Late-Goryeo civil official, second son of Yi Saek and founder of the Injae-gong branch (pen name Injae)
| Life | 1361 ~ 1392 |
| Era | 고려 말 |
| Clan | 한산 이씨 |
Yi Jong-hak (李種學, 1361-1392) was a late-Goryeo civil official from Hansan, with courtesy name Jungmun (仲文) and pen name Injae (麟齋). He was the second son of Mogeun Yi Saek and is honored as the founder of the Injae-gong branch of the Hansan Yi. Records list him as a nephew by marriage of Bak Sang-chung and an elder maternal cousin of Bak Eun.
He passed the Seonggyun examination in 1374 (King Gongmin 23) and the civil examination in 1376 (King U 2) as a dongjinsa. He then served as Mikjik-sa jisinsa and Cheomseo Mikjik-sa sa, and in 1389 (Changwang 1) he was associate examiner (dongji gonggeo) for the examinations. As his father stood at the center of late-Goryeo scholarship, he too held important posts at a young age.
When King Gongyang took the throne and his father Yi Saek was impeached, he was exiled with him. After Goryeo fell in 1392, while being moved to a new place of exile at Jangsa-hyeon (today Mujang-myeon, Gochang, North Jeolla), he was killed at Muchon Station (today Geochang, South Gyeongsang) by Son Heung-jong, who according to the record acted on the instigation of Jeong Do-jeon. He was 32 by Korean count. His collected writings survive as the Injae yugo, and his descendants formed the Injae-gong branch.
His short life shows the trials faced by his father Yi Saek's intellectual lineage during the upheaval from Goryeo to Joseon. The story of being exiled with his father and then falling alone on the road to a new exile is also the starting point of the Injae-gong branch. Through the Injae yugo one can glimpse the poetry and prose of the literati of his time.
His father Yi Saek had three sons, and Yi Jong-hak was the second. The eldest, Yi Jong-deok, founded the Munyang-gong branch and the third, Yi Jong-seon, the Yanggyeong-gong branch.
In the first year of King Chang (1389) he served as associate examiner overseeing the civil examinations. This was the year after the Wihwado withdrawal, when politics was in upheaval.
He was exiled together with his father when Yi Saek was impeached, and in 1392, the year Joseon was founded, he was killed at Muchon Station in Geochang during a transfer of exile. The record says Son Heung-jong did it at Jeong Do-jeon's instigation.
He is recorded as killed at Muchon Station (today Geochang) in 1392; the exact tomb location was not confirmed here.
Founder of the Injae-gong branch, which his descendants formed. His father was Yi Saek, his elder brother Yi Jong-deok and his younger brother Yi Jong-seon.