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Extra Training |
Toi-Gye tul
(37 moves)
In his encyclopaedia General Choi told us:
Toi-Gye is
the pen name of the noted scholar Yi Hwang (16th Century), an
authority on neo-Confucianism. The 37 movements of this pattern refer to his
birthplace on 37º latitude and the diagram represents the scholar.
What I’ve discovered
Yi Hwang was born in Kyeongsang province on 25th
November 1501, he was a child prodigy.
At the age of six a gentleman neighbour began to
teach him from ‘The Book of One Thousand Letters’.
His Uncle taught him from the ‘Analects of
Confucius’ when he was twelve years old.
At nineteen he experienced a great awakening when
he began to study the great Neo-Confucian volumes ‘Seongni Taejeon’.
A well-respected and intelligent man, Yi Hwang
(1501-1570) passed the state exam for civil service at 34 a much earlier age
than was usual. He acquired the pen name of Toi-Gye (Returning stream/creek)
during his youth.
Yi Hwang worked relentlessly in government he was a
man of great integrity; he was determined to eradicate all corruption from the
government officials.
Yi Hwang’s philosophies and writings had a great
influence on neo-Confucianism; he stressed the importance of I (Li), which he believed was the
controlling agent in the universe, governing human nature and behaviour.
His ideas were in contrast to those of Yi I
(Yul-Gok) with whom he met and debated Confucian philosophies. The two did not
agree and it was a sad testimony to this fact that for many years the Korean
government was split into two factions, each on opposing sides and each a
follower of either Yi I or Yi Hwang.
(See also
Yul-Gok)
In 1549 Yi Hwang retired from the government and
returned home to build a
Toi-Gye wrote many influential works and his
writings were especially popular even 200 years later in
For sources of this information please see the bibliography section of
the site.
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Fendt ©2007- no unauthorised
copying allowed.