Discovering Korea at the Start of the Twentieth Century Articles from the first volumes of the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch Edited by Brother Anthony of Taizé President, RASKB Contents Preface ........................................................................................................ 1 The Influence of China upon Korea. ........................................................ 20 By Rev. Jas. S. Gale, B.A. [James Scarth Gale] ................................ 20 Korean Survivals. ..................................................................................... 41 By H. B. Hulbert, Esq., F.R.G.S. [Homer Bezaleel Hulbert] ............... 41 Inscription on Buddha at Eun-jin .............................................................. 65 Korea’s Colossal Image of Buddha. ......................................................... 69 By Rev. G. H. Jones. [George Heber Jones] ........................................ 69 The Spirit Worship of the Koreans. .......................................................... 83 By Rev. Geo. Heber Jones, M.A. [George Heber Jones] ..................... 83 Kang-Wha (江華) ................................................................................... 105 By Rev. M. N. Trollope, M. A. [Mark Napier Trollope] ................. 105 The Culture and Preparation of Ginseng in Korea. ................................ 137 By Rev. C. T. Collyer. [Charles T. Collyer] ....................................... 137 The Village Gilds of Old Korea ............................................................. 149 P. L. Gillett [Philip Loring Gillett] ..................................................... 149 Marriage Customs of Korea. .................................................................. 177 By Arthur Hyde Lay. .......................................................................... 177 Selection and Divorce. ............................................................................ 191 By J. S. Gale. [James Scarth Gale] ..................................................... 191 The History of Korean Medicine. ........................................................... 197 N. H. Bowman, M.D. [Newton H. Bowman] ..................................... 197 The Pagoda of Seoul. .............................................................................. 221 By J. S. Gale. [James Scarth Gale] ..................................................... 221 ii Hunting and Hunters’ Lore in Korea. ..................................................... 241 By H. H. Underwood. ......................................................................... 241 Gold Mining in Korea............................................................................. 259 Edwin W. Mills. ................................................................................. 259 Introduction to the Study of Buddhism in Corea. ................................... 287 By The Right Rev. Mark Napier Trollope, D.D. ................................ 287 Corean Coin Charms and Amulets: A Supplement ................................ 321 By Frederick Starr .............................................................................. 321 iii iv Preface Brother Anthony of Taizé (Professor An Sonjae) President, Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch 1. The origins of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded in London, England, in 1823 by the Sanskrit scholar Henry Colebrooke and a group of like-minded individuals. It received its Royal Charter from King George IV in 1824 “for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia”. In the period that followed, branches of the RAS were founded in many of the major cities of Asia, wherever scholarly diplomats, missionaries and merchants developed an interest in the history and culture of the land in which they found themselves. In 1857 a small group of British and Americans seeking intellectual engagement in Shanghai established the Shanghai Literary and Scientific Society. Within a year the organization was granted affiliation with the Royal Asiatic Society in London, and the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was born. After ceasing to exist in 1952, it has recently (2006) been reborn as “The Royal Asiatic Society in Shanghai.” The Asiatic Society of Japan (where the “Royal” had to be dropped out of deference to the imperial house of the country) was similarly established in Yokohama in 1872. Several branches were founded in India, notably in Kolkata and Mumbai, while others continue to function in Hong Kong and Malaysia. The branch in Hong Kong claims a history of more than 150 years, having been founded in 1847, although it actually ceased to exist in 1859 and was only revived in 1959! That in Malaysia was first founded in 1877. In Korea, a group composed mainly of missionaries began to publish a monthly magazine titled The Korean Repository in 1892, with 1 Preface articles of varying length about many aspects of Korea, a country which had only been open to westerners since the signing of the “Shufeldt” Treaty between Joseon (Korea) and the United States in 1882. Missionaries were uniquely well-placed to develop a knowledge of a country since they were naturally obliged to master the language, often traveled and lived outside of the capital, and usually came with the intention of spending many years there. Diplomats, too, tended to gather information about the country they were stationed in. The nineteenth century was the age of the explorer and the amateur scholar, rather than the “academic specialist” of more recent times, and many of those amateurs were men of rare talent and profound insight. Some of the contributors to The Korean Repository finally felt the need for an association with meetings where they could present more scholarly papers and discuss their discoveries in a serious manner. On October 18, 1899, a letter indicating the wish to establish a Korea Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was sent to the RAS in London and an encouraging reply was received. Therefore, at 4:30 pm on June 16, 1900, a founding meeting attended by seventeen men (all but four of them missionaries) was held in the Reading Room of the Seoul Union Club, where officers were elected and a constitution (based on that of the London RAS) was adopted. The parent society was informed and duly sent its approval. The founders of the RASKB soon published the first volume of Transactions of the Korea Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, dated 1900 but probably printed early the following year. Its cover is decorated with the Chinese characters for Dae-Han on either side of the yin-yang symbol, and it boasts of a remarkable international distribution, claiming to be on sale not only from the Librarian in Seoul but from stores or publishers in Yokohama, Shanghai, Hongkong, Singapore, London, Paris, Berlin and New York. In addition to three papers, by founder-members, it contains the detailed minutes of the first meetings, including the first Annual General Meeting held on December 19, 1900, the original Constitution and a list of officers and members. By the end of 1900 the list of ordinary members contained thirty-four names, mostly missionaries with a sprinkling of diplomats. The first President of the RASKB is listed as “J. H. Gubbins, her Britannic Majesty’s Chargé d’Affaires”. The first Vice-President was George Heber Jones of the Methodist mission; the Honorary Secretaries were James S. Gale and Homer B. Hulbert. J. H. Gubbins had long lived 2 Preface in Japan but only spent comparatively little time in Korea. He was well acquainted with the Asiatic Society of Japan, of which he spoke at the inaugural meeting of the RASKB. His full names were John Harington Gubbins (1852-1929). He attended Harrow School but instead of going on to university, he became a student interpreter in the British Japan Consular Service in 1871. On June 1, 1889, he became Japanese Secretary at Tokyo, and was appointed Second Secretary at the Tokyo legation on February 13, 1890. He briefly served as acting Chargé d’Affaires in Korea from May 18, 1900 until November 4, 1901. Later he was appointed lecturer in Japanese language at Oxford University (1909-1912) but the position was soon terminated for lack of pupils. He published two books, The Progress of Japan, 1853-1871 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1911) and The Making of Modern Japan (London: Seeley, Service & Co, 1922). He is the first of a series of diplomats both British and American who were assigned to Seoul after they had spent a long period in Japan 2. Homer B. Hulbert and the historical context before 1900 The authors of the papers published in the first volumes of Transactions were to be much more significant in the continuing history of the RASKB. Homer B. Hulbert, James S. Gale, George Heber Jones, Mark N. Trollope, and, a little later, Horace H. Underwood, are among the founders of the discipline that has now come to be known as Korean Studies. The life-story of Homer B. Hulbert is a particularly fascinating one, too complex to be fully covered here. It allows us to glimpse the historical context in which the papers in the early volumes of Transactions were written and published. Homer Bezaleel Hulbert was born on January 26, 1863 in New Haven, Vermont, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1884, then entered Union Theological College. While he was studying there, the Korean government announced plans to