Fuji Kawashima, 1938-2006

The Korean Studies mailing list has been full of people’s recollections of the the Koreanist Fuji Kawashima of Bowling Green State University, who died recently. If you are not on the list and want to read what people are saying you can look here. There is also an obituary here.

I did not know this important scholar or his work on the yangban society of Chosŏn, so I thought that for readers of Frog in a Well the most useful way to remember him might be to provide a list of some of his publications in English (taken from the Korean History Bibliography compiled by the Centre for Korean Studies at the University of Hawai’i):
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Symposium Commemorating the Completion of the Occupation Period Magazine Article Database

The Prange Archive online magazine article database for the occupation period was an absolutely essential tool for me in my most recent research project. If you are in Tokyo in April, you might want to attend some of these great looking talks, which includes a speech discussing the database by the project’s founder, 山本武利, and one panel with 鶴見俊輔 as commentator:

■占領期雑誌記事情報データベース完成記念 講演会・シンポジウム■
    ——占領期の雑誌メディアをひらく——

主催:20世紀メディア研究所/早稲田大学現代政治経済研究所
日時:2006年4月9日(日曜日)午前10時〜午後5時40分
場所:早稲田大学国際会議場
参加費:無料

      司会:土屋礼子(大阪市立大学教授)
・午前10時〜午前12時
研究報告
 原田健一(東洋大学講師)綴方と映画——山本嘉次郎の試み
 三澤真美恵(日本大学文理学部教員)台湾総督府の映画統制:1942−1945年

・午後1時00分〜午後1時20分
 講演:山本武利(早稲田大学政治経済学術院教授)占領期雑誌記事情報データベースの性格

・午後1時30分〜午後2時50分
 記念講演:鶴見俊輔
      若き哲学者の占領期雑誌ジャーナリズム活動

・午後3時〜午後5時30分
 シンポジウム:占領期雑誌の諸相
   司会:谷川建司(早稲田大学政治学研究科助教授)
 基調報告
 川崎賢子(文芸評論家、早稲田大学講師):
   占領期雑誌に読む「大衆」概念の変容と文芸ジャンルの再編
 コメンテーター 鶴見俊輔
 パネラー
  十重田裕一(早稲田大学文学学術院教授):川端康成作品への検閲
  梅森直之(早稲田大学政治経済学術院教授):右翼雑誌のGHQへの抵抗活動
  加藤敬子(関西学院大学講師):婦人雑誌における生活情報
  吉田則昭(立教大学社会学部・創価大学文学部講師):
    占領期雑誌にみるソビエト文化の受容について

・午後5時30分〜40分
  閉会にあたって:福島鋳郎(日本出版学会員)戦後雑誌蒐集の動機と当時の出版事情

*午前中の研究報告は、20世紀メディア研究所の4月の月例研究会を兼ねます。
*詳細は、20世紀メディア研究所ホームページhttp://www8.ocn.ne.jp/~m20th/をご覧ください。
*会場の定員は96名ですので、当日は、早めにお出かけください。参加予約の受け付けはいたしません。

思想なき追憶はどこへ行くのか 「大和ミュージアム」の感想

 はじめまして。

 この度「井の中の蛙」に参加させていただくことになりました佐々木啓(Kei SASAKI)と申します。
 日本の埼玉県(Saitama Prefecture)というところに住んでおります。

 現在早稲田大学大学院文学研究科博士後期課程に在籍し、日本近現代史、特に戦時期における労働力動員、徴用制度について研究しております。徴用のほかに関心を持っているテーマは、労働にまつわるイデオロギー、労働運動、社会運動、社会政策、兵役、総力戦体制、「銃後」の文化・社会秩序、「病人」の歴史などなどです。

 ここに参加することになったのは、今年の1月に僕のホームページをご覧になったLawsonさんからお誘いのメールを頂いたことに端を発します。来日中のLawsonさんに実際にお会いして色々とお話をうかがってみて、インターネット上で歴史研究に関する国境を越えた交流ができるということに大きな魅力を感じ、参加させていただくことにしました。以後、よろしくお願いいたします。

