{ "id": "epdrace7ef", "slug": "u-tak", "title": "U Tak", "updated": "2026-10-15", "topic_path": [ { "id": "society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society" }, { "id": "society.history", "label": "History and archaeology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history" }, { "id": "society.history.asia", "label": "Asian history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.asia" }, { "id": "society.history.asia.korea", "label": "Korea", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.asia.korea" }, { "id": "society.history.asia.korea.kr-goryeo", "label": "Goryeo (918 to 1392)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.asia.korea.kr-goryeo" }, { "id": "society.history.asia.korea.kr-goryeo.late-goryeo-1270-1392", "label": "Late Goryeo (1270–1392)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.asia.korea.kr-goryeo.late-goryeo-1270-1392" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.korea.kr-goryeo", "label": "Asia (other) · 1000 to 1799: Goryeo (918 to 1392)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.korea.kr-goryeo", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000", "label": "Asia (other) · 1000 to 1799", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society.history", "label": "History and archaeology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society.history" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia", "label": "Asian history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.korea", "label": "Korea", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.korea" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.korea.kr-goryeo", "label": "Goryeo (918 to 1392)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.korea.kr-goryeo" } ] } ], "excerpt": "U Tak (우탁) was a Goryeo dynasty Confucian scholar and official who died in 1342, the first in Korea to master and teach Cheng Yi's Yijing commentary.", "snippet": "U Tak (우탁) was a Goryeo dynasty Confucian scholar and official who died in 1342, the first in Korea to master and teach Cheng Yi's Yijing commentary.", "node": "society.history.asia.korea.kr-goryeo.late-goryeo-1270-1392", "markdown": "# U Tak\n\n**U Tak** (우탁, 禹倬; also romanized Woo Tak) was a Confucian scholar and civil official of the Goryeo dynasty, who died in 1342 at the age of 81.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [2](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/exm/exmView.aks?exmId=EXM_KM_5COc_1290_000724) He is remembered chiefly as the first scholar in Korea to master [Cheng Yi](https://www.edgepedia.org/cheng-yi)'s commentary on the *Yijing* (the *Jeongjeon*, 程傳) and to teach it to students, and for a dramatic remonstrance, delivered in white clothes while carrying an axe, against King Chungseon's conduct.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733) Later generations called him Yeokdong Seonsaeng (역동선생, the Master of Yi east of the sea).[3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733)\n\n| Fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Lineage | Danyang U clan (단양 우씨); son of U Cheongyu (우천규)[3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733) |\n| Dates | Born 1262 or 1263 (sources differ); died 1342, aged 81[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [2](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/exm/exmView.aks?exmId=EXM_KM_5COc_1290_000724) • [3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733) |\n| Names | Courtesy name Cheonjang (천장) or Takbo (탁보); pen names Baegun (백운) and Danam (단암); honorific Yeokdong Seonsaeng[3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733) |\n| Offices | Yeonghae sarok (1278 onward), Gamchal gyujeong (1308), retired as Seonggyun chaeju[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [4](http://www.cctimes.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=843322) |\n| Signature act | Axe-bearing memorial (지부상소) against King Chungseon's affair with Sukchang Wonbi, 1308[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [5](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART003093099) |\n| Scholarly claim to fame | First to master and teach Cheng Yi's *Yijing* commentary in Korea, after about a month of closed-door study[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733) |\n| Posthumous title | Munhui (문희)[3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733) |\n\n## Origins and family\n\nU Tak belonged to the Danyang U clan.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733)\n\nHis birth year is given as 1262 (Wonjong 3, the imul year) or as 1263 (Wonjong 4).[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [2](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/exm/exmView.aks?exmId=EXM_KM_5COc_1290_000724) • [3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733) All sources agree on the death year, 1342, at age 81.