan-sun, most remain shrouded in obscurity.

Many female independence activists mainly supported the independence movement by making military uniforms for the independence army and transporting military supplies.

They became the main actors in the independence movement themselves, believing that social status and gender distinctions did not matter in saving the country, coming from various positions such as students, teachers, merchants, farmers, and gisaeng (female entertainers).

In particular, Yoon Hee-sun (尹熙順, 1860?1935) was Korea’s first 'female militia leader.' She was raised and educated in a Confucian family that valued righteousness and had a naturally upright and intelligent character.

After marrying into the Hwaseo school Goheung Yu clan, which laid the foundation for the anti-Japanese militia and independence movement, she participated in anti-Japanese militia activities by assisting her father-in-law, Oedang (畏堂) Yu Hong-seok (柳弘錫, 1841?1913).

During the 1930s, when Japanese colonial rule reached its peak, she lost her father-in-law, husband, and even her son, and after 40 years of independence activism, she passed away in Manchuria, China.

As a woman, she played the role of an intellectual through reformist and innovative actions at the time, embodying the spirit of 'noblesse oblige.' We revisit the noble patriotism of Yoon Hee-sun, a patriotic martyr of the anti-Japanese militia struggle in the Chuncheon region of Gangwon Province. [Editor's note]

◈ Series order

① Descendant of the 'Haeju Yoon clan,' Patriot Yoon Hee-sun

② Scholar’s wife becomes the 'first female militia leader'

③ Militia leader Yoon Hee-sun continues 'anti-Japanese activities in Manchuria'

① Descendant of the 'Haeju Yoon clan,' Patriot Yoon Hee-sun

Statue of Doctor Yoon Hee-sun (Uiam Park, Chuncheon)

The 86th anniversary memorial wreath-laying ceremony honoring the first female militia leader, Patriot Yoon Hee-sun, was held on the 29th of last month in front of the Yoon Hee-sun statue at Uiam Park in Chuncheon.

This wreath-laying ceremony was the first memorial event held after relocating the Yoon Hee-sun statue from the Municipal Youth Library to Uiam Park in March.

The memorial included the recitation of the poem "The Torch of the Nation Even the Typhoon Revered," traditional Korean music performances such as "Ansa-ram Militia Song" and "Yu Gwan-sun Yeolsa," and memorial songs including "Chuncheon Militia Song Dundeori Arirang."

■ Born into the 'Haeju Yoon clan'

Haeju Yoon Clan Genealogy [Guri Cultural Center]

Next to Yonghwa Rock in Geombae Village, Sutaek-dong, Guri-si, Gyeonggi-do (at the edge of Geombae Neighborhood Park), about 50 meters inside from the roadside, stands a two-story detached house. The house appears large as there is no fence separating inside and outside.

According to the Guri Cultural Center, this site is the birthplace of Korea’s first 'female militia leader, Patriot Yoon Hee-sun,' dating back 161 years. Previously, her birthplace was known variously as Seoul, Chungju, and Chuncheon.

Jung Nam-seon, head of the Local History Research Institute at Guri Cultural Center, said in an interview with this paper, "During the 100th anniversary of the March 1st Movement by the Provisional Government, we investigated independence activists from Guri. Since the birthplace of Yoon Hee-sun was inconsistently recorded in various government publications including those by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, we conducted research and confirmed it to be Sutaek-dong, Guri-si."

At that time, the Hwangrak Mountain area in Sutaek-ri, Guri-myeon, Yangju-gun, was part of the ancestral burial grounds of the Haeju Yoon clan. Currently, in Guri-si, Yoon Hae-sik (80), a descendant of Yoon Hong-jin (adopted son of Yoon Ik-sang, 17th generation descendant of Yoon Hee-pyeong), who is a direct family member of Yoon Hee-sun, resides.

Yoon Hee-sun Doctor's Birthplace (Sutaek-dong, Guri-si, Gyeonggi) [Guri Cultural Center]

Yoon Hee-pyeong (尹熙平, 1469?1545), a meritorious subject of the reign of King Jungjong of Joseon and titled Haeyang-gun (海陽君), was granted the Hwangrak Mountain area as a royal fief. This area covers about 4 km around Sutaek-dong, Guri-si, and Donong-dong, Namyangju-si.

