ConflictMay 1555(Lunar)

Eulmyo Japanese Raid

Japanese raiders in some seventy ships landed at Dalyang in Jeolla and ravaged Yeongam, Jangheung and other counties; afterwards the Border Defence Council (Bibyeonsa) became a permanent body.

Resenting the trade curbs imposed after the Three Ports revolt (1510), Japanese raiders struck the south coast of Jeolla and took several naval posts. Joseon drove them off with difficulty and cut trade further.

The Bibyeonsa had first been convened temporarily during the Three Ports revolt to discuss border defence; after 1555 it became permanent. During the Imjin War it grew into the supreme council of civil and military grandees handling military, political and economic affairs, leaving the State Council and Six Ministries as shells. Under in-law rule it was the clans’ power base, until Heungseon Daewongun cut it back and revived the State Council.

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States and rulers at the time: Joseon · invaded — Myeongjong
Japan
Places: Dalyangjin

People

Myeongjong1534 – 1567
monarch · Thirteenth king of Joseon, enthroned at twelve under the regency of his mother Queen Munjeong, while her brother Yun Won-hyeong held power

Before and after

Earlier: 1550 Northern Raiders and Southern Pirates
Later: 1556 Office Land Abolished; Salaries Only

Themes that include this event

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
Ming, Qing and Edo Japan1500 – 1800
The age when the Ming, shaken by northern raiders, southern pirates and the silver economy, fell to Li Zicheng’s rebels, and the Manchu Qing reached its greatest extent and prosperity under Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong — as Japan was unified out of the Warring States into the Edo shogunate’s bakuhan order and closed country, and Joseon, after two great wars, met its neighbours through embassies to Edo and the Northern Learning