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [2](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/exm/exmView.aks?exmId=EXM_KM_5COc_1290_000724)\n\n## Career\n\nU Tak studied in the school of [An Hyang](https://www.edgepedia.org/an-hyang) and became a hyanggong jinsa (a provincial examination graduate) at 17.[6](https://www.ggilbo.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=1106306) His hyanggong jinsa and his examination pass are dated 1278 (Chungnyeol 4), leading to his first post as Yeonghae sarok (a district record keeper).[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733) His examination pass is also dated 1290 (Chungnyeol 16), seventh place in the byeongwa among 31 successful candidates on the Gyeongin list, at age 29, under the examiner Jeong Gasin.[2](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/exm/exmView.aks?exmId=EXM_KM_5COc_1290_000724) • [6](https://www.ggilbo.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=1106306)\n\nAt Yeonghae he found the people devoting costly sacrifices to the shrine of the Pallyeong (팔령, Eight Bells) spirit, declared it a monster, and destroyed the shrine; the *Goryeosa* biography records that he smashed the bells and threw them into the sea.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733) • [7](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040149)\n\nIn 1308, the year of King Chungseon's accession, he became Gamchal gyujeong (감찰규정, a censorial post).[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733) When King Chungseon took his own father's concubine, Sukchang Wonbi, as a lover, U Tak entered the palace dressed in white, carrying an axe, and bearing a mat on his back, ready for punishment, and submitted a remonstrance (the so-called axe-bearing memorial, 지부상소).[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733) • [5](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART003093099) He then withdrew to his home region to study.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148)\n\nKing Chungsuk, who admired his loyalty, summoned him repeatedly, and he finally retired with the office of Seonggyun chaeju, head of the National Academy.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733) His successive posts are listed as Yeonghae sarok, Tongsa sa-in, Gamchal gyujeong, and [Seonggyungwan](https://www.edgepedia.org/seonggyungwan) jeju.[4](http://www.cctimes.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=843322) In retirement at Yean he taught the Cheng-Zhu learning (정주학) newly arriving from Yuan China: when Cheng Yi's commentary on the *Zhouyi* first arrived no one in Korea understood it, but U Tak shut his door, mastered it in about a month (달포), and taught it to his students.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733) The *Goryeosa* adds that his divinations were never wrong.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733)\n\n## Political influence\n\nHis remonstrance set a public example of censorial courage at the risk of death.[6](https://www.ggilbo.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=1106306) • [5](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART003093099) His act was recorded in the *Goryeosa* biographies and later in Kwon Geun's *Donghyeonsaryak*, Yu Hui-chun's *Sokmonggu*, and Sim Gwang-se's *Haedongakbu*.[5](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART003093099) The axe-bearing memorial itself became an institution of protest: it was revived by [Jo Heon](https://www.edgepedia.org/jo-heon) in mid-Joseon and by Choi Ik-hyeon in 1876, when protesting the unequal commercial treaty with Japan, and the three texts are together called Korea's three axe-bearing memorials.[5](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART003093099)\n\nHis teaching had the longer institutional life. By transmitting Cheng Yi's *Yijing* commentary he opened the study of moral-principle (義理) interpretation of the Changes in Korea, and a 2024 study argues that this shaped Joseon Neo-Confucian self-cultivation centered on sincerity and reverence (誠敬) and opened the lineage of later Joseon dohak (Korean Neo-Confucian moral learning).[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [8](https://doi.org/10.46264/toegye.2024.155.01) He is also credited with students including [Yi Saek](https://www.edgepedia.org/yi-saek), with whom Jeong Mongju and Jeong Dojeon later studied.[6](https://www.ggilbo.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=1106306)\n\n## Death and successors\n\nU Tak died in 1342, in the third year of King Chunghye's restoration, at age 81.