 なお、「日本人参加者にはぜひ日本語で記事を書いてもらいたい」というふうに言っていただいているので、お言葉に甘えて日本語で書かせていただきたいと思います。もちろん英語で頂いたコメントには英語で答える所存です(がんばります)。

 さて、以下本題です。

 2月末に広島県に徴用関係の資料調査のため出かけてきたのですが、そのついでに同県呉市にある大和ミュージアム(Yamato Museum)を観てきたので、その簡単な紹介と感想を述べたいと思います。

 大和ミュージアムとは、別名「呉市海事歴史科学館」(The Kure Maritime Museum)といって、近代日本において代表的な軍港として栄えた呉市の運営する博物館です(2005年4月に開館)。この博物館は、呉の歴史や科学技術について展示、紹介するのが基本なのですが、目玉の展示物は、なんといってもアジア・太平洋戦争中世界最大の戦艦と呼ばれた「大和」の模型です(全長23メートルぐらい、実物の10分の1の大きさ)。 

 この博物館の名称にもなっている戦艦「大和」は、1937年11月から41年12月にかけて呉海軍工廠で製造された戦艦で、当時日本の科学技術の粋を集めたものと謳われていました。しかし、戦線の後退の中で結局「大和」はその“真価”を発揮することのないまま、45年4月、沖縄への特攻作戦の途上で米軍機動部隊艦載機の攻撃で多くの乗組員と共に沈没しました。

 片道分の燃料しか積まず、“愛する人々のため”に「一億特攻のさきがけ」として沈没したこの戦艦について、強い思い入れを抱いている日本人も多く、しばしば「大和」は“悲劇の戦艦”として、一種のセンチメンタリズム、ロマンチシズムと共に顧みられたりします。

 これに加えて昨年公開された映画「男たちの大和」の影響もあって、大和ミュージアムは順調に客足を伸ばしつづけ、昨年11月の段階ですでに100万人の来館者を迎えたそうです。僕が行ったのは平日の昼間だったのですが、それでも多くの来館者にあふれ、記念グッズ売り場は長蛇の列と化しておりました。

 問題は、いま、この「大和」をどう語るのかというところにあります。

 大和ミュージアムでは、沖縄特攻に参加した戦艦「大和」の乗組員たちの写真や名簿、遺書や手紙が紹介されています。家族への思いや死を前にした悲壮な感慨を綴る手紙などは、やはりなかなか心をうつもので、戦争の悲惨さ、平和の尊さを伝えるためには効果を発するものと言えます。ズラーっと並べられた若い乗組員たちの写真を見ても、なぜこんなに沢山の未来ある若者が死なねばならなかったのかと、その理不尽さをしみじみと思います。

 しかし、こうした「なぜ」に答える展示は、実はこのミュージアムにはありません。
 戦争は自然に起こるものではなく、誰かの手によってはじめられなければならないことは言うまでもありませんが、「大和」が戦った戦争が、なぜ、何のために、どのようにして、誰の手によって始まったのか、という問題はここでは不問に付されたままです。

 大和ミュージアムは「我が国の歴史と平和の大切さを認識していただく」ことをその趣旨として掲げております(同ホームページ)。たしかに展示から「戦争の悲惨さ」は分かりますので、転じて「平和の大切さ」を知ることもできるかもしれません。しかし、そうした戦争が起こるに至った経緯や仕組み、考え方の誤り、「大和」の乗組員を死に至らしめた国家や社会、人々のあり方を問わないまま獲得される「平和の大切さ」というのは、一体どれほどの意味があるのでしょうか? 「平和」を大切にしたいのであれば、どのようにして「平和」が脅かされ、戦争に至ったのか、その経験をこそしっかりとつかむべきだと思うのですが。

 大和ミュージアムの展示全体としては、1880年代に呉に鎮守府や海軍工廠が設置されるところから時系列的に並べられていきます。海軍整備の時代から、技術修得の時代(~日清日露戦争期)を経て、生産と管理の合理化(大正~昭和初期)が進み、「大和」が作られ、「太平洋戦争」へと進み、戦後「平和産業港湾都市」として再生されていく様子までが追われます。

 その時々の市民生活の様子なども紹介されていますが、全体としては科学技術の発展が基軸となって展示全体が構成されていることが分かります。戦前戦中と海軍工廠において培かわれた科学技術は、いまの時代にも受け継がれているということが強調されるわけです。

