광산 김씨(光山 金氏) — A surname said to descend from the Silla prince Kim Heung-gwang and to have settled in Damyang, Jeolla Province.
A surname said to descend from the Silla prince Kim Heung-gwang and to have settled in Damyang, Jeolla Province. In the 2015 Census the 광산 김씨 clan numbered about 926,316 people, one of Korea's major surnames and clans. Even among people surnamed 김, a different clan seat (bon-gwan, 광산) means a different lineage. New to these terms? See the bon-gwan, pa & hangnyeol guide.
Munjeonggong-pa, Munsukgong-pa, Yangan-gong-pa, Nangjanggong-pa, Gwangjeolgong-pa
Branch divisions vary by lineage and jokbo; confirm your own branch in your family's records.
김흥광(founder of the Gwangsan Kim clan), 김장생(great master of ritual studies), 김집(ritual-studies scholar; enshrined in the Confucian shrine), 김만중(author of Guunmong), 인경왕후(consort of King Sukjong)
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광산 김씨 figures recognized as independence patriots (National Independence Hall / Gonghun public data). Tap a name for the citation.
The Gwangsan Kim clan (光山 金氏) has its ancestral home in the area of Gwangju Metropolitan City (former Gwangsan) and Pyeongjang-ri, Daejeon-myeon, Damyang County. Its founder Kim Heung-gwang (金興光) is said to be a descendant of the Silla royal house, though which king's prince he was differs among sources and is not stated with certainty. At the end of Unified Silla he left Gyeongju and lived in seclusion at Seoil-dong in Mujinju; when his grandson Kim Gil became a founding merit subject of Goryeo, Taejo enfeoffed Kim Heung-gwang as Gwangsan Buwongun, so that Gwangsan became the ancestral seat. Because eight Pyeongjangsa arose among his descendants, their home village was called Pyeongjang-dong.
In Joseon it produced Kim Jang-saeng and his son Kim Jip, father and son among the Eighteen Sages of the East enshrined in the Confucian shrine; Kim Jip was also enshrined in the Royal Ancestral Shrine and was called 'guk-ban.' Kim Jang-saeng's great-grandsons, the brothers Kim Man-gi and Kim Man-jung, were active in the reigns of Hyeonjong and Sukjong, and Kim Man-gi's daughter became Queen Ingyeong, Sukjong's principal consort. A distinguished house that produced 5 State Councillors, 8 Daejehak, and 1 queen, it ranks 3rd among Kim ancestral seats by population, after Gimhae and Gyeongju.
The Gwangsan Kim clan divides broadly into five branches: Munjeonggong-pa, Munsukgong-pa, Yangan-gong-pa, Nangjanggong-pa, and Gwangjeolgong-pa. Besides these there are numerous middle, minor, and sub-branches, such as the Mungyeonggong-pa whose founder was Kim Jip. (The line formerly called Saonjikjanggong-pa is today called Gwangjeolgong-pa.)
Generational names and counts have at times been adjusted through clan reorganization.
For other branch associations, see the Korean E-Jokbo Library clan-association directory.
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