Kids Love Admiral Yi: National Museum’s Blockbuster ‘Our Yi Sun-sin’ Exhibition
Creatrip Team
3 months ago
Seoul’s National Museum of Korea opened a special exhibition, “Our Yi Sun-sin,” drawing 22,400 visitors in six days. The show brings 369 Yi Sun-sin–related items together for the first time, including Yi’s handwritten war diary (Nanjung ilgi), six national treasures and many designated treasures. The exhibition mixes large-scale artifacts—armor, swords, and a peach-shaped cup—with personal documents that reveal the commander’s leadership and private sorrows, such as diary entries about his family. Popular museum goods (e.g., Yi’s jeonrip hat wine stopper, janggeom (ceremonial sword) pad, and a fur helmet inspired by a TV appearance) have sold out at times, and families with costumed children are flocking to the show. The display also compares Korean, Japanese and Ming Chinese perspectives on the Imjin War by exhibiting Japanese battle screens and portraits alongside Korean artifacts. Curators note this is the museum’s first major Yi exhibition in Seoul; it runs through March 3 next year.
