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Eastern Medicine Renaissance in the Context of Japanese Rule, 1910-1945

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Eastern Medicine Renaissance in the Context of Japanese Rule, 1910-1945 KOREANS BUILDING A NEW WORLD: EASTERN MEDICINE RENAISSANCE IN THE CONTEXT OF JAPANESE RULE, 1910-1945 by James Flowers A dissertation submitted to Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Baltimore, Maryland August 2019 © 2019 James Flowers All Rights Reserved Abstract In the early twentieth century, Western biomedicine physicians achieved elite status on a global scale as bearers of scientific progress. As part of this process of change in medicine, in many countries traditional medicine healers became marginalized and even obsolete. This dissertation examines the unusual case of the traditional medicine healers in Korea organizing themselves in unprecedented ways within the context of Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. By following the central theme of Korean agency in “building a new world” via what they then termed Eastern Medicine and Hanbang healing, this study evaluates how elite registered physicians, mainly based in modern-day Seoul (Part one and two), and non-registered physicians, mainly working in rural localities (Part three), actively responded to broader modernizing efforts in the context of Japanese rule by doubling down on the value of their own traditional medical doctrines and practices. The Japanese Government-General introduced a decree on Physician Registration in 1913, hoping to marginalize the “old” Eastern-medicine physicians. Instead of surrendering, the Eastern-medicine physicians organized themselves by forming associations, publishing journals and books, and holding symposia. They made the case for Eastern medicine’s continuing relevance and necessity by articulating the need to strengthen Korean bodies and minds with traditional healing therapies. They also framed their arguments by situating Eastern medicine as a key field of knowledge that represented older East Asian cultural resources in general. They preserved and strengthened traditional ideas and practices, such as cultivation of body and mind as healing, attention to regimen, herbal medicine, and ideologies such as Confucianism and ii Buddhism, paradoxically during some of the most oppressive modernizing periods under Japanese rulership. The dissertation also argues that the Eastern-medicine physicians eventually reached a high degree of convergence on shaping healthcare in Korea through a process of negotiation between Korean colonized and Japanese colonizer. This Korean and Japanese convergence, in the crossroads of East Asia, contributed to what was known as an Eastern Medicine Renaissance in the 1930s. At this time the Japanese officially recognized the Eastern-medicine physicians publicly as having elite status. The continued high status of traditional Korean Medicine in modern South Korea can be best understood as the resulting legacy of the collective efforts of these registered urban Eastern-medicine physicians and unregistered rural healers from the first half of the twentieth century. Advisor: Marta Hanson iii Acknowledgments I would like to first thank my advisor Marta Hanson for guiding me through the dissertation process. She advised me on many details ranging from overall structure to the finer points of sentence construction. She also challenged me at every step to think through the arguments at stake. Marta gave constant support and encouragement throughout my years of graduate school. She held her faith in me when some others were not convinced I could make it. That trust held it all together. I must also thank Kim Taewoo, of Kyung Hee University, Korea, for his warm friendship and support. Apart from his collegiality he organized generous travel and research funding over the years including arranging for me to stay in Korea each summer for my research. Thanks go to Mary Fissell, who served as my co-adviser when I worked on my dissertation research plan. She helped me to see how the primary materials could be turned into meaningful historical analysis and helped me with conceptual framing. Thank you also to Michael Shiyung Liu who constantly inspired me to stay the course on the history of colonial medicine in East Asia. Over the years, he always encouraged me and patiently answered my many questions about medicine in Japan and Taiwan. Thanks to my dissertation committee members, Gianna Pomata, William Rowe, Michael Liu, and Yumi Kim, who gave useful advice and suggestions on the project. Thanks to Daniel Todes for helping me to shape chapter five, and to Pierce Salguero and Tina Johnson for helpful comments on the chapter draft. Chung Lukhyi Kyunghwa, Park Nam-gyeong, Kim Yun Kyung, and Eric Brand also also helped with iv chapter five. Thanks to Jeong Tae-wook, U-so, Yo-san, Kim Hak-dong, and other members of the Somun Oriental Medicine Society for sharing long discussions on Sŏk- kok with me. Park Yung-hwan made chapter six possible. Not only did he provide the primary source, he also unfailingly answered my many research questions over the years. Thanks also to Maeng Woong-jae for assistance with chapter six. Thanks to Yumi Kim who helped me with modern Japanese and Korean history in her graduate seminar, and to William Rowe who trained me throughout the years in modern Chinese history. Thanks also to Joe Alter for detailed comments on my research proposal. Thanks for help with various aspects of my research to Stephan Taehyung Lee, Kang Yeonseok, Cha Wung-seok, Kim Namil, Justin McDaniel, Prakash Kumar, Zhang Meng, Park Young-sin, Nuri Kim, and Warren Reed. Thanks also to Patricia Kain and William Evans who hired me as an Expository Writing Fellow, thus ensuring I could stay at Hopkins to finish the dissertation. I also need to thank Brian Hsieh, Sarah Zanolini, Ayah Nuriddin, Kirsten Moore- Sheeley, Seth LeJacq, Nuri Kim, and Katherine Arner for being my buddies at Johns Hopkins. My deep appreciation goes to my wife Tanya Wang, who has given more than anyone can expect to make this dissertation possible. v Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................ iv List of Figures ................................................................................................................... ix Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Aftermath of Kabo Reforms ........................................................................................... 3 On Korean medical modernity ....................................................................................... 5 Persistence of Eastern medicine within the Japanese Empire ..................................... 8 East as cultural marker................................................................................................ 15 Thesis structure ............................................................................................................ 19 PART ONE ...................................................................................................................... 22 Learned Physicians and the Healing Renaissance ....................................................... 22 Chapter One ................................................................................................................. 24 Korean Physicians Establish a Profession .................................................................. 24 Introduction........................................................................................................................... 24 Established view on the regulations ...................................................................................... 29 On physician terminology - the ŭisa and ŭisaeng ................................................................. 32 The 1913 “Physician Regulations” ....................................................................................... 36 Registration beginnings ........................................................................................................ 47 Commentary from China ...................................................................................................... 51 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 55 Chapter Two ................................................................................................................. 58 A New Community of Eastern-medicine Physicians: Koreans Organize for Chosŏn Medicine in Japan-ruled 1910’s Korea ...................................................................... 58 Introduction........................................................................................................................... 58 Physicians publishing for the world ...................................................................................... 67 Editorial publishing activity ................................................................................................. 68 Literary style & scripts ......................................................................................................... 75 Medicine for the world ......................................................................................................... 80 Incipient medical bilingualism.............................................................................................
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