Right State Councillor under King Sukjong who opposed Queen Inhyeon's deposition; pen name Maname
| Life | 1614 ~ 1690 |
| Era | 조선 후기 |
| Clan | 전의 이씨 |
Yi Sang-jin (李尙眞, 1614-1690) was a late-Joseon civil official of the Jeonui Yi clan. His courtesy name was Cheondeuk, his pen name Maname and his posthumous name Chungjeong. He was the great-grandson of Yi Jeong-ran, defender of Jeonju in the Imjin War; his grandfather was Yi Jun-gil, his father Yi Yeong-seon and his mother a daughter of Min Yeo-im.
He passed the special civil examination in 1645. As an inspector in 1652 his well-argued views won the king's trust, and that year he petitioned for holding senior officials accountable in implementing the Daedong tax reform; as censor in 1654 he repeatedly offered frank advice. Under King Hyeonjong he served as vice minister of personnel and chief remonstrance official, and as governor of Gyeongsang he settled lawsuits arising from the Daedong reform and purged corrupt officials.
In 1678 he became Minister of Personnel and then Right State Councillor. After the 1680 change of government he disagreed with Chief State Councillor Kim Su-hang over the list of merit subjects and asked to resign, moving to the Privy Council. According to Korean Wikipedia he also served at various times as governor of Hamgyeong, vice minister of punishments, Minister of War, Minister of Works and Left Third State Councillor, and was regarded as a leader of the Westerners. In 1689, when the deposition of Queen Inhyeon was raised, he opposed it despite a royal ban on such memorials, angered King Sukjong and was exiled to Jongseong, Bukcheong and Cheorwon; later pardoned, he lived quietly at his old home in Buyeo and died in 1690.
When Queen Inhyeon was restored in 1694 he was rehabilitated; in 1695 he was listed as an incorruptible official and a shrine in his honour was founded in Jeonju, and in 1708 he was enshrined with Yi Hang-bok at a shrine in Bukcheong. His collected works, the Maname Yugo (five volumes in manuscript), survive, and his exile poems and fifteen elegies for his wife are valued for their literary quality. His life and thought are the subject of Yi Hui-gwon's study of him as an incorruptible official (2011).