Patriot Yoon Hee-sun was born on the 13th day of the 3rd lunar month in 1860 in Sutaek-ri, Guji-myeon, Yangju-gun (currently 355 Sutaek-dong, Guri-si), as the eldest daughter among three sisters of Yoon Ik-sang (尹翼商, 1823?1878) and Lady Jang of Deoksu (德水 張氏). She was also a descendant of Yoon Hee-pyeong.

From a young age, she was intelligent, filial, upright in character, strict in speech and behavior, and grew up as a noblewoman with scholarly knowledge through early education.

Her father, Yoon Ik-sang, studied under Jungam Kim Pyeong-muk (重菴 金平默, 1819?1891) in Gyeonggi-do Gareung (now Gapyeong), and exchanged scholarly knowledge with Seongjae Yu Jung-gyo (省齋 柳重敎, 1832?1893).

Genealogy of the Haegju Yoon Clan: Records Related to Yoon Hee-pyeong of the Maritime Army [Guri Cultural Center]

Kang Dae-deok, director of the Yoon Hee-sun Memorial Project and a patriot, emphasized in an interview with this paper, "Yoon Hee-sun herself was a reformist and innovative figure for a woman at the time, raised in a modernized Confucian scholar family. She later embodied the role of an intellectual."

Through this connection, she also had a close relationship with Hwaseo Lee Hang-ro (華西 李恒老, 1792?1868) of the Goheung Yu clan (高興 柳氏), a scholar of the Hwaseo school.

The Haeju Yoon clan was a family that could socially and economically pursue scholarly studies and enjoyed a certain social status.

As a disciple of the Hwaseo school, natural marriages occurred with the Goheung Yu clan (高興 柳氏) Bu-hak-gong branch (副學公派), a family settled in Chuncheon.

■ Married into the 'Hwaseo school' Goheung Yu clan

Portrait of Yu Hong-seok from the maternal side (left in the photo) and portrait of activist Yoon Hee-soon [Yoon Hee-soon Memorial Association]

At age 16 in January 1875, Yoon Hee-sun married Yoon Je-won (柳濟遠, 1859?1915), the only son of the Goheung Yu clan living in Hwanggol, Balsan-ri, Nam-myeon, Chuncheon-si, Gangwon-do.

Her mother-in-law had already passed away, and her father-in-law, Oedang Yoon Hong-seok, was a scholar who studied under the three teachers Hwaseo Lee Hang-ro, Jungam Kim Pyeong-muk, and Seongjae Yu Jung-gyo.

The Hwaseo school advocated the 'Uijeong Cheoksa Theory,' which emphasized 'upholding what is right and eradicating what is evil' across all fields including politics, economy, society, education, and national defense.

Byeokgye Village in Nomun-ri, Seojong-myeon, Yangpyeong-gun, is the birthplace of the Hwaseo school and the origin of the 'Uijeong Cheoksa Movement' and the anti-Japanese militia movement in the central region.

In 1792, the 16th year of King Jeongjo’s reign, Lee Hang-ro was born in Byeokgye-ri, Yanggeun-gun (now Yangpyeong-gun). He named his pen name 'Hwaseo (華西)' because Byeokgye is located west of Cheonghwa Mountain.

The Hwaseo school, which uncompromisingly opposed Japanese imperialism in the late Joseon period, led the 'Uijeong Cheoksa Movement' and anti-Japanese militia movement. Its main base expanded widely around Byeokgye to Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Chungcheong, and Pyongan provinces. During the Japanese colonial period, it led anti-Japanese independence movements in Manchuria, the Shanghai Provisional Government, and the Liberation Army.

[Source=Guri Cultural Center]

Director Kang said, "My father (Yoon Ik-sang) was of the Hwaseo school, and my in-laws were also connected to Hwaseo, being disciples of Hwaseo Lee Hang-ro. Hwaseo taught not only men but also brought his two daughters to important meetings, believing that women could become scholars if they studied and researched."

The atmosphere in her marital home was tense, with strangers coming and going day and night in secret to raise militias out of concern for the country.

Even in a time when the nation's sovereignty was trampled by Japanese imperialism, Yoon Hee-sun was an intellectual who embodied the spirit of loyalty and filial piety as a daughter-in-law, wife, and mother of a scholar family.

When her father-in-law was about to depart for the militia war with Uiam Yoon In-seok, she pleaded to assist the militia, but was stopped by her father-in-law’s concern for the family and could not follow him.