영산 신씨(靈山 辛氏) — A Sin seat based in Yeongsan, Changnyeong, known for Sin Don of late Goryeo and the founders of Lotte and Nongshim.
A Sin seat based in Yeongsan, Changnyeong, known for Sin Don of late Goryeo and the founders of Lotte and Nongshim. Even among people surnamed 신, a different clan seat (bon-gwan, 영산) means a different lineage. New to these terms? See the bon-gwan, pa & hangnyeol guide.
The Yeongsan Sin (靈山 辛氏) take as their ancestral seat the old Yeongsan county, now Yeongsan-myeon in Changnyeong County, South Gyeongsang. The founder is said to be Sin Gyeong (辛鏡), who passed the civil examination under King Injong; Wikipedia calls him one of the Song 'Eight Scholars' who came to Goryeo. He passed in 1138 and rose to Munhasirang Pyeongjangsa, with the posthumous title Jeong-ui. English Wikipedia gives 187,426 members for 2015, but Korean Wikipedia indicates this figure combines the Yeongwol Sin; the exact per-seat population was not confirmed. The 2000 census (cited by the Segye Ilbo) counted 83,798 Yeongsan Sin and 67,489 Yeongwol Sin.
According to the Segye Ilbo, Sin Gyeong settled in Changnyeong because the mountains of Chuanzhu in Gansu resembled Yeongchwisan, and his descendants called the place Yeongsan and took it as their seat. Two accounts of the earlier ancestry exist: that Jin, a son of King Qi of Xia, received the Xin (莘) surname and later dropped the grass radical to become Xin (辛), or that eight surnames of Longxi swore brotherhood and came to Goryeo. A tomb inscription of Sin Gyeong's fourth-generation descendant in Pohang mentions 'Yeongju', leading to speculation of an early seat there, while the Sinssi seonggwan-go argues the clan is not of foreign origin. Neither can be settled, so this page presents the founder's origin only as tradition, not established fact.
Around the ninth generation after Sin Gyeong a branch split off to Yeongwol, so Yeongsan and Yeongwol are two seats of one root. The clan flourished most in late Goryeo: of Sin Ji-hwa's sons' generation Sin Cheon reached Pan-Millijiksasa and Sin Hyeok Dodocheomuichanseongsa, and Sin Hyeok's grandsons Sin Ye and Sin Bu became Prince Chwiseong and Prince Chwisan; Sin Bu fell in battle against the Red Turbans in 1360. The Yeongsan monk Sin Don won King Gongmin's trust and opened the Jeonmin Byeonjeong Dogam but was executed in 1371, after which the clan is described as declining sharply. His lineage is unclear.
Deokjae-gong-pa, Chodang-gong-pa, Sangjanggun-gong-pa, Buwongun-pa, Panseo-gong-pa
The Deokjae-gong branch takes Sin Cheon, eldest son of Sin Ji-hwa, as its founder; he passed the examination in 1294 and rose to Pan-Millijiksasa. The Daesansa shrine in Jewon-myeon, Geumsan honors Sin Cheon, Sin In-geo and Sin Jeong.
Detailed lineage and seats were not confirmed here.
The Chodang-gong branch takes Sin Hyeok as its founder (Segye Ilbo); he rose to Dodocheomuichanseongsa and was named Prince Yeongsan, and his grandsons Sin Ye and Sin Bu came from this line. The Segye Ilbo says most Joseon figures descended from Sin Yu-jeong of this branch.
The branch graveyard in Deoksang-ri, Jeungpyeong (Local Heritage No. 17) preserves graves; whose they are was not confirmed.
The Sangjanggun-gong branch is founded by a holder of the rank of Sangjanggun. The Segye Ilbo names Sin Seong-ryeol as founder while Wikipedia places it under Sin Gong-geun of the eighth generation.
Further details were not confirmed here.
The Buwongun branch takes Sin On (Prince Yeongwol) as founder and continues as the Yeongwol Sin. See Yeongwol Sin.
The Panseo-gong branch takes Sin Han, fourth son of Sin Ji-hwa, as founder (Segye Ilbo) and continues as the Yeongwol Sin. See Yeongwol Sin.
Branch divisions vary by lineage and jokbo; confirm your own branch in your family's records.
