인천 이씨(仁川 李氏) — A clan founded by Yi Heo-gyeom, Marquis of Soseong under King Hyeonjong, which became Goryeo's foremost in-law house when Yi Ja-yeon's three daughters all became consorts of Munjong. Also called the Gyeongwon, Inju or Soseong Yi.
A clan founded by Yi Heo-gyeom, Marquis of Soseong under King Hyeonjong, which became Goryeo's foremost in-law house when Yi Ja-yeon's three daughters all became consorts of Munjong. Also called the Gyeongwon, Inju or Soseong Yi. In the 2015 Census the 인천 이씨 clan numbered about 83,855 people, one of Korea's major surnames and clans. Even among people surnamed 이, a different clan seat (bon-gwan, 인천) means a different lineage. New to these terms? See the bon-gwan, pa & hangnyeol guide.
The Incheon Yi (仁川 李氏) take Incheon Metropolitan City as their ancestral seat. In records and clan materials they are also called the Gyeongwon Yi, Inju Yi or Soseong Yi. The Incheon area was originally Maesohol County, renamed Soseong in the reign of Silla's King Gyeongdeok and made Incheon County in 1413 under Taejong, so the names Soseong, Inju, Gyeongwon and Incheon were used for the same house in different periods. The 2015 census is reported to have counted 83,855 members (the original Statistics Korea table was not checked directly).
The clan holds that Heo Gi, a Silla envoy to Tang in the reign of King Gyeongdeok, accompanied Emperor Xuanzong in flight during the An Lushan rebellion and was granted the imperial surname Yi. Korean Wikipedia calls Heo Gi a twenty-third-generation descendant of Queen Heo of Gaya. The founder is Yi Heo-gyeom, called Heo Gi's tenth-generation descendant in one article and ninth in another, so the exact count is uncertain. Under Hyeonjong he became Marquis of Soseong with a fief of 1,500 households, and the three daughters of his daughter and Kim Eun-bu became Hyeonjong's consorts in 1022; their sons became Deokjong, Jeongjong and Munjong.
His grandson Yi Ja-yeon topped the 1024 examination and became Chancellor under Munjong, and his three daughters all became Munjong's consorts. As the line of kings continued through Queen Inye's sons Sunjong, Seonjong and Sukjong, the Incheon Yi became Goryeo's foremost in-law house; Korean Wikipedia credits it with ten queens and eighteen ministers. Its influence reached the Buddhist world too, with his son Sohyeon a royal preceptor and his maternal grandson Uicheon the National Preceptor Daegak.
Succession struggles divided the house. After Seonjong, Yi Ja-ui tried to enthrone Prince Hansan and was killed on Sukjong's side in 1095, while his cousin Yi Ja-gyeom, father-in-law of Yejong and Injong, wielded great power and rebelled in 1126, failing and ending in exile at Yeonggwang. By contrast Yi Ja-hyeon abandoned office to practise Seon on Mt. Cheongpyeong, and Yi Gong-su helped suppress the rebellion and retired as an honest chancellor. A power broker, a recluse and a loyal minister coming from one house is a distinctive feature of the clan's history.
In the military-rule era Yi In-ro left the Paehanjip, and in the Mongol period Yi Jang-yong carried through Wonjong's visit and led diplomacy with the Mongols. Early Joseon's Yi Mun-hwa (Gongdo-gong) is said to have been a chief scholar, Chief Censor and minister, and the Gongdo-gong branch descends from him. Under Sejong Yi Jing-ok opened the Six Forts with Kim Jong-seo but rose in arms after the 1453 coup and was killed, and his descendants are said to have had to hide their identity for a time. In the Imjin War Yi Hyu-bok served in the militia, and he later contributed to quelling Yi Gwal's rebellion and responding to the 1636 invasion.
Under Japanese rule Yi Gyeong-hui was active in the New People's Association, Uiyeoldan and Singanhoe and after liberation served as first vice-governor of North Gyeongsang and mayor of Daegu. His brother Yi Gang-hui is also said to have joined the independence movement.
Sijung-gong-pa, Gongdo-gong-pa, Ssangmyeongjae-pa, Chunggang-gong-pa
The Sijung-gong branch takes Yi Jak-sin (李作臣) as its founder. His dates and career were not confirmed in other sources here. Korean Wikipedia lists it among four main branches of the Incheon Yi. The name 'Sijung' seems related to the chancellor's post (munha sijung), but what office the founder held was not confirmed, so please consult the genealogy and clan association.
The Gongdo-gong branch takes Yi Mun-hwa (李文和, 1358-1414) as its founder. He is said to have served early Joseon as chief scholar, Chief Censor and minister, with the posthumous title Gongdo, and is known by the pen name Ocheon. Korean Wikipedia calls Yi Hyu-bok his eighth-generation and Yi Gyeong-hui his nineteenth-generation descendant, showing that figures from after the Imjin War to the colonial period came from this line.
