Battle of Sacheon (1598)

Battle of Sacheon
Part of the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)
Date October 1598 Location Sacheon, in today's South Gyeongsang province, South Korea Result Japanese victory
Belligerents
Japan	Ming Joseon
Commanders and leaders
Shimazu Yoshihiro	Dong Yiyuan
Strength
8,000	Sources: Swope: 15,000+ Hawley: 26,800 Ming troops, 2,300 Joseon troops, 29,100 total Turnbull: 36,700 Japan: 200,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Sources: Korea: 7-8,000 Chinese soldiers killed Japan: 30,000-38,700

The Battle of Sacheon (泗川) was a siege by Korean and Chinese forces against the Japanese fortification of Sacheon from 28 to 29 September 1598, during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea. The Japanese were able to withstand the siege, and due to a fortuitous explosion in the Chinese artillery unit's powder magazine, attacked and drove off the Chinese and Korean army. There are conflicting accounts of how many men participated and how many were killed, but all accounts agree that the Japanese garrison was heavily outnumbered and emerged victorious.

Force numbers

There are various numbers given by different sources on the forces involved during the battle. Some Japanese sources provide exaggerated claims that 200,000 troops attacked Sacheon, but this would have represented all Ming-Joseon troops deployed in the entire war at the time. According to Stephen Turnbull, the Ming attacked Sacheon with a total of 36,700 troops. However, this is also an exaggeration according to Kenneth Swope, who believes that Turnbull inflated the numbers to justify the Shimazu claim that they killed 33,700 allied troops during the battle. Swope gives a total of more than 15,000 allied troops led by Dong Yiyuan, who attacked Sacheon. Samuel Hawley claims that Dong had 26,800 Ming troops under his command while Chong Ki-ryong led 2,300 Joseon troops for a total of 29,100 allied troops that attacked Sacheon. Hawley provides a figure of 8,000 Japanese troops defending Sacheon under the command of Shimazu Yoshihiro. Yoshihiro claims that that his men killed 38,700 enemy troops in the battle while two Korean accounts states that between 7,000-8,000 Chinese troops were killed, mostly while they were attempting to flee.

Siege

Koreans and their Ming Chinese allies began pushing south in 1598, reclaiming territory lost to the Japanese in the battles of the preceding years. By September, an allied force of Ming soldiers under the command of Dong Yiyuan and Joseon soldiers led by Chong Ki-ryon, was ready to lay siege to the newer, larger Sacheon castle.

The allied forces began their assault at midnight on 28 September. The old castle fell quickly at about 3:00 am on 29 September, and the Japanese split their force in three, retreated and sallied forth from the new castle's three gates. A big fire suddenly appeared at the rear of the besiegers and sent them into chaos. The Japanese stormed forth and defeated them. The attacking army suffered heavy casualties, although the exact number is disputed.

Bibliography

• Hawley, Samuel (2005). The Imjin War. The Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch/UC Berkeley Press. ISBN 89-954424-2-5.
• Swope, Kenneth M. (2009). A Dragon's Head and a Serpent's Tail: Ming China and the First Great East Asian War, 1592–1598. University of Oklahoma Press.
• Turnbull, Stephen (2002). Samurai Invasion: Japan's Korean War 1592–98. Cassell & Co. ISBN 0-304-35948-3.

