Nami Janggun Shrine

Quick facts

Address

Yongmun-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul

About this place

The Nami Janggun shrine stands in Yongmun-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and the shrine rite held here on the first day of the tenth lunar month is designated intangible heritage of Seoul. General Nam I was born in 1441, passed the military examination at seventeen, and at twenty-six put down Yi Si-ae’s revolt and drove back the Jurchen, rising to Minister of War; he was beheaded at twenty-seven on a false charge brought by Yu Ja-gwang. The shrine rite is one held every year since a shrine was built about three hundred years ago, out of sorrow for a life that could not unfold its spirit and vanished as dew on the execution ground, to console his wronged spirit and honour his loyalty. Another account of the shrine’s origin holds that some five hundred years ago Nam I trained soldiers here in Yongmun-dong, and that his subordinates built it in later generations to commemorate him. On the first of the tenth month, with an eve rite and a great gut, residents have prayed for the dispelling of their cares and worries and for swift recovery. The whole sequence runs from the fundraising round through the receiving of flowers, the shrine rite, the shrine gut and the rite of thanks.

Origin and history

General Nam I was born in 1441, passed the military examination at seventeen, and at twenty-six put down Yi Si-ae’s revolt and drove back the Jurchen, rising to Minister of War; he was beheaded at twenty-seven on a false charge brought by Yu Ja-gwang.

The shrine rite is one held every year since a shrine was built about three hundred years ago, out of sorrow for a life that could not unfold its spirit and vanished as dew on the execution ground, to console his wronged spirit and honour his loyalty.

Another account of the shrine’s origin holds that some five hundred years ago Nam I trained soldiers here in Yongmun-dong, and that his subordinates built it in later generations to commemorate him.

On the first day of the tenth lunar month, with an eve rite and a great gut, residents have prayed for the dispelling of their cares and worries and for swift recovery, and the observance settled into the folk devotion of this district. The whole sequence runs from the fundraising round through the receiving of flowers, the shrine rite, the shrine gut and the rite of thanks.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  Nine years, examination to execution

  Born in 1441, he passed the military examination at seventeen and became Minister of War at twenty-six; he was beheaded at twenty-seven on a false charge.

  documented history

• Power spotProtection & SafetyHealth & Healing

  Where cares were prayed away

  On the first of the tenth lunar month, with a great gut, residents have prayed for the dispelling of their cares and worries and for swift recovery.

  folk tradition

• What people do here

  From the fundraising round to the rite of thanks

  The whole sequence runs through the fundraising round, the receiving of flowers, the shrine rite, the shrine gut and the rite of thanks.

  documented history

This shrine’s account is written in ages. Born 1441; the military examination at seventeen; Minister of War at twenty-six, after putting down a revolt and driving back the Jurchen; beheaded at twenty-seven on a false charge. Nine years from the examination to the execution ground.

The reason the shrine stands is in that last line. The record says it was out of sorrow for a life that could not unfold its spirit and vanished as dew on the execution ground, to console his wronged spirit and honour his loyalty. A man the state killed was taken back up by a neighbourhood.

Seoul’s other places are tangled with the state too. Heungcheonsa in Seongbuk-gu was raised by a king for his dead queen; Jingwansa in Eunpyeong-gu was built by one king and endowed by another, and gave up a national flag from inside a wall; at Bongwonsa in Seodaemun-gu, people who meant to change the state did their learning. Here, a man the state killed became a god.

What is asked for here is on the record: with a great gut, residents have prayed for the dispelling of cares and worries and for swift recovery. As for how the shrine came to be, two accounts are handed down together — that it was built about three hundred years ago to console him, and that his subordinates raised it where he had trained soldiers five hundred years ago.

Related guides

• Musok and gut — Korea’s living folk religionWho the mudang are and what a gut is. And what to do if you walk in on one.

Sources

1. 남이장군사당제(南怡將軍祠堂祭) — 한국민족문화대백과사전 (accessed 2026-08-16)