The Ssangmyeongjae branch takes Yi In-ro (1152-1220), author of the Paehanjip, as its founder; the name comes from his pen name. He descends from Yi Ja-sang, a grandson of Yi Heo-gyeom and brother of Yi Ja-yeon, and belongs to the family of Chancellor Yi Gong-su. His sons are recorded as Yi Jeong, Yi Yang, Yi On, Yi Se-hwang and Yi A-dae.
The Chunggang-gong branch takes Yi Jing-ok (1399-1453) as its founder; the name is from his posthumous title Chung-gang. When he was killed after the 1453 coup his third son Yeon-won survived thanks to a nurse, hid near Gyeongju and continued the line, which is said to have re-emerged under King Sunjo. Korean Wikipedia says the descendants continue today as the Chung-gang-gong branch of the Incheon Yi.
Branch divisions vary by lineage and jokbo; confirm your own branch in your family's records.
이허겸(founding ancestor), 이자연(Chancellor under Munjong), 이자의(royal in-law of Seonjong), 이자겸(leader of the 1126 rebellion), 이자현(recluse Cheongpyeong Geosa), 이공수(Chancellor), 이인로(author of the Paehanjip), 이장용(Chancellor and Mongol-era diplomat), 이징옥(general who opened the Six Forts), 이휴복(merit subject in Yi Gwal's rebellion), 이경희(independence activist)
Tap a name for the full profile (life, career, grave, descendants).
인천 이씨 figures recognized as independence patriots (National Independence Hall / Gonghun public data). Tap a name for the citation.
Korean Wikipedia lists the branches as Sijung-gong (Yi Jak-sin), Gongdo-gong (Yi Mun-hwa), Ssangmyeongjae (Yi In-ro) and Chung-gang-gong (Yi Jing-ok). Many take their names from a founder's office, pen name or posthumous title; further subdivisions may exist in individual lineages, so please confirm the exact branch in the genealogy and with the clan association. Listed offshoot seats are the Yangsan Yi, Heungyang Yi and Yeongsan Yi, and there is a record that Yi Jing-ok's descendants briefly used seats such as Chosan or Chogye before reverting to Yangsan.
The tomb of Yi Heo-gyeom and the shrine Wonin-jae (Incheon Cultural Heritage Material No. 5) are in the Yeonsu-dong area of Incheon. The shrine was first set up in the early 19th century and moved and restored beside the tomb in 1994 because of housing development. In Jangheung, South Jeolla, Yeongseokjae is said to have been built by Incheon Yi descendants to honour Yi Seung (1556-1628) and is South Jeolla Cultural Heritage Material No. 69. Yi Gyeong-hui came from Mutae in Buk District, Daegu, Yi Jing-ok from Yangsan, and Yi Hyu-bok's family had ties to Haman. Yi Hyu-bok's Jinmu merit citation is said to be kept at Docheonjae.
Korean Wikipedia lists royal relatives of the clan, including Queen Inye and consorts Ingyeong and Injol of Munjong, the Lady Janggyeong of Sunjong, Queen Sasuk, Queen Jeongsin and the Lady Wonsin of Seonjong, Queens Gyeonghwa and Mungyeong of Yejong, and the Lady Yeondeok and Lady Bokchang of Injong. This lineage is cited as evidence that the clan was the most influential aristocratic house of mid-Goryeo.
The 2015 census is reported to have counted about 84,000 members (83,855), and the clan has an Incheon Yi Daejonghoe. The association's official website was not confirmed in this research; please search the portal for its name. Generation-name characters differ by branch and are not given here.
The Incheon Yi are often reduced to the Yi Ja-gyeom rebellion, but within one house many paths coexisted: the Yi Ja-yeon and Yi Ja-gyeom line at the peak of in-law power, Yi In-ro known for learning and poetry, Yi Ja-hyeon who abandoned office, the honest chancellor Yi Gong-su, Yi Jang-yong who protected the state through diplomacy, the Joseon-era officers Yi Jing-ok and Yi Hyu-bok, and the independence activist Yi Gyeong-hui. The glory and fall of Goryeo aristocracy, reorganisation into provincial gentry under Joseon and the anti-Japanese movement are all reflected in this single lineage. Please verify lineages with the genealogy.
The Heo Gi tradition before the founder rests on legend and genealogy, and sources disagree on whether Yi Heo-gyeom was ninth or tenth in descent. The exact dates and career of Yi Mun-hwa and the deeds of Sijung-gong branch founder Yi Jak-sin were not cross-checked in other sources. Individual chronologies rely on summaries from Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, so please check important matters against the Goryeosa, the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty and clan genealogies.
The 인천 이씨 clan association can be found in the Korean E-Jokbo Library clan-association directory.
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