Founder of the Boseong Seon clan, said to have cleared Japanese raiders as Honam Inspector in the reign of King U of Goryeo; pen name Toehyudang
| Era | 고려 말 |
| Clan | 보성 선씨 |
Seon Yun-ji (宣允祉), with pen names Yongam and Toehyudang, is the founder of the Boseong Seon clan. The Boseong Seon head association and Wikipedia say he came to Goryeo as a Ming Academician of the Munyeongak and, in the 8th year of King U (1382), became Honam (Jeolla) Inspector and cleared Japanese raiders who were coming and going along the Jeolla coast. His birth and death years and courtesy name are not recorded.
The association explains that King U, praising his victory the next year (1383) in destroying the raiders' lair and defeating the remnants around Gwaneumpo, merged the heavily damaged counties of Joyang and Bokhol into one and had him govern it, and that this is today's Boseong. When Goryeo fell, he is said to have given up office and settled in Boseong, taking it as the clan's seat.
Local people are said to have built a living shrine at Hansik-dong to honor him, and a monument for its site was erected in 1770. He is enshrined together with his descendants Seon Hyeong, Seon Geo-i, Seon Se-gang and Seon Yak-hae at Boseong Ojungsa, which received a royal plaque in 1831, and is also honored as one of the 72 Sages of Dumun-dong. In 1862 he was posthumously made Minister of Personnel. Most of this is tradition compiled in genealogies and by the descendants' clan association and is best read as 'said to be'.
The association's text says Seon Yun-ji placed first in the Ming palace examination at twenty and was appointed Academician of the Munyeongak. In 1370, when a Goryeo envoy reported damage from Japanese raiders to the Ming court, the emperor is said to have ordered him to go to Goryeo and put down the disorder, and King U appointed him Honam Inspector.
This is the descendants' own account; other sources simply say he came as an envoy and settled.
When Goryeo fell he is said to have given up office and lived in seclusion in Boseong. His descendants honor the founder at the family hill at Sangcheongnyongdeung, Wonbong-ri, Boseong-eup, with a seasonal rite on the 5th day of the tenth lunar month, and the head association manages the site.
Pojungsa in Jangheung (1846) also enshrines the five loyal subjects including the founder, with a rite on the 15th day of the third lunar month.
One explanation holds that when genealogies were compiled in the 17th century, no pre-Goryeo records of the Seon could be found, so Seon Yun-ji, the great-great-grandfather of Seon Hyeong who is confirmed in official documents, was taken as founder. Some Seon people of Joseong and Dochon in Boseong, however, took the jinsa Seon Yong-sin as their mid-founder, issued a separate genealogy in 1757 and recorded Seon Yun-ji as his grandson.
The head association rejects this, citing among other things a 1768 ruling by the Jeolla inspector. Both claims are set side by side in the Boseong Seon family page.
Family hill at Sangcheongnyongdeung, Wonbong-ri, Boseong-eup (shrine Jimoje honors the founder with the 2nd and 3rd generations)
The line continues through the 2nd generation (An-gyeong, An-hyeok, Hui-gyeong) and the 3rd (Gu-ryeong, Hak-ryeong, Gwang-yu, Myeong-yu, Cheong-yu, Sung-yeol), from whom branches such as Busa-gong, Seonjeon-gong, Champan-gong, Chamui-gong and Sunmusa-gong are said to have split.