Late-Goryeo civil official and scholar; father of Yi Saek (Mogeun)
| Life | 1298 ~ 1351 |
| Era | 고려 |
| Clan | 한산 이씨 |
Yi Gok (李穀) had the courtesy name Jungbo (仲父) and the pen name Gajeong (稼亭), and was from Hansan, Chungcheong Province. After passing the Goryeo civil service examination in 1320, he also passed the provincial and palace examinations of the Yuan Jeongdongseong in 1332 and held Yuan office, becoming a renowned man of letters.
In Goryeo he rose to docheomui chanseongsa and was enfeoffed as Lord of Hansan (韓山君). Active between Yuan and Goryeo, he is also known for submitting a memorial to the Yuan court petitioning an end to the abuse of sending Goryeo maidens as tribute women.
His representative works include the pseudo-biographical tale The Story of Lady Bamboo (Jukbuin-jeon, 竹夫人傳), which personifies bamboo, and the essay On Borrowing a Horse (Chama-seol, 借馬說), and his collected works Gajeong jip (稼亭集) survive. His son Yi Saek (李穡, Mogeun) was a leading great scholar of late Goryeo. His posthumous title was Munhyo (文孝).
His son Yi Saek (李穡, Mogeun) was a Neo-Confucian scholar representative of late Goryeo, and the Hansan Yi clan became a distinguished family through the father-son pair of Yi Gok and Yi Saek.