The Samurai Invasion of Korea 1592-98 by Stephen Turnbull

Author:Stephen Turnbull
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Samurai Invasion of Korea 1592–98
ISBN: 9781782007128
Publisher: Osprey Publishing

THE FIRST SIEGE OF CHINJU

The pressure from Korean guerrilla attacks forced Ukita Hideie, the commander of all the Japanese forces, to send reinforcements to Kyŏngsang from Seoul, and towards the end of October the decision was made to capture the Koreans’ strongest point in western Kyŏngsang: the town of Chinju, which lay on the Nam River. Chinju was a fortified town with a long high wall that touched the river on its southern side. Between Chinju and the line of the Naktong was Kwak Chae-u’s guerrilla territory, and up to that moment in the war the garrison of this strong fortress had never seen a Japanese soldier. Ukita’s generals reasoned that if Chinju could be taken then the recaptured castles would fall back into Japanese hands, the guerrillas would lose rear support, and a new road to Chŏlla Province would finally be opened.

The castle of Chinju was under the command of Kim Shimin, who led a garrison of 3,800 men. Kim was a fine general, and was not willing to provide the Japanese with their customary experience of a weak Korean castle defence. Instead he had acquired 170 newly forged Korean harquebuses made to quality standards equivalent to the Japanese ones, and had trained his men in their use. Chinju was the first occasion when these weapons were tried in battle. Kim also had many cannon and a supply of mortars and bombs of the same type that had caused such devastation at Kyŏngju.

The Japanese army crossed the Nam River and approached Chinju from three sides, surprising some Korean stragglers. The Taikōki tells us that a certain Jirōza’emon ‘took the first head and raised it aloft. The other five men also attacked the enemy army and took some excellent heads.’ When the Japanese reached the walls of Chinju, Kim’s troops hit back at them with everything in their possession – harquebus balls, bullets, exploding bombs and heavy stones. It was not the reaction Hosokawa and his men had been expecting, so, changing their plans, they made shields out of bamboo and under the cover of massed volleys of harquebus fire approached close to the walls where long scaling ladders were set up. As the samurai scrambled up the ladders the defenders ignored the bullets and bombarded them with rocks, smashing many ladders to pieces. Meanwhile delayed-action bombs and lumps of stone fell into the mass of soldiers awaiting their turn to fight for the special honour of being first into the castle. The Taikōki gives a vivid account of one such endeavour:

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