Son of O Geuk-seong and military official who fought at the battle of Ssangnyeong in the Second Manchu Invasion; pen names Chwisudang and Donjae
| Life | 1598 ~ 1669 |
| Era | 조선 후기 |
| Clan | 함양 오씨 |
O Yeon (吳演, 1598-1669) was a late Joseon military official of the Hamyang O clan, with courtesy name Deokwon and pen names Chwisudang and Donjae. His father was O Geuk-seong, magistrate of Hwangan, and his mother was a daughter of Hwang Seung-baek of the Pyeonghae Hwang clan. Born as the Imjin War was ending, he grew up in the Munwoldang household at Daecheon-ri in Yeongyang, and the Chwisudang line of the Munwoldang-gong branch is said to take its name from his pen name.
According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture and the Korean Wikipedia entry on the clan, he held military ranks such as Seonnyak Janggun and Buwi Sayong in 1634. In the Second Manchu Invasion of 1636 he joined the battle of Ssangnyeong on the recommendation of the Yeongnam governor and is said to have killed two enemy chieftains, seized a horse and ridden back through the encirclement. At Ssangnyeong the Yeongnam relief troops marching north to rescue King Injo, trapped in Namhansanseong, were beaten by the Qing and mostly killed, and a shrine, Jeongchungmyo, in Gwangju, Gyeonggi, honors their loyalty. That he returned alive was rare.
The encyclopedia entry says that when he heard the court had submitted to the Qing, he refused office, withdrew into the mountains and built an altar there. The name Donjae means hiding from the world and Chwisudang means 'drunk and asleep', which some read as reflecting his state of mind, but the origin of the names could not be confirmed. He died in 1669 and left the Chwisujip in two volumes, which, together with his father's Munwoldang Munjip, became part of the family's literary legacy in Yeongyang. If the father won his name travelling between Yi Sun-sin's camps under Seonjo, the son stood on the battlefield of the Second Manchu Invasion under Injo, carrying the family's military tradition through two reigns. The Munwoldang area at Daecheon-ri in Yeongyang is introduced as the place that keeps these stories.
At Ssangnyeong the Yeongnam troops marched north to relieve King Injo at Namhansanseong. O Yeon is said to have killed two enemy chieftains, seized a horse and returned, a rare survivor of a battle in which most of the relief troops were killed.
His pen name became the name of the Chwisudang line, one of the Munwoldang-gong branches. His Chwisujip survives in two volumes, and a separate Chwisudang Ilgo collection is also transmitted.
The location of his tomb could not be confirmed here.
Of the three lines of the Munwoldang-gong branch (Yonggye, Ujae, Chwisudang), Chwisudang is said to be named after his pen name. The Chwisudang lineage association building is listed in the 'Plaques of Korea' survey of the Korea Institute for Confucian Studies (Korean Studies Advancement Center).