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Person1328 – 1396

Yi Saek

Late Goryeo Neo-Confucian who, as head of the Seonggyungwan under King Gongmin, trained Jeong Mong-ju and Jeong Do-jeon

His pen name was Mogeun. A son of Yi Gok, he also passed the Yuan civil examination. When King Gongmin rebuilt the Seonggyungwan (1367) he became its head, training Jeong Mong-ju, Jeong Do-jeon, Gwon Geun and others and spreading Neo-Confucianism. He led the moderate scholar-officials who sought reform within Goryeo, and after the Wihwado retreat he opposed Yi Seong-gye’s faction and was exiled. He is counted among the Three Hermits of late Goryeo with Jeong Mong-ju and Gil Jae (or Yi Sung-in), and his collected works are the Mogeun jip.

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2 related events

  1. 1
    1290Arrival of Neo-Confucianismparticipant

    Under King Chungnyeol, An Hyang brought Neo-Confucianism from the Yuan; through Yi Je-hyeon and Yi Saek it became the creed of new scholar-officials such as Jeong Mong-ju and Jeong Do-jeon.

  2. 2
    1351 – 1374Reforms of King Gongminparticipant

    As the Yuan gave way to the Ming, King Gongmin purged the pro-Yuan faction, recovered the Ssangseong Commandery, and, through Sin Don, curbed the magnates to restore royal power.

People who appear alongside

  • An Hyang1243 – 1306

    Scholar who brought Zhu Xi’s writings from Yuan and first introduced Neo-Confucianism to Goryeo

  • Baek I-jeong1247 – 1323

    Scholar who studied Neo-Confucianism in Yuan while attending King Chungseon and taught it to Yi Je-hyeon and others

  • Yi Je-hyeon1287 – 1367

    Neo-Confucian scholar who studied with Yuan scholars at the Mangwondang and wrote the Saryak and Yeogong paeseol

  • King Chungseon1275 – 1325

    Twenty-sixth king of Goryeo, who founded the Mangwondang library in Dadu where Goryeo and Yuan scholars met

  • King Gongmin1330 – 1374

    Thirty-first king of Goryeo, who led anti-Yuan reforms, recovered the Ssangseong Commandery and backed Sin Don’s reforms

  • Gi Cheol1356

    Brother of the Yuan Empress Gi, a pro-Yuan magnate purged by King Gongmin in 1356

  • Empress Gi

    Goryeo woman sent to Yuan as tribute who became empress of Emperor Shun; her brother Gi Cheol and the pro-Yuan faction rode on her power

  • Sin Don1371

    Monk empowered by King Gongmin who ran the Directorate for Land and Slave Rectification

Themes this person appears in

  • Song, Ming and Samurai JapanAD 960 – 1500

    The age when the civil-minded Song bought peace from Liao, Western Xia and Jin while the lower Yangtze boomed and Neo-Confucianism took shape, and the Ming, having driven out the Yuan, rebuilt the East Asian order through imperial autocracy, the sea ban and tribute — as Japan passed through the Kamakura and Muromachi warrior governments into the Warring States era, and Korea from Goryeo to Joseon

  • Central Government Through the AgesAD 250 – 1899

    From the noble councils of the Three Kingdoms to the State Council, the Border Defense Council and the Gabo cabinet — how central government shifted between aristocratic consensus and royal power

  • Educational Institutions Through the AgesAD 372 – 1943

    From the Taehak and Gukhak to the Gukjagam and Seonggyungwan, modern schools and the colonial education ordinances — state schools that trained officials and the private schools that filled the gaps