충주 지씨(忠州 池氏) — It is regarded as the principal lineage of the Ji clan whose ancestral seat is Chungju.
It is regarded as the principal lineage of the Ji clan whose ancestral seat is Chungju. In the 2015 Census the 충주 지씨 clan numbered about 148,144 people, one of Korea's major surnames and clans. Even among people surnamed 지, a different clan seat (bon-gwan, 충주) means a different lineage. New to these terms? See the bon-gwan, pa & hangnyeol guide.
Chungui-gun-pa, Pangwan-gong-pa, Taehaksa-gong-pa
The Chungui-gun branch descends from Ji Yong-gi (池湧奇) of the 17th generation, and over 80 percent of the Chungju Ji clan is said to belong to it. Ji Yong-gi held offices such as minister of rites, deputy privy councillor and director of the Finance Commission in late Goryeo; in 1389 he was made chancellor (munha chanseongsa) and a restoration merit subject for helping enthrone King Gongyang, and was enfeoffed as Lord Chungui (忠義君).
His son Ji Yu-yong (池有容) served as magistrate of Uiju under King Sejong, his sixth-generation descendant Ji Dal-ha was an early-Joseon civil official, and his tenth-generation descendant Ji Gye-choe (池繼崔) was recorded as a merit subject for suppressing Yi Gwal's rebellion under King Injo.
The Pangwan-gong branch is described as descending from Ji Yun (池奫) of the 15th generation. He served as director of the Sunggyeong Office under King Gongmin and rose to chancellor and director of the Ministry of Revenue under King U.
His daughter became the wife of Grand Prince Jinan, eldest son of King Taejo of Joseon.
The Taehaksa-gong branch descends from Ji Yong-ha of the 17th generation and is one of the branches of the Chungju Ji clan.
Branch divisions vary by lineage and jokbo; confirm your own branch in your family's records.
지경(founder), 지종해(Earl of Chungwon), 지윤보(Goryeo general), 지윤(Goryeo chancellor), 지용수(Goryeo military commander), 지용기(founder of the Chungui-gun branch; restoration merit subject), 지유용(magistrate of Uiju under Sejong), 지정(provincial military commander under Danjong), 지성해(righteous army leader in the Imjin War), 지덕해(author of Noebonggip), 지여해(martyred in the Byeongja invasion), 지계최(Jinmu merit subject), 지석영(physician who spread smallpox vaccination), 지청천(independence fighter; Commander-in-Chief of the Korean Liberation Army), 지운영(calligrapher), 지복영(independence activist)
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The founder of the Chungju Ji clan (忠州 池氏) is Ji Gyeong (池鏡). Genealogies say he came from Hongnong in Song China, arrived in Goryeo as an envoy in 960 (11th year of King Gwangjong) and settled there, rising to Taebo Pyeongjangsa, though the official Goryeo histories contain no record of him. The Chungju seat is said to derive from his 6th-generation descendant Ji Jong-hae, who was enfeoffed as Earl of Chungwon in 1071.
The 2015 census counted about 148,144 members (about 118,211 in 2000). Clan villages are known in Yangju and Hwaseong (Gyeonggi), Hongcheon (Gangwon), Buyeo and Asan (South Chungcheong), Sunchang (North Jeolla) and Yeonggwang (South Jeolla). The clan divides into about 11 branches, and over 80 percent are said to belong to the Chungui-gun branch descending from Ji Yong-gi of the 17th generation.
In late Goryeo, figures such as Ji Gwang-su (said to have defended Chungju Fortress against the Mongols), the general Ji Yun-bo, Ji Yong-su (credited in repelling the Red Turbans) and Ji Yong-gi (who took part in the Wihwa Island withdrawal and the enthronement of King Gongyang) are remembered. Ji Yun of the Pangwan-gong line rose to chancellor under King U, and his daughters are said to have become the wife of Grand Prince Jinan, King Taejo's eldest son, and a consort of King Jeongjong.
In Joseon, Ji Yong-gi's son Ji Yu-yong served as magistrate of Uiju under King Sejong, and Ji Jeong, a provincial military commander under King Danjong, is said to have been killed in the Gyeyu coup. Later figures include Ji Seong-hae, who raised a righteous army in the Imjin War, Ji Deok-hae, a civil-examination graduate under King Injo, Ji Yeo-hae, who died in action during the Manchu invasions, and Ji Gye-choe, a merit subject for suppressing Yi Gwal's rebellion.
The physician Ji Seok-yeong (1855-1935), who spread smallpox vaccination and wrote Useu sinseol, is said to have been first principal of the government medical school. The independence fighter Ji Cheong-cheon (1888-1957) led the Korean Independence Army and the Korean Liberation Army, and after liberation served as a Constituent Assembly member and the first Minister without Portfolio; his eldest son Ji Dal-su and second daughter Ji Bok-yeong were also decorated as independence patriots. The calligrapher and photographer Ji Un-yeong also belonged to the clan.
The clan organization is the Chungju Ji Daejonghoe, which preserves the main-line (daejong) genealogy said to span about a thousand years.
Sources: public references such as Namuwiki and Wikipedia. Details of branches and generations may differ by lineage and genealogy.
For other branch associations, see the Korean E-Jokbo Library clan-association directory.
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