Further reading

• Alagappa, Muthiah (2003). Asian Security Order: Instrumental and Normative Features. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4629-X.
• Arano, Yasunori (2005). "The Formation of a Japanocentric World Order". International Journal of Asian Studies.
• Brown, Delmer M. (May 1948). "The Impact of Firearms on Japanese Warfare, 1543–1598". The Far Eastern Quarterly. 7 (3). Association for Asian Studies: 236–53. doi:10.2307/2048846. JSTOR 2048846.
• Eikenberry, Karl W. (1988). "The Imjin War". Military Review. 68 (2): 74–82.
• Ha, Tae-hung; Sohn, Pow-key (1977). 'Nanjung Ilgi: War Diary of Admiral Yi Sun-sin. Yonsei University Press. ISBN 89-7141-018-3.
• Haboush, JaHyun Kim (2016). The Great East Asian War and the Birth of the Korean Nation.
• Jang, Pyun-soon (1998). Noon-eu-ro Bo-nen Han-gook-yauk-sa 5: Gor-yeo Si-dae 눈으로 보는 한국역사 5: 고려시대. Seoul, Korea.
• Kim, Ki-chung (Fall 1999). "Resistance, Abduction, and Survival: The Documentary Literature of the Imjin War (1592–8)". Korean Culture. 20 (3): 20–29.
• Kim, Yung-sik (1998). "Problems and Possibilities in the Study of the History of Korean Science". Osiris. Second Series. 13: 48–79. doi:10.1086/649280. JSTOR 301878.
• 桑田忠親 [Kuwata, Tadachika], ed., 舊參謀本部編纂, [Kyu Sanbo Honbu], 朝鮮の役 [Chousen no Eki]　(日本の戰史 [Nihon no Senshi] Vol. 5), 1965.
• Neves, Jaime Ramalhete (1994). "The Portuguese in the Im-Jim War?". Review of Culture. 18: 20–24.
• Niderost, Eric (June 2001). "Turtleboat Destiny: The Imjin War and Yi Sun Shin". Military Heritage. 2 (6): 50–59, 89.
• Niderost, Eric (January 2002). "The Miracle at Myongnyang, 1597". Osprey Military Journal. 4 (1): 44–50.
• Park, Yune-hee (1973). Admiral Yi Sun-shin and His Turtleboat Armada: A Comprehensive Account of the Resistance of Korea to the 16th Century Japanese Invasion. Shinsaeng Press.
• Rockstein, Edward D. (1993). Strategic And Operational Aspects of Japan's Invasions of Korea 1592–1598 1993-6-18. Naval War College.
• Sadler, A. L. (June 1937). "The Naval Campaign in the Korean War of Hideyoshi (1592–1598)". Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. Second Series. 14: 179–208.
• Sansom, George (1961). A History of Japan 1334–1615. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-0525-9. {{citation}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Sohn, Pow-key (April–June 1959). "Early Korean Painting". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 79 (2): 96–103. doi:10.2307/595851. JSTOR 595851.
• Stramigioli, Giuliana (December 1954). "Hideyoshi's Expansionist Policy on the Asiatic Mainland". Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. Third Series. 3: 74–116.
• Strauss, Barry (Summer 2005). "Korea's Legendary Admiral". MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History. 17 (4): 52–61.
• Swope, Kenneth M. (2006). "Beyond Turtleboats: Siege Accounts from Hideyoshi's Second Invasion of Korea, 1597–1598". Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies. 6 (2): 177–206.
• Swope, Kenneth M. (2005). "Crouching Tigers, Secret Weapons: Military Technology Employed During the Sino-Japanese-Korean War, 1592–1598". The Journal of Military History: 69.
• Swope, Kenneth M. (December 2002). "Deceit, Disguise, and Dependence: China, Japan, and the Future of the Tributary System, 1592–1596". The International History Review. XXIV (4): 757–1008. doi:10.1080/07075332.2002.9640980.
• Turnbull, Stephen (1998). The Samurai Sourcebook. Cassell & Co. ISBN 1-85409-523-4.
• Turnbull, Stephen (2008). The Samurai Invasion of Korea 1592-98. Osprey Publishing Ltd.
• Villiers, John (1980). "Silk and Silver: Macau, Manila and Trade in the China Seas in the Sixteenth Century" (PDF). Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 20: 66–80.
• Yi, Min-woong (2004). Imjin Wae-ran Haejeonsa 임진왜란 해전사 [The Naval Battles of the Imjin War]. Chongoram Media. ISBN 89-89722-49-7.