경주 손씨 family tree

경주 손씨(慶州 孫氏) — A line of the Son clan that has its residential base in Yangdong Village, Gyeongju, and is said to have produced figures such as Son Jung-don.

About the 경주 손씨 clan

A line of the Son clan that has its residential base in Yangdong Village, Gyeongju, and is said to have produced figures such as Son Jung-don. In the 2015 Census the 경주 손씨 clan numbered about 68,486 people, one of Korea's major surnames and clans. Even among people surnamed 손, a different clan seat (bon-gwan, 경주) means a different lineage. New to these terms? See the bon-gwan, pa & hangnyeol guide.

Roots and History of the Gyeongju Son Clan

Founder and origin of the clan seat

The Gyeongju Son clan (慶州 孫氏), also called the Wolseong Son clan (月城 孫氏), takes present-day Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, as its ancestral seat. The Son surname traces back to Gurema (俱禮馬), chief of Musan-daesu village, one of the six villages of Jinhan recorded in the Samguk Yusa. The Dongguk Tonggam records that in AD 32 (the 9th year of King Yuri of Silla) Daesu-bu was renamed Moryang-bu and given the surname Son.

The clan honors Son Sun (孫順), a filial son of King Heungdeok's reign in Silla, as its founder. Several Son clans, including those of Miryang and Pyeonghae, also honor him. According to the "Son Sun Buries His Child" story in the Samguk Yusa, Son Sun and his wife were poor. They were about to bury their young son so that they could feed Son Sun's aged mother, and while digging they found a stone bell. When King Heungdeok heard of this, he rewarded their filial piety with a house and grain. Son Sun is said to have turned his old house into a temple named Honghyosa (弘孝寺). Genealogies say that his descendants divided into the Gyeongju, Miryang, Pyeonghae and other lines, and that his grandson was enfeoffed as Lord of Wolseong (月城君). His descendants are said to have adopted Gyeongju as their seat from that time.

The lineage before the late Goryeo period is not documented. The genealogy therefore counts Son Gyeong-won (孫敬源), who served as Panmiljiksasa (判密直司事) in late Goryeo, as the first generation. In the Joseon period, 21 clan members are counted as passing the civil service examination.

The course of the clan

The clan rose to prominence in early Joseon. Son So (孫昭), son of Son Sa-seong (孫士晟), married a daughter of Ryu Bok-ha (柳復河) of the Pungdeok Ryu clan in 1457. He moved to his in-laws' village of Yangdong (良洞) in Gyeongju as his father-in-law's heir and became the village's first settler of the clan. Son So passed the civil service examination in 1459. In 1467 he helped put down Yi Si-ae's rebellion and was named a second-rank merit subject. His second son, Son Jung-don, later became renowned as an incorruptible official, and Yangdong became the clan's main home.

The Yeogang Yi family of Hoejae Yi Eon-jeok (李彦迪) also settled in Yangdong. Yi was Son So's maternal grandson and studied under Son Jung-don. For centuries the two families jointly ran the village compact and intermarried, so Yangdong is also called "the village of maternal grandsons." Within Yangdong the Son clan divided into several lines. The best known are the main line (jongpa) of the Seobaekdang head house, the Anrakdang-pa descended from Son Jung-don's second son Son Yeong, the Suunjeong-pa centered on the Suunjeong pavilion, and the Nakseondang-pa of Son Jong-ro, who died fighting in the Qing invasion of 1636. Many other branches are also recorded, including the Seokdang-gong, Saho, Mangjae-gong, Yugok-gong, Eoeun-gong, Yeongcheon Saengwon-gong and Sunheung lines.

Descendants lived mainly in Gangdong-myeon, Gyeongju, where Yangdong lies, and in nearby Angang-eup and Naenam-myeon. Clan villages also grew up in Sunheung (Yeongju), Yongmun (Yecheon), Sangju, Mungyeong, Uiseong, Gunwi, Ulju (Ulsan), Gijang (Busan), Hanam, Gwangju and Pocheon in Gyeonggi Province, and Buyeo in South Chungcheong Province.

