 He was a member of the "Eastern faction", and a follower of Yi Hwang.Ryu was born in Hahoe Maeul, Andong, Gyeongsang province (today a UNESCO World Heritage Site), to a "yangban" family of the Munhwa Ryu clan.Ryu is said to have been so precocious that he absorbed the teachings of Confucius and Mencius at the age of 8.