연안 차씨(延安 車氏) — It is regarded as the principal lineage of the Cha clan whose ancestral seat is Yeonan.
It is regarded as the principal lineage of the Cha clan whose ancestral seat is Yeonan. In the 2015 Census the 연안 차씨 clan numbered about 184,731 people, one of Korea's major surnames and clans. Even among people surnamed 차, a different clan seat (bon-gwan, 연안) means a different lineage. New to these terms? See the bon-gwan, pa & hangnyeol guide.
Munhak-gong-pa, Jeonseo-gong-pa, Songnimbaek-gong-pa, Wolpa-gong-pa, Munjeol-gong-pa, Gangnyeol-gong-pa, Osan-gong-pa
The Munhak-gong branch descends from Cha Su-dong (車壽童). The Yeonan Cha clan divided among the descendants of Cha Song-u (車松祐), 16th-generation descendant of the founder, into four branches: Munhak-gong, Jeonseo-gong, Wolpa-gong and Songnimbaek-gong.
The Jeonseo-gong branch descends from Cha Myeong-dong (車命童). It is one of the four Yeonan Cha branches that split among the descendants of Cha Song-u, and the Seongju local encyclopedia lists it with the Munhak-gong, Wolpa-gong, Sangjanggun-gong and Songnimbaek-gong branches as a main branch.
The Songnimbaek-gong branch descends from Cha Deok-gyu (車德珪). It is one of the four Yeonan Cha branches that split among the descendants of Cha Song-u.
The Wolpa-gong branch descends from Cha Jong-ro (車宗老). It is the core of the four Yeonan Cha branches and divides further into seventeen sub-branches. The late-Goryeo scholar Cha Won-bu (車原頫) is said to have been Cha Jong-ro's third son.
The Munjeol-gong branch descends from Cha Won-bu (車原頫), a Neo-Confucian scholar of late Goryeo, ranked with Yi Saek and Jeong Mong-ju as an eminent scholar, who withdrew to Suunam-dong in Pyeongsan as politics grew turbulent. According to the Cha Won-bu Seolwongi, he tried to dissuade Yi Seong-gye from overthrowing Goryeo and was killed by soldiers sent by Jeong Do-jeon; he was later posthumously made Left Chancellor and given the title Munjeol (文節).
Three brothers among his descendants, Cha Yun-bo, Cha Seon-u and Cha Cheon-heung, moved to Bucheon in Gyeonggi in the mid-1800s and settled there.
The Gangnyeol-gong branch descends from Cha Un-hyeok (車云革, 1393-1467), known as Gangnyeol-gong and said to be a nephew of Cha Won-bu. He is recorded as having distinguished himself during the Yi Si-ae rebellion of 1467.
His descendants formed clan villages at Jogeum-ri in Daehoji-myeon, Dangjin; Jamo-ri in Hyeonpung-eup, Dalseong, Daegu; and Bonri-ri in Yongam-myeon, Seongju. Jamo-ri was settled by Cha Sun-ra, who fled there during the Imjin War, and Bonri-ri by Cha In, Cha Un-hyeok's eighth-generation descendant, in King Yeongjo's reign.
The Osan-gong branch is made up of the descendants of Cha Cheon-ro (車天輅, 1556-1615), pen name Osan. A son of Cha Sik (車軾), governor of Pyeonghae, he passed the civil examination in 1577, went to Japan in 1589 with the envoy Hwang Yun-gil, and was counted with Han Ho's calligraphy and Choe Rip's prose as one of the 'Three Wonders of Songdo'.
His great-grandson Cha Geon-ui retired to Jeokseo-ri in Daehoji-myeon, Dangjin, around 1790, and the descendants there built the Munwonsa shrine to house Cha Cheon-ro's portrait. Descendants of his younger brother Cha Un-ro formed the Changju-gong branch in Dangjin.
Branch divisions vary by lineage and jokbo; confirm your own branch in your family's records.
차식, 차천로, 차범근, 차두리
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The 연안 차씨 clan association can be found in the Korean E-Jokbo Library clan-association directory.
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