Uiseong scholar and disciple of Yi Hwang honored with a memorial gate for filial conduct; pen name Hoedang; posthumously made councillor of finance
| Life | 1576 |
| Era | 조선 중기 |
| Clan | 아주 신씨 |
Shin Won-rok (申元祿, died 1576) was an Uiseong scholar of the Aju Shin clan, pen name Hoedang. He was the father of Shin Heul (Shin Heul) and is known as a disciple of Yi Hwang (Yi Hwang). His name is also written 申元錄, and both forms are noted. His birth year is not confirmed and he is said to have died in 1576.
His filial conduct became known at court and was included in the Sok Samgang Haengsil, and a memorial gate was built in his village. The Uiseong heritage notice says a tax and labor exemption was granted in 1603 and a memorial gate bestowed in 1615 together with the posthumous rank of councillor of finance, while descendants' records say only that he was posthumously made councillor of finance.
Besides filial conduct he devoted himself to learning and education. He founded Eobyujae and built Jangcheon Academy, predecessor of Bingye Academy, in fourteen years, and drew up a new village code, and is regarded as the scholar who revived the literary culture of 16th-century Uiseong. His head house keeps an unremoved ancestral tablet, with a shrine at Palseong-ri in Uiseong-eup and a memorial gate at Dodong-ri.
Uiseong designated the memorial gate (Dodong-ri) as County Cultural Heritage No. 1 in 2013 and the shrine of the unremoved tablet (Palseong-ri) as No. 39 in 2017. Sources differ on the gate's building date, 1616 or 1656.
He is said to have laid the foundations of local education and customs by founding Eobyujae and Jangcheon Academy and reorganizing the village code, an example of connecting filial piety to learning and village order.
His writings survive as the Hoedang Seonsaeng Munjip with an appendix, in which the name is written 申元錄. When Yi U-seong wrote the inscription for the 1988 monument, he is said to have summed up his merits as practicing loyalty, filial piety and righteousness and learning for self-cultivation. He is remembered as a scholar who helped Uiseong rise as a place of letters in the 16th century.
His burial place is not given in the sources consulted. The shrine of his unremoved tablet stands at 812-1 Palseong-ri (Uiseong Cultural Heritage No. 39) and the memorial gate at 631 Dodong-ri (No. 1).
His son Shin Heul joined the volunteer army in the Imjin War and Heul's sons became officials. A monument to his deeds was erected in 1988, with an inscription by Yi U-seong.