They were one of the "Great Eight Families" (Daeseongpaljok, 大姓八族) of Baekje: (Sa (沙氏), Yeon (燕氏), Hyeop (劦氏), Hae (解氏), Jin (眞氏), Guk (國氏), Mok (木氏), and Baek (苩氏)). For generations the Jin monopolized providing queens for the Royal Family along with their rival, the Hae clan. This helped them gain high court positions in the government and military.[1][2] The character (眞) means "real, actual, true, genuine".
After the Battle at Mt. Amak fortress (阿莫山城) against Silla during the beginning of the reign of King Mu of Baekje the Great Eight Families lost a great deal of power. Among the families the Hae clan (who had led the battle), Hyeop, Jin and Mok disappeared from the central political stage leaving only the Yeon, Guk and Baek clans. The Sa clan promoted their influence by military force and produced a queen in the late reign of Mu of Baekje.
They did not lose their status as central nobles during the reign of the last King, Uija of Baekje by colluding with royal authority. The Buyeo clan (the royal family, 扶餘氏) acquired influence with the collapse of the Great Eight Families. After King Uija acceded the throne, royal might was also divided and the lineal descendant of the royal clan with the king as its center was in control of political situation. Among the Great Eight Families, Yeon and Baek clans fell behind and only clans of Sa and Guk maintained their status as central nobles. In the late Baekje all the Great Eight Families except for Sa and Guk clans lost their status as the central nobles and were degraded to local influence at last.[3]
InYamato period Japan the members of the royal family were called "Mahito" (眞人, 真人) also read as "Jin person" and many scholars believe this implies a connection with the Jin clan of Baekje and the Imperial Line of Japan.[4][5]
214: Jin Gwa (眞果) of "North-bu" (northern district) is ordered to attack a Mal-gal castle. He led 1,000 soldiers to attack and take the Mohe castle of Seokmun.
Queen: name unknown but is from the Jin clan. She was sister of the Prime Minister Jin Mu (眞武) who also served the next king.
390: Jin Gamo (眞嘉謨) is ordered to attack Goguryeo and captured To-kon-seong and 200 prisoners. He was appointed Jwa'pyeong in charge of military affairs.
393: Jin Mu (眞武) was appointed "Jwa'jang" (Commanding General) and entrusted with military affairs. He was the King's maternal uncle. Attacked Goguryeo in 393 and 395, died 407.
478: Jin Nam (眞男) who was a General was sent with 2,000 men to capture Daedu Castle from the rebels Yeon Sin and Hae Gu but he failed.
478: Jin Ro (眞老) who was a General was sent after Jin Nam's failure with 500 men and defeated the rebels. Yeon Sin fled to Goguryeo and the Jin clan gained strength.
Content in this article was copied from Samguk Sagi Scroll 23 at the Shoki Wiki, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA 3.0) license.
