Yi Soon Shin's personal life

[CindyMenard]

I just heard this rumor. It is true he had two concubines? I know it's dumb, but I would like to know in detail.

[florel]

It's not a rumor. But it seems that he didn't have two concubines at the same time. In Chosun period, it was normal that aristocrat men had three or four concubines at the same time.


Admiral YSS wrote about his concubine in his diary. He saw her in his dream, a bad dream. I quote it from English version for you.

"It poured and poured. In a dream at midnight of the first day of the moon, I saw the woman of Puan [the Admiral's concubine, born in Puan] give birth of a son, but the baby was premature, so I turned her out for good. ..." (2nd August 1594)


He had two sons and a daughter from his concubine of Puan. One of them died when he put down the rebellion of Yi Gwal in 1624 and other son died when he fought against the Manchurians invading Chosun in 1627.



* Addition : There is another passage about Madam Puan.

"... In the evening Yun Yon brought his sister's letter in which I found many false words of complaint. Ridiculous ! One wishes to repudiate them, but cannot bear to do so because the three children would become orphans with nobody in charge of them. ..." (13 November 1594)

[TheBo]

Awww! Poor lady of Puan. By the way (POSSIBLE SPOILER BLACKED OUT--highlight to read):





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Is it safe yet to tell me what happened to Mijin's daughter? There was talk of KBC having cut out the part where he makes her his concubine...has that happened yet?

Bo

[pakyownage4eva]

concubines? so...was he married or not? and who was his second concubine?...

And what a great idea! when you get bored of one, you hang out with the other .

[florel]

I verified details. In fact, YSS had two concubines and four children from them (two sons and two daughters). But the first one is never mentioned in his Diary. So, I guess, it's possible to assume that she would die before the Imjin war.


In fact, Chosun dynasty retained two kind of marriage systems at the same time. Monogamy was a principle, but polygamy was generally practiced in a specific caste. Hetaerism was the privilege of the king and the male aristocrats (as like in many other pre-modern societies). It was abolished in 1915.

pakyownage4eva said:

And what a great idea! when you get bored of one, you hang out with the other .

Paky, i advise you not to tell it in front of your girlfriend or future girlfriend.

thebo said:

Is it safe yet to tell me what happened to Mijin's daughter? There was talk of KBC having cut out the part where he makes her his concubine...has that happened yet?

Bo

There is no cutting out for you. In the drama, Mijin's daughter never became YSS's concubine. She was kicked out like Chun-su and his friends because her existence made Korean viewers angry. It was a huge ethical offensive for Koreans' sentiment to make the mother girlfriend and the daughter concubine.

[BungalowDweller]

Interesting about Mijun's daughter and the others! I find it amazing that KBC responds to its public that way! 8-)Hollywood garbage producers should take note!

[Trespasser]

Chohee wasn't supposed to be a concubine of anyone; she simply represented an object of lust for both YSS and Nalbal; thus YSS and Nalbal were supposed to be in conflict over Chohee's affection(As in standard Korean drama formula).

Viewers were furious with this plotline, that YSS and Nalbal going after same woman, and revolted. The fact that this highly paid actress(she probably made 10 times as much as YSS actor who was nobody) was a trendy drama/movie specialist with no real acting skill to survive a historical drama didn't help Chohee's cause either.