After Itō Hirobumi’s assassination by An Chunggŭn, Japanese media tended to urge the Japanese government to adopt coercive policies toward Korea, under which Japan suppressed “Korean riots” and finally annexed Korea. However, there were also some Japanese intellectuals who viewed An’s action sympathetically. They shared the Confucian ideal of shishi (gentleman activist), a universal ethico-political model in pre-modern East Asia. This article will attempt to analyze the logic of these Japanese who endeavored to understand An’s action from the vantage point of Korea’s subalterns. An Chunggŭn’s self-legitimization of his act, based as well on pan-regional Confucian ethics, was appropriated by his Japanese sympathizers as a sort of shishi consciousness, sometimes undistinguishable from the “bushidō (Way of the warrior) spirit”. The appropriations happened differently in diverse milieus, including socialist and Christian circles. Most of them limited themselves to sympathizing with An’s sacrifice for the sake of his country’s independence, without an attempt to criticize imperialist discourses. Although remaining a tiny minority, Baba Kochō (a progressive author and translator, 1869–1940), Kōtoku Shūsui (a socialist activist, 1871–1911) and Kashiwagi Gien (a Christian activist, 1860–1938) criticized Japan’s imperialist turn and its violations of Korea’s sovereignty which eventually precipitated the assassination attempts against Japanese officials. Kōtoku even went further offering a revolutionary strategy of anarchist communism and anti-imperialism aimed at building class solidarity between Asian peoples. While Kashiwagi did not renounce nationalism per se, he was in a position to relativize it based on the universal truth of Christianity. This article aims at grasping the meanings and historical significance of the expressions of sympathetic understanding towards An’s act in Japan.
목차
Abstract AMBIVALENT JAPANESE MEDIA WAYS OF APPROPRIATING SHISHI IDEALS 1. Bushidō 2. Socialism and Direct Action 3. Christianity CONCLUSION REFERENCES
키워드
An Chunggŭnshishibushidōanti-imperialismsocialismChristianity
저자
LIM KYOUNGHWA [ a research professor at the Institute of Korean Studies, Yonsei University, Korea. ]
한국연구원은 1970년 5월 한국 민속의 각 분야에 걸친 자료의 수집과 학술적 연구를 목적으로 '한국민속연구소'로 출발하였다. 그 후 1973년 5월 연구 분야를 확대하며 민속뿐만 아니라 한국학 전반에 걸친 연구를 위해 '한국학연구소'로 개편하였고, 다시 1989년 3월 한국의 국제적 위상의 부상과 함께 한국학 연구의 중요성이 높아짐에 따라 '한국학연구원'으로 확대, 개편하였다. 한국학연구원은 한국학 전반에 걸친 연구를 통해 지역과 민족문화 발전에 기여하며 한국학의 세계화를 위해서 학술활동을 강화하고 나아가 내·외국인에 대한 한국문화 교육을 담당하고자 한다.