진주 강씨(晉州 姜氏) — The representative ancestral seat of the Kang surname, said to take as its founder the celebrated Goguryeo general Kang I-sik.
The representative ancestral seat of the Kang surname, said to take as its founder the celebrated Goguryeo general Kang I-sik. In the 2015 Census the 진주 강씨 clan numbered about 968,109 people, one of Korea's major surnames and clans. Even among people surnamed 강, a different clan seat (bon-gwan, 진주) means a different lineage. New to these terms? See the bon-gwan, pa & hangnyeol guide.
Baksagong-pa (main branch), Eunyeolgong-pa, Inheongong-pa, Sueungong-pa, Sogamgong-pa, Sijunggong-pa
Branch divisions vary by lineage and jokbo; confirm your own branch in your family's records.
강이식(traditional founder; Goguryeo general), 강민첨(celebrated Goryeo general), 강항(Joseon scholar; Sueun), 강희안·강희맹(Joseon civil-official brothers), 강세황(Joseon literati painter)
Tap a name for the full profile (life, career, grave, descendants).
진주 강씨 figures recognized as independence patriots (National Independence Hall / Gonghun public data). Tap a name for the citation.
진주 강씨 figures listed by the Presidential Committee or the Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators (Minjok Munje Institute).
The Jinju Kang clan takes as its founder General Kang I-sik (姜以式), said to have served as Commander-in-Chief of the Army (兵馬都元帥) during the reign of King Yeongyang of Goguryeo. However, Kang I-sik does not appear in official histories such as the Samguk Sagi and is recorded only in Sin Chae-ho's Joseon Sanggosa and in the Jinju Kang genealogy, so his historical existence is disputed. His portrait and spirit tablet are enshrined at Bongsansa Shrine (鳳山祠) in Sangbong-dong, Jinju.
The Kang clan's settlement in Jinju is said to date from Kang Jin (姜縉), who placed first in the state examination after the fall of Goguryeo, served as Taejungdaebu Pannaeuiryeong (太中大夫判內議令), and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Jinyang (晉陽侯). From this time the ancestral seat became Jinju (晉州).
The Jinju Kang genealogy traces its roots to Jiang Ziya (姜太公), a founding minister of China's Zhou dynasty, and further back to the Yan Emperor Shennong (炎帝神農氏), one of the Three Sovereigns. According to tradition, Shennong grew up by the Jiang River (姜水) and took the surname Kang (姜) from that place name; this Kang surname later branched into many lines, and the Korean Jinju Kang clan is said to be rooted in the Yin (殷) dynasty line. To this day the Jinju Kang clan takes part, together with descendants of Jiang Ziya, in the so-called 'Qi Culture Festival' in Linzi District, Zibo, Shandong Province, China, an event also joined by the Go (高), No (盧), Yeo (呂), Jeong (丁), and Gu (丘) surnames said to have branched from the Kang.
The above is clan and genealogical tradition, difficult to cross-verify against documentary historical sources.
The Jinju Kang clan divides broadly into several branches.
Branch divisions and lineages vary by clan and genealogy, so confirm your own family's branch in the genealogy you hold.
The 진주 강씨 clan association can be found in the Korean E-Jokbo Library clan-association directory.
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