Gwisil Boksin

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Gwisil Boksin

Hangul	복신
Hanja	鬼室福信
Revised Romanization	Gwisil Boksin
McCune-Reischauer	Kwisil Pok-sin

Gwisil Boksin (?-663) was a military leader of the Korean kingdom of Baekje. He is remembered primarily as a leader of a movement for the restoration of Baekje after the kingdom fell in 660. He was a distant cousin of King Uija, Baekje's last recognized king. He was from the Gwisil Clan or Kwisil (鬼室; Japanese: Kishitsu).

In 660, Baekje was attacked by the allied armies of Silla and Tang Dynasty China. The capital, Sabi, was taken, but Boksin resisted near modern-day Yesan. After King Uija's surrender to Tang, Boksin and the monk Dochim kindled a restoration movement. They sent for the prince Buyeo Pung, who had been living as a hostage in Yamato period Japan, an important Baekje ally. With some Japanese aid, they gathered the remnants of the Baekje army and launched a series of attacks on the Silla-Tang forces.

In 663, Silla and Tang counterattacked, and besieged the restoration movement at a fortress known as Juryu Castle (주류성/周留城). At this point Boksin appears to have betrayed the restoration movement. He had Dochim killed and sought to slay Prince Pung as well. However, Pung killed him first, and fled to Goguryeo. The restoration movement was destroyed shortly thereafter at the Battle of Baekgang.

The location of Juryu Castle, at which Boksin's life came to an end, is now generally believed to be Ugeumam Mountain Fortress in Buan County, North Jeolla. [1]

Rites to propitiate the spirits of Boksin and Dochim are still held annually at the village of Eunsan-ri in Buyeo County, near the ancient Baekje capital.

His son Gwisil Jipsa (鬼室集斯 Kwisil Chip-sa; Japanese: Kishitsu Shushi) would migrate to Japan in the eighth year of Emperor Tenji (676). Shushi would be the ancestor of some Japanese clans such as the Kikuchi of Higo in Kyushu.^[1]