 大和についても、その「悲劇」性についての紹介に加えて、「国力面におけるアメリカ側の“量”的優位に対し、日本が“質”で対抗しようとした艦であり、当時の最新技術の結晶と言えるものでした。その技術は日本の復興と高度成長を支え現代にも受け継がれています」(『常設展示図録』)とまとめられています。

 科学技術の発展の足跡を振り返るのはいいのですが、しかし、殺戮兵器を造ってきたことに対する後ろめたさみたいなものはもう少しあっても良いのではないでしょうか。軍需産業が日本の重工業の近代化を推し進めたり、科学技術の発展と結びついたというのは正しい把握だと思いますし、それが現代の技術の基盤となっているのもそうなんだろうと思うわけですが、それだけの説明に終ってしまって本当に良いのかどうか。

 問題は、平和的に友好的に使えば素晴らしい成果をもたらしてくれるはずの科学技術というものが、他国の人々を殺戮するために利用されたという事実そのものではないかと思います。戦争の評価を抜きにして、科学技術の歴史を振り返るなら、それは確かに進歩と発展の歴史となるでしょう。しかし、それで「平和の大切さ」をつかむことができるのかどうか、どうにも疑わしいと思います。

 さて、ダラダラと長い文章を書いてしまいましたが、そろそろまとめます。

 結局のところ、大和ミュージアムの展示には大事な部分での「思想」がないと思うのです。「大和」の悲劇、戦前戦中の科学技術の高度さ、これを表現すること自体が悪いとは言いません。問題は、日本が行ってきたところの種々の戦争の評価を避けているがゆえに、情緒的ではあるが、論理的ではない歴史展示になってしまっていることです。「大和」の悲劇について、なぜそれが起こったのかという説明をするために必要な展示がここにはなく、呉の科学技術について、それがもたらしてしまった加害の問題がここではすっぽりと抜け落ちています。ただただ無条件の追憶とも言える情感だけが浮遊しているように見えます。

 歴史を語る上で肝要な部分の評価を不問に付した追憶は、一体どこに向かうのでしょうか。
 しかし、こういう思想抜きの歴史は、すぐに壁に突き当たるはずです。

 例えば外国の方からは、おそらく次のような批判が出るでしょう。「侵略された側の視点も取り入れるべきだ」、「日本人の被害や苦しみばかり描いて、侵略戦争を推進した責任についてはまったく触れていないのは問題だ」などなど。日本が実際に遂行した戦争そのものの評価を放棄したこのミュージアムは、そうした批判にどう答えるのでしょうか。

The Case of Taiwa Shinron

In addition to preparing for my oral exams, the most significant project I have been working on recently involves research on the early US occupation period in Japan and especially the postwar fate of Japan’s pan-Asianism. The sources I have looked at so far are almost exclusively early occupation period magazines and journals, all of which were under censorship by SCAP authorities. Despite the obstacles that a system of censorship poses for a research project like this, I found what I believe to be some interesting discoveries.

1) Wartime language, symbols, and stock phrases almost completely disappear in the early postwar publications of Japan, including those calling for political, economic, and spiritual union with Asia.

2) A significant number of intellectuals who supported Japanese imperialism and pushed for pan-Asian unity during the war, both from the “left” and the “right” join together with many old-fashioned “liberal” internationalists whose voices largely drop out during wartime to support a brief but significant movement supporting world federalism. In other words, a broader transnational idealism persists into the early postwar period and is at its strongest up until the outbreak of the Korean war.

The second of these two is where I think I have something important and original to say and I will try to make time to post more about my research in this area here at some future point. The first of these, however, you might call my, “Duh!” thesis. It seems fairly obvious that in the aftermath of war, with the wartime regime fallen into almost universal disrepute, with US propaganda and occupation censorship in full swing, and with the left at its most powerful in decades, wartime language and symbols are not going to be in vogue. By making use of the wonderful Prange collection of occupation period magazines, complete with US censorship documents and the actual censors comments and markings on the original submissions, I can confirm that whether due to self-censorship or some other reason – there are few articles which even try to submit something using any of the familiar wartime expressions.

