Who Is on the 1,000 Won Note? Yi Hwang (Toegye), the Scholar Who Kept Retreating

The man on South Korea's 1,000 won note is Yi Hwang (1501–1570), better known by his pen name Toegye, a Confucian scholar and philosopher of the Joseon dynasty. The back of the same note shows Dosan Seowon, the academy that grew out of the school he founded near his home. His English Wikipedia article calls him the most important philosopher of Korea, and his ideas travelled far beyond the peninsula, to Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Joseon Korea in one paragraph

The Joseon dynasty ruled Korea from 1392 to 1910. Its ruling philosophy was Neo-Confucianism, the school associated with the Chinese thinker Zhu Xi, which tried to explain the moral nature of human beings and the order of the universe in one system. Officials were chosen through examinations on the Confucian classics, and scholars were expected both to study and to serve the king. Toegye's life is a story of the tension between those two duties.

A boy from Andong

Yi Hwang was born in 1501 in Ongye-ri, Andong, in what is now North Gyeongsang Province, into the Jinbo Yi clan. He was the youngest of eight children. He studied the Analects of Confucius with his uncle at 12, wrote a poem called Yadang at 18, and around 20 began studying the I Ching and Neo-Confucian philosophy.

His pen name, Toegye, means "retreating creek". It fits him well: again and again, he tried to step back from the capital and return to the quiet of the countryside.

The exam, the court and exile

He entered Sungkyunkwan, the national Confucian academy, in 1523, and passed the civil service examinations with top honours in 1534. From then on he held a series of government posts. In 1542 he served as a secret royal inspector, an official sent in disguise to check on local government.

Court life was dangerous. Yi Hwang took part in efforts to remove corrupt officials and was sent away from the capital several times because he refused to give up his principles. He served four kings: Jungjong, Injong, Myeongjong and Seonjo.

The art of saying no

What makes Toegye unusual is how often he tried to leave. Disillusioned by power struggles at court, he withdrew from politics, but he was called back repeatedly. In 1552 he was appointed head instructor of Sungkyunkwan, and later he turned down several prominent offices, including a ministerial post under King Seonjo. He returned to court at 68 to lecture before the king and finally retired at 70.

For many Koreans this is the heart of his image: a scholar who valued learning and integrity more than rank.

Dosan: a school by the river

In 1560 he completed the Dosan seodang, a small private school near his home. After his death, his disciples reorganised it in 1574 as Dosan Seowon, a Confucian academy that still stands in Andong. His students included Yu Seong-nyong and Kim Seong-il, and his line of thought became the core of what is called the Yeongnam School.

Principle and material force: the Four-Seven Debate

Neo-Confucian thinkers asked how li (principle, the moral pattern of things) relates to gi (material force or energy). Following Zhu Xi, Yi Hwang treated both as basic forces of the universe but emphasised li as the element that governs gi. This set him apart from the younger scholar Yi I, whose school stressed gi.

His most famous exchange was the Four-Seven Debate with the scholar Gi Dae-seung, about the "Four Beginnings" of virtue described by Mencius and the "Seven Emotions". The Korean Wikipedia article explains that Gi Dae-seung stressed that principle and material force are never apart, while Yi Hwang stressed that they are never mixed, and that Yi Hwang refined his own formulation after Gi's criticism. An older master changing his wording because of a younger scholar's letters is one reason the debate is still admired.

Ten Diagrams for a young king

In 1568 Yi Hwang wrote Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning (Seonghak sipdo) for the young King Seonjo. Each chapter begins with a diagram and a text, followed by commentary, and the work was also designed to be displayed as a ten-panel folding screen. It has been translated into many languages, including Japanese, Vietnamese, English, French, German, Russian and Polish. He also wrote sijo poems, a traditional Korean verse form, and was a skilled calligrapher.

Legacy across East Asia

Some of his writings were taken to Japan by Japanese forces during the invasions of Korea in the 1590s. According to the Korean Wikipedia article, they then contributed to the development of Neo-Confucianism in Japan. In 1610 he was enshrined in the Confucian shrine at Sungkyunkwan, and his posthumous name is Munsun.

Today Toegye-ro, a street in central Seoul, and a Taekwon-Do pattern bear his name, and research institutes devoted to his thought exist in Seoul, Tokyo, Taiwan, Hamburg and the United States. The poet and independence activist Yi Yuksa was one of his descendants.

Learn with Yi Hwang: English phrases about principles

Phrase	Meaning	Example
step back	leave a role or situation	He stepped back from court life.
turn down	refuse an offer	He turned down a top job.
stick to your principles	not change your values under pressure	Toegye stuck to his principles.
change your mind	form a new opinion	A good scholar can change his mind.
a quiet life	a calm life away from busy places	He wanted a quiet life by the river.

Try this: Write three English sentences about a time you said no to something. Use "turn down" in one sentence and "stick to my principles" in another.