Notable figures

• Son Gyeong-won (孫敬源) — Panmiljiksasa in late Goryeo and the first generation of the clan's documented lineage.
• Son So (孫昭, 1433-1484) — Courtesy name Iljang, pen name Songjae, posthumous title Yangmin. He passed the civil service examination in 1459 and became a second-rank merit subject for suppressing Yi Si-ae's rebellion. He was enfeoffed as Lord of Gyerim (雞林君), written Gyecheon in some sources. As magistrate of Seongju he was praised for relieving famine victims. His portrait, painted in 1476, is a designated Treasure.
• Son Jung-don (孫仲暾, 1463-1529) — Pen name Ujae, posthumous title Gyeongjeol. A disciple of Kim Jong-jik, he passed the civil service examination in 1489. He served three times as royal secretary and four times as inspector-general, and was governor of Gyeongsang, Jeolla, Chungcheong and Hamgyeong provinces. He rose to minister of works and of personnel and to second state councillor. Under King Jungjong he was selected as an incorruptible official.
• Son Yeong (孫暎, 1507-1569) — Son Jung-don's second son, pen name Anrakdang. He founded the Anrakdang-pa and set up a study hall called Anrakdang in Angye-ri, Gyeongju.
• Son Jong-ro (孫宗老, 1598-1636) — Pen name Nakseondang, a great-great-grandson of Son Jung-don. He passed the military examination, served as magistrate of Nampo, and died at the Battle of Ssangnyeong during the 1636 Qing invasion. A shrine to his loyalty stands below Gwangajeong in Yangdong.
• Son Jae-seok (1931-2016) — Political scientist. He was dean of the College of Social Sciences at Seoul National University and served as the 27th Minister of Education (1985-1987). He was also the first president of Uiduk University.
• Son Bong-ho (孫鳳鎬, 1937-) — Philosopher and civic activist. He was a professor at Seoul National University and president of Dongduk Women's University, and in 1987 he founded the Christian Ethics Movement of Korea.
• Son Bong-suk (1944-) — Political scientist and politician. She chaired the Korean Institute for Women and Politics, served on the National Election Commission, and was a member of the 17th National Assembly.

Clan villages and heritage sites

Yangdong Village in Gyeongju (Yangdong-ri, Gangdong-myeon) is a clan village that the Gyeongju Son and Yeogang Yi families built together over some 500 years. It was designated a National Folklore Cultural Heritage in 1984. In 2010 it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with Hahoe Village in Andong, as "Historic Villages of Korea: Hahoe and Yangdong."

• Seobaekdang (書百堂, Songcheom head house) — The clan's head house, built by Son So and a National Folklore Cultural Heritage. Son Jung-don and Yi Eon-jeok were both born here. A geomantic legend calls it the site where three sages would be born, with one more still to come. Sources differ slightly on when it was built.
• Gwangajeong (觀稼亭) — The house Son Jung-don built at the village entrance around 1514 when he set up his own household. It is a designated Treasure.
• Nakseondang House and Suunjeong Pavilion — The house is said to date from about 1540 and the pavilion from about 1582. Both are National Folklore Cultural Heritage.
• Donggang Seowon (東江書院) — A Confucian academy founded in 1695 in Gangdong-myeon, Gyeongju, to honor Son Jung-don. It was demolished under the 1868 academy-closure order and later restored. Son Jung-don is also enshrined at Soksu Seowon in Sangju.
• Site of Son Sun's house in Gyeongju — Son Sun's former house site in Sohyeon-ri, Hyeongok-myeon, Gyeongju, designated a North Gyeongsang Provincial Monument.
• Son So's inheritance documents (分財記) — Property-division records of the Son family covering several generations from Son Sa-seong onward. They are a designated heritage item of North Gyeongsang Province and show early Joseon inheritance customs.

Branch lines and genealogies may differ by family and by jokbo, so please check your own family's jokbo.

Main branches (派)

Jongpa (main line), Nakseondang-pa, Suunjeong-pa, Anrakdang-pa

Branch divisions vary by lineage and jokbo; confirm your own branch in your family's records.

Notable figures

손경원(late-Goryeo official and first-generation ancestor), 손소(merit subject and first settler of Yangdong Village), 손중돈(incorruptible official and minister of personnel), 손영(founder of the Anrakdang-pa), 손종로(died at the Battle of Ssangnyeong in 1636), 손제석(27th Minister of Education), 손봉호(philosopher and founder of the Christian Ethics Movement), 손봉숙(member of the 17th National Assembly)

Tap a name for the full profile (life, career, grave, descendants).

How to build your 경주 손씨 tree

1. Start with yourself — sign in to get your own tree. Enter your name, birth year and clan seat (경주).
2. Add older generations — add parents and grandparents. For accuracy see tracing ancestors with jejeok records (usually to about 5 generations).
3. Link siblings & children — sort by generational name (hangnyeol) to see each generation at a glance.
4. Export & share — save the finished tree as a PDF and invite family to manage it together.

Related reading

경주 손씨 clan association

The 경주 손씨 clan association can be found in the Korean E-Jokbo Library clan-association directory.