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [2](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/exm/exmView.aks?exmId=EXM_KM_5COc_1290_000724) He received the posthumous title Munhui (문희), honoring his learning and conduct.[3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733) • [6](https://www.ggilbo.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=1106306) His retirement village at Seonyang-dong in Andong, later called Jisam-ri for the three virtues of dohak, loyalty, and integrity, is now submerged by a dam.[6](https://www.ggilbo.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=1106306)\n\n## Historians' assessment\n\nA 2024 study in *Toegye Studies* characterizes U Tak's Yijing thought as fundamentally based on divinatory learning (占筮易學) while aspiring to Neo-Confucian moral-principle interpretation (義理易學), uniting natural law with moral duty through the practice of loyal righteousness, and summarizes it as a moral-principle learning pursuing timeliness (時中) in the unity of knowledge and action.[8](https://doi.org/10.46264/toegye.2024.155.01) • [9](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/landing/article.kci?arti_id=ART002646365) The same study reads his death-defying remonstrance to Chungseon as embodying the practical dohak of Song Neo-[Confucianism](https://www.edgepedia.org/confucianism).[8](https://doi.org/10.46264/toegye.2024.155.01) His axe-bearing memorial has also been studied in the history of Korean protest writing, and his sijo poems are read alongside Jeong Mongju's within the East Asian tradition of mind-body unity.[5](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART003093099) • [10](https://www.earticle.net/Article/A393363)\n\n## Legacy\n\nIn 1570 (Seonjo 3), on the proposal of the philosopher [Yi Hwang](https://www.edgepedia.org/yi-hwang), who esteemed U Tak's dissemination of the *Yijing* in Korea, the Yeokdong Seowon (역동서원) was founded at Yean; it was demolished in 1871 (Gojong 8), restored in 1966, and the neighboring Gugye Seowon was moved onto the campus of Yeungnam University.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148) • [3](http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733) • [5](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART003093099) Local tradition at Yeonghae keeps a folklore figure of the scholar: it says he destroyed seven of the eight Pallyeong spirits and spared one at the people's plea, which survives as the Danggo-gae seonang, and credits him with magic drawn from his mastery of the *Zhouyi*, such as subduing frogs and tigers with written charms.[7](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040149) LTI Korea's library records 15 original works under his name.[11](https://library.ltikorea.or.kr/writer/200708)\n\n## References\n\n1. 우탁 - 한국민족문화대백과사전, https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040148\n2. 한국역대인물 종합정보 시스템 - 고려문과 1290년 경인방 기록, http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/exm/exmView.aks?exmId=EXM_KM_5COc_1290_000724\n3. 한국역대인물 종합정보 시스템 - 우탁(禹倬), http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/dirSer/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_5COc_A1263_1_0007733\n4. 단양에서 피어난 도학의 뿌리, 우탁(禹倬) - 충청타임즈, http://www.cctimes.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=843322\n5. 우탁의 지부상소 연구 (KCI), https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART003093099\n6. 방경태의 문학산책: 한국 성리학의 초석을 다진 역동 우탁, https://www.ggilbo.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=1106306\n7. 우탁 설화 - 한국민족문화대백과사전, https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0040149\n8. 역동 우탁의 역학사상과 역학사적 지위, 퇴계학와 한국문화 (2024), https://doi.org/10.46264/toegye.2024.155.01\n9. 역동 우탁의 역학사상과 역학사적 지위 (KCI), https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/landing/article.kci?arti_id=ART002646365\n10. 고시조에 나타난 신체어 연구 (earticle), https://www.earticle.net/Article/A393363\n11. U Tak | LTI Korea Digital Library, https://library.ltikorea.or.kr/writer/200708\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Asian history › Korea › Goryeo (918 to 1392) › Late Goryeo (1270–1392)*\n\n*Initially written Sep 24, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/u-tak", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/u-tak.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"U Tak\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/u-tak. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[U Tak](https://www.edgepedia.org/u-tak)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/u-tak](https://www.edgepedia.org/u-tak). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"U Tak\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/u-tak. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "U Tak was a Goryeo dynasty Confucian scholar and official who died in 1342, the first in Korea to master and teach Cheng Yi's Yijing commentary." }