However, there is at least one very interesting exception to this that I came across which, after much feedback, I have decided to drop completely from my writing on this topic. This is the case of an obscure Ibaraki prefecture publication that goes by the name of Taiwa Shinron (大和新論)and it is interesting to me because, while it is quite representative of the kind of early postwar global-oriented “transnational idealism” I have found to be so strong at the time, it continued to use the now discredited idiom of Japan’s wartime empire.
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The use “chunghung”

Does anyone have any thought or evidence on whether the use of chunghung (restoration/renovation/rejuvenation) during the Park Chung Hee years was generic or deliberate in an historicized way?

I refer specifically to the evocation of the term in the slogan “minjok chunghung” (national restoration) and the use in “munye chunghung (culture and art renovation) 5 year plan.”

I am wondering if it is possible to consider whether the use of the term chunghung was purposefully designed to evoke its deep Chinese/Confucian connection. Mary Wright’s book on the T’ung Chih Restoration (The Last Stand of Chinese Conservatism) provides a good chapter on the term’s significance in Chinese dynastic history. Andre Schmid’s Korea Between Empires has two mentions of the use of chunghung to refer to Kojong’s efforts with the Taehan jeguk (Kojong chunghung?). Bruce Cumings mentioned in a manuscript review that minjok chunghung was a term that has colonial origins (although by who and in what source I am not sure).

In an earlier brief discussion on the Korean Studies Discussion List on the term “yusin,” Prof. Ledyard talked about the Chinese/Confucian roots of that term and speculated that Park Chung Hee was very possibly aware and deliberately used the term with that connection in mind. Vladimir Tikhonov in the same discussion speculated that Park’s educational advisor Park Chong-hong would have known that historical significance and would have been in a position to advise PCH and that the evocation of the term/concept embedded in Chinese imperial ideology was “hardly accidental.”

I wonder if we can make a similar inference about chunghung. Better yet, does anyone have any evidence that can take us beyond speculation.

Jiyul Kim

Asian History Carnival Coming Soon!

I will be hosting the third edition of the Asian History Carnival on Sunday, March 5. Deadline for nominations of posts — anything about Asian history written since the last edition in mid-December — is Saturday, March 4th.

You can send nominations to me (jonathan at froginawell dot net) or use the handy Blog Carnival Submission Form.

Spread the word!

Asian History Carnival Coming Soon!

I will be hosting the third edition of the Asian History Carnival on Sunday, March 5. Deadline for nominations of posts — anything about Asian history written since the last edition in mid-December — is Saturday, March 4th.

You can send nominations to me (jonathan at froginawell dot net) or use the handy Blog Carnival Submission Form.

Spread the word!

New version of Yorha Ilgi discovered

It’s always exciting when something new and exciting is discovered getting dusty in a forgotten corner of a library somewhere. This time it’s an early nineteenth century version of Pak Chi-won’s (朴趾源) Yorha Ilgi (熱河日記), a travelogue of the writer’s journey to Beijing in 1780, when he accompanied his older brother on a diplomatic mission. What makes this different is that it’s written in vernacular Korean. In other words, it’s a very early translation of the original text written in literary Chinese. In fact it’s the only complete translation of the text found to date. According to the Korea Times it was discovered in the library of Tokyo University by a Seoul National University professor. We have a few of these han’gŭl manuscripts at SOAS, mostly very well-thumbed late nineteenth-century novels, but could there be a lost treasure among them?

Other Well-dwellers

Some years ago while studying in Beijing I bought a good number of nicely bound hardback volumes from a series entitled the “Library of Chinese Classics” (大中华文库, published by the 外文出版社 and 湖南人民出版社 in 1999), which includes many of the standard Chinese philosophical works one might expect to find in such a collection. What I found so delightful about the collection was the very useful way it put the original classical Chinese together with a modern Chinese translation of the classics on the left side of each page, along with an English translation on the right side of the page. In addition to letting me see how certain classical Chinese phrases are rendered into modern Chinese, it made it easier for me to find the original literary Chinese when I’m looking for a particular passage I have seen in other translations.

