Munhwa Yu clan

As of 2000, more than 600,000 people have surname of Yu or Ryu (柳) in South Korea. Over 280,000 indivisuals of them are Munhwa Yu (文化 柳), and there are other people with Jeonju (全州), Jinju (晉州), Goheung (高興), Gangneung (江陵), Seosan (瑞山), and Pungsan (豐山) as their first ancestor's hometown. In the past, all of surname Ryu were believed to be from Munhwa Yu clan, but now there are variable opinions that the ancestry is different depending on the origin.

Ryu Cha-dal (大丞公 柳車達), the founder of Munhwa Yu Clan, was born in Yuju (儒州=文化縣), Hwanghae-do in North Korea. He was received the title of Daeseung (大丞) as a meritorious aristocrat at the founding of Korea (高麗) dynasty in the beginning of the 10th century.

The Munhwa Yu clan has been referred to as one of the 4 great families during the Korea Dynasty and the 8 noble families during the Josun Dynasty. Moreover, the family history books of the Munhwa Yu clan, Youngrakbo (永樂譜, 1423) and Gajeongbo (嘉靖譜, 1562), inaugurated a new standard of the genealogical records with the Andong Kwon (安東 權) Clan Seonghwa (成化譜, 1476) etc. in Korean gentries. Those are widely known as world-class literatures on genealogy research, regardless of East and West.