Civil official; Inspector-General, honored as an incorruptible official
Same-name figures:
신경진(申景禛) — Military figure and Injo Restoration leader; Chief State Councillor
| Life | 1554 ~ 1619 |
| Era | 조선 중기 (선조~광해군) |
| Clan | 영월 신씨 |
Sin Gyeong-jin (辛慶晉, 1554–1619) was a mid-Joseon civil official of the Yeongwol Shin clan. His courtesy name was Yongseok and his pen name Aho (丫湖), though the Gangneung local encyclopedia gives it as Myeongho. He was a great-grandson of Sin Yun-hyeong, grandson of Sin Bo-sang, and son of Sin Eung-si, Deputy Director of the Hongmungwan; his mother was a daughter of Jeong Gi. He was a disciple of Yi I. He is a different person from Shin Gyeong-jin (申景禛) of the Pyeongsan Shin, a merit subject of the 1623 coup.
He passed the licentiate examination in 1573 and a special civil examination in 1584. In 1591, as a junior official of the Ministry of War, he traveled to Ming China as secretary to the envoy Han Eung-in. When the Imjin War broke out in 1592 he escorted King Seonjo to Pyongyang as a censor and served as an aide to the commander Yu Seong-ryong.
Around 1594 he became magistrate of Gangneung, where he restored the shrine halls and lecture hall of the Confucian school, dug a pond and set up a dismounting stone, and was promoted for good governance. His cousins Sin Gyeong-cheol and Sin Gyeong-won followed him and settled in Gangneung. After the war he served as Remonstrator, Third Minister of Personnel and magistrate of Seongju and Chungju; in Seongju in 1602 he renamed the district Malgeunseok-bang as Sannam-bang.
In 1609 he became Governor of Gyeongsang Province, then Second Minister of Rites and Inspector-General. In 1612 he was dismissed when his in-law Hwang Hyeok fell victim to a plot by Yi I-cheom, and he declined later recall. Known for both literary and military talent, he was honored as an incorruptible official. His writings survive with his father's in the Baengnok yugo, and Yi Jae wrote the inscription for his memorial stele.
Damwolsa in Damwol village, Iksan, began as an altar set up in 1909 by his descendant Sin Min-jip and became a shrine in 1926; it now also honors Yi I and Sin Yeong-gyeong. The Iksan encyclopedia entry says he was named a Hoseong merit subject, but the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture does not mention this.
His descendant Sin Min-jip founded the Damwolsa shrine in Damwol village, Iksan.