After a failed attempt in China, I’m taking first year “literary Chinese” again this year and after a semester of mostly reading some famous accounts of great assassins, we have moved on to Mengzi (classical Chinese is one of those wonderful languages where first year students dive straight into reading great literature). I often refer to other translations as a check on my own pitiful attempts and learn a lot from the ways various scholars have approached difficult passages. Unfortunately, from the perspective of English readability, the English translation in the above mentioned series is usually the worst I have come across. Many sentences feel like direct literal translations and are often horribly bland. While I’m in no position to evaluate the accuracy of this relatively new work, even if it were to trump all previous translations by correcting various egregious errors or misunderstandings, I wouldn’t want to use it by itself. Look, though, what one of the English editors, Chu Zhida, has to say in the introduction to the Mengzi volume in this series after he has listed other existing translations of the work:

“From the above-mentioned translations and theses we can see, Mencius bears certain influences in the west. But in modern cultural, the flow-in and flow-out are not balanced. Those flowing out were most completed by foreign missionaries, and later introduced and translated by foreign sinologists. Those completed by Chinese scholars especially systematic introduction are next to none. Since the study of the Chinese traditional culture has been orientated by the westerners, it sounds that the secondary supersedes the primary. As a foreigner, even if he is a sinologist, his knowledge of Chinese ancient history and cultural background is surely limited. As a result of the great differences between the east and the west, those translations and reviews must have born some negative influences. The author once wrote an article entitled Comments on James Legge’s Translation of Two Passages from Mencius (published in Chinese Translators Journal, the 6th issue of 1995), in which he pointed out: The work of translating The Four Books and Five Classics had better be completed by Chinese scholars in certain institutions and in a planned way and a number of learned scholars should join the work led by an authoritative administration, thus making those Chinese national treasures have better versions of foreign languages and become an important component of the world cultural treasure-house….As a translator it is an honour for the author to join part of the work. Working as a reviser of the English version of Mencius gave him an excellent opportunity to learn. Mencius mainly translated by Professor Zhao Zhentao is of high quality and better than the earlier versions such as J. Legge’s. It is worth admiring.” (41, my bold)

Fortunately, the English in the translation of the main text is at least better than Chu’s own introduction. What can we say of the claim made here though? On the surface it seems fairly harmless, if not common sensical to suggest that “foreigners” are at a distinct disadvantage when attempting to tackle such great Chinese classics, and it is certainly not controversial to claim that their knowledge is “limited.”

However, Chu is making the stronger claim that the translation of such works should be left to Chinese scholars. The result of this in this particular case, as I have indicated, was a translation that judged on its English alone, left much to be desired. The solution, of course, would have been better cooperation between the Chinese scholars and translators on this project, and truly fluent and eloquent English speakers (of any origin) who could have pointed out the many places where the resulting English prose suffered.

While the discussion here is specifically about translation, this issue is closely related to one that many of us “foreigners” who study East Asia must face time and time again. Must all of us humbly concede at the start of our careers that due to our “limited knowledge” and “cultural background” everything we do must be tainted with whatever Chu means to imply with the term “negative influences”? Must we confess that we can never truly do important and inspiring work in the field of, say for example, Chinese history and constrain ourselves to the subordinate task of introducing this room of the world’s “cultural treasure-house” to the ignorant West? Indeed, doesn’t the title of this website, 井底之蛙, suggest that we have already submitted to the verdict?

I think many of us would contest all of the above, and dismiss many such attacks as arrogant nativism. However, as this passage suggests, it is still more common than we might like to think. A friend of mine who studied early Japanese poetry for her dissertation was told by the professor she was to work with during her time in Japan that, “Foreigners can’t possibly understand the Manyôshû.” She had to switch to another professor, at another university, who had more faith her capacities.

It will always be the case that well-trained “native” scholars will be able to read more, faster, and will in many cases have “better instincts” on interpreting various material. I for one am constantly reminded of my own linguistic limitations, not to mention my vast areas of ignorance when I was doing some of my research in Tokyo and Taiwan, especially when compared to others I met there sharing my interests. However, I have also encountered plenty of counterexamples to the latter “better instincts” claim, especially with scholars who may have spent greater time studying and working with certain kinds of material than their “native” counterparts. Whatever raw skills we attribute to certain individuals, however, and however easily we dismiss the idea of an innately superior interpretive ability of a people for their “own” history, it doesn’t change the fact that all of us studying the history of East Asia suffer from severe limits to our vision (and I don’t mean to suggest by this metaphor that there is one “complete picture” out there to be seen), whether we are working/raised in the United States or in Taiwan, China, etc. That, I believe, is what I had in mind when starting out on this 井底之蛙 project. I would love to see more interaction between graduate students and professors in the less formal and hierarchical setting of a weblog like this, between academically minded students/professors and the greater public interested in East Asian history, and between those of us studying East Asia “over here” and studying East Asia “over there.”