신돈(Jeonmin Byeonjeong Dogam under King Gongmin), 신예(Prince Chwiseong), 신부(Prince Chwisan, killed at Hamjong), 신유정(general of the Goryeo-Joseon transition), 신윤(Jijungchubusa), 신격호(founder of Lotte), 신춘호(founder of Nongshim), 신동빈(Chairman of the Lotte Group), 신동주(Chairman of SDJ Corporation), 신상우(seven-term National Assemblyman)
Tap a name for the full profile (life, career, grave, descendants).
In Joseon the clan is said to have produced over 50 civil-examination graduates (53 by one count) and seven merit subjects. The Segye Ilbo says most came from the descendants of Sin Yu-jeong, Sin Bu's son, a general who joined the founding of Joseon, became a Wonjong merit subject and repelled Japanese pirates. His son Sin In-son is said to have reached Daejehak of the Yemungwan and grandson Sin Seok-jo to have taken scholarly leave under Sejong and joined the compiling of the Sejong Sillok, though more detail was not confirmed. Sin Yun is an ordinary central-office example.
In modern times Shin Kyuk-ho, from the Dungi-ri clan village in Samdong-myeon, Ulsan, built Lotte in Japan and extended it to Korea, while his brother Shin Chun-ho founded Nongshim. Shin Dong-bin now leads the Lotte Group and Shin Dong-ju is also a businessman of the same family. In politics Sin Sang-u, a seven-term assemblyman and first Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, is known. Living persons are covered by public record only.
The Segye Ilbo lists the Deokjae-gong (Sin Cheon), Chodang-gong (Sin Hyeok) and Sangjanggun-gong (Sin Seong-ryeol) branches. Wikipedia places Deokjae-gong, Chodang-gong, Buwongun and Panseo-gong branches under Sin Ji-hwa (the last two continuing as the Yeongwol Sin) and the Sangjanggun-gong under Sin Gong-geun, so details differ by source. See the Yeongwol Sin page.
Daesansa in Jewon-myeon, Geumsan, South Chungcheong, is the clan shrine honoring Sin Cheon, Sin In-geo and Sin Jeong, built in 1959, rebuilt in 2008 and designated Geumsan County Local Heritage No. 14 in 2011. In Jeungpyeong, North Chungcheong, are the Chodang-gong branch graveyard (Deoksang-ri, Local Heritage No. 17, 2009) and the tomb of Sin Gyeong-haeng (Namcha-ri, North Chungcheong Monument No. 132, 2004). In Naebu-ri, Gunbuk-myeon, Geumsan stands the Yeongsan Sin Jeongnyeogak (1928), honoring a Lady Sin (1857-1873) who died following her husband soon after marriage. The Changnyeong Yeolhyo Sin Jeongnyeo stele at Docheon-ri (Gyeongsangnam-do Cultural Heritage Material No. 183), raised in 1405, honors late-Goryeo Sin Sa-cheon and his two daughters who died resisting Japanese raiders. In Yeongsan-myeon itself survive the Yeongsan Seokbinggo (Treasure No. 1739), the Yeongsan town-fortress site and Mannyeon Bridge.
The Sin of Yeongsan Sin is written 辛 (meaning 'bitter/spicy'). It is distinct from the Sin written 申, as in Pyeongsan Sin or Goryeong Sin, and from 愼. The other 辛 seat that branched from Yeongsan is the Yeongwol Sin; the Segye Ilbo says the 辛 surname has nine seats and about 180,000 people, with Yeongsan and Yeongwol dominant. Check the seat recorded in your own genealogy.
Because Yeongwol and Yeongsan share a root, books and articles sometimes group them. The people here are those whose seat appears in Wikipedia's Yeongsan Sin category or in their own articles; figures this site classes as Yeongwol Sin, such as the poet Sin Seok-jeong, appear on that page. No separate entry was made for the founder Sin Gyeong because little is recorded of his dates and deeds.
This summary relies on Wikipedia and the Segye Ilbo; the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture text and official clan-association material were not verified directly, and generation names and the association contact were not confirmed. Check your own genealogy and the clan association.
The 영산 신씨 clan association can be found in the Korean E-Jokbo Library clan-association directory.
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