‘General Gwak Jae-woo’ First Uprising Reenactment
United by the Spirit of the Uibyeong
Uiryeong-gun, Gyeongnam, held the ‘Uibyeong Departure Ceremony.’ It was the first event held under the new name ‘Uiryeong Honguijanggun Festival.’
On the 12th, at the ‘Uibyeong Tower,’ a symbol of the righteous army, the day of April 22, 1592, when General Gwak Jae-woo of Mangudang first raised the righteous army during the Imjin War, was reenacted.
Uiryeong-gun held the 'Uibyeong Departure Ceremony' at the Uibyeong Tower, the sacred site of the righteous army.
Uiryeong-gun, which made ‘Uibyeong Day’ a national commemorative day, renamed the festival that had been held for nearly half a century from ‘Uibyeong Festival’ to ‘Uiryeong Honguijanggun Festival’ and planned the ‘Uibyeong Departure Ceremony’ to spread the ‘value of the righteous army’ throughout the country.
Oh Tae-wan, chairman of the Uibyeong Memorial Association and mayor of Uiryeong-gun, read the Uibyeong departure proclamation and said, “Uiryeong is the place where the noble value of sacrifice for the country and neighbors began, from General Gwak Jae-woo and the 17 generals to the nameless righteous soldiers.” He added, “Now, our Uiryeong aims to embrace the ‘spirit of the righteous army’ as the spirit of the times and talk about the righteous army again.”
He also said, “The spirit of sacrifice that stood firm in the face of crisis and the spirit of unity and harmony of the righteous army, who embraced everyone for the goal of ‘justice and community,’ are needed by us today as well,” and “I dream of a Uiryeong-gun united by the spirit of the righteous army and a united Republic of Korea.”
Following this, Mayor Oh recreated the sound of the large drum of ‘Hyeongo,’ which was used to gather the righteous army, and about 200 residents marched with torches to the Uibyeong Bridge after shouting three cheers for victory. There was also a dove balloon release performance praying for peace in the Republic of Korea.
At the event, inspired by the fact that General Gwak Jae-woo always wore red clothes and led the vanguard when fighting the enemy, residents wore ‘red’ clothes to honor the Honguijanggun (Red-clad General).
Uiryeong-gun designated ‘red’ as the county’s symbolic color with the meaning of courageously starting anew like the Honguijanggun, filling various parts of the region with the majestic spirit of the Honguijanggun.
The ‘Uiryeong Honguijanggun Festival’ will be held for four days from the 20th to the 23rd at Seodong Life Park in Uiryeong.
The festival will warmly welcome tourists with various and colorful programs in historic Uiryeong, where the ‘spirit of the righteous army’ lives on, including a creative thematic performance that reexamines the lives and struggles of nameless righteous soldiers, ▲‘The Day of Victory, the Shout of the Righteous Army’ rising in the night sky ▲a ‘Drone Multi Show’ expressing vivid colors ▲‘Uibyeong Training Center’ to encourage courage in children, the future righteous soldiers ▲and the ‘Uiryeong Large Rope Pulling,’ a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage and a Guinness World Record event reenacted after six years.
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