–As a final provocative afternote, I should mention that I feel strongly that the fact that Orals/Comprehensive Exam PhD reading lists are in many cases largely or sometimes completely limited to English language works is one of the first steps within the graduate education setting here to creating the mental divisions between “our academic” world and “their” academic world.

Duelling histories? Part 2

Continuing on the subject of the new, controversial history book 해방 전후사의 재인식 (‘A new understanding of Korea’s liberation’), I wanted to link to this rather helpful article from Joongang Daily which lists the contrasting views of the book and its more leftwing 1979 predecessor (해방 전후사의 인식) on a number of key subjects. And here is my even-more-simplified version of the same list:

1. Responsibility for the division of Korea:

(1979) It was Syngman Rhee’s fault basically.
(2006) Stalin gave the order to establish a government in North Korea in September 1945, so basically it was his fault.

2. Views of the Korean War:

(1979) It is one-sided to claim that North Korea invaded. It was actually a civil war [pace Bruce Cumings] to reunify the peninsula.
(2006) The Korean war was actually an international war, part of the USSR’s strategy of keeping the US in check.

3. Perspectives on Syngman Rhee:

(1979) Rhee was an anti-democratic American lackey
(2006) Rhee was a Machiavellian politician who made progress on the political/democratic front and laid some of the foundations for South Korea’s later economic growth.

4. Evaluation of North Korea’s Kim Il Sung:
(1979) Kim Il Sung got rid of (North) Korea’s colonial semi-feudal past and fostered a new democratic state.
(2006) Kim Il Sung organised North Korea after liberation like one of his guerilla units with mass mobilisation campaigns and the like.

5. Removing remnants of Japanese colonialism:

(1979) North Korea was successful in removing the remnants of Japanese colonialism while South Korea wasn’t due to US reluctance.
(2006) Remnants of Japanese colonialism continued in both North and South after liberation.

I have to say that on most of these issues I think I fall down on the side of the latest, supposedly rightwing, book. Since I am certainly not rightwing in my views of Korean history (or anything else), it does make me wonder again whether the Korean press have really been giving the correct impression of this book. I think part of the problem here is that the left-right debate over history (and other things) is perceived in a certain way in South Korea, for historical reasons.

In the past it has been a confrontation between authoritarian anti-communism and Stalinism. The problem is that both sides in this equation have really been disintegrating over the last decade or more. Hence this attempt to create a new more ‘rational’ right that disassociates itself from the authoritarian past, is not obsessed with ‘reds under the bed’ and accepts the achievements of Korea’s democracy movement. On the other side there are also now many on the left who do not accept the left-nationalist version of Korean history that is basically an application of Stalinist ideas straight out of 1950s Soviet textbooks. I suppose the ironic thing here is that a number of the centrist/liberal politicians who are currently in power with Roh Moo-hyun’s government were closely associated with the 1979 book or the left-nationalist movement of the 1980s and so perhaps have a closer allegiance to the ideas that it contains than do people who are to their left.

For some further reading on the reaction to this book you can have a look at this article from Oh My News, which reports on a recent speech by Sŏ Chung-sŏk, head of the 역사문제연구소, or Institute for Korean Historical Studies (who publish the journal 역사비평). He makes a couple of interesting points. First, he thinks that this book has been published for political reasons and it is strange that they are specifically attacking such an old book since the work of many progressive scholars has since revised a lot of what was said in the original 1979 book. He also claims that many of the people who have written articles for the new book are not specialists annd hence their work is somewhat suspect. This sounds like a bit of a cheap point, but if you look at Sŏ’s own publications list he certainly is in a position to comment on the historiography of the postwar period.

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