Muyejebo

[3] As the Imjin War dragged on for years, Korea needed a way to effectively and efficiently train a large number of troops, and the Korean military adopted a training methodology based on a Ming dynasty Chinese military manual called the Jixiao Xinshu (Hangul: 기효신서, Hanja: 紀效新書), written by the famed Chinese general, Qi Jiguang (戚继光).

The book was of particular interest to Koreans, as it was written by a Chinese commander who had successfully defeated a major Japanese pirate force that had landed along the Southeast coast of China mere decades before the Imjin War began.

His successor, King Gwanghaegun, continued the work of his father, which led to the publication of the Muyejebo sokjip (무예제보 속집, 武藝諸譜續集) by Choe Gi-nam (Hangul: 최기남, Hanja: 崔起南).

Around the time the book was to be published, four volumes of a Japanese martial arts manual were added as well, leading to the compilation of the Muyejebo Beonyeoksokjip (무예제보번역속집, 武藝諸譜飜譯續集) in 1610.

Both books, the Muyejebo and the Muyesinbo, formed the basis for the compilation of another, more famous Korean martial arts manual called the Muyedobotongji (Hangul: 무예도보통지, Hanja: 武藝圖譜通志), which was published in 1791.