Changing Korean Perceptions of Japan the Case of Neo-Confucian Yangban
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Changing Korean Perceptions of Japan on the Eve of Modern Transformation: The Case of Neo-Confucian Yangban Intellectuals Chai-sik Chung Before the modern period, Koreans tended to view Japan with a mixture of antipathy toward a ruthless invader and condescension toward a more peripheral member of their China-centered world. As that world began to change on the eve of the modern era, some reform-minded Korean intellectuals began to view Japan in a different light, see- ing its heterodox Confucianism and its military culture as strengths rather than as marks of backwardness. By the eve of the colonial period, many looked to Japan as a model of how Koreans could adapt to the modern world without losing their national character. Korea has not been free from foreign invasions throughout its history. China and especially the northern tribal groups, such as the Khitan, the Jiirchen, the Mongols, and the Manchus have invaded Korea. But most troublesome for Korea have been the repeated threats and invasions from the Japanese in the south. The Japanese pirate raids in the late fourteenth century, and especially Hideyoshi's destructive invasions (1592-1598), have left an indelible impres- sion on the minds of the Korean people. The Koreans transmitted the memory of the tragic invasions and the profound enmity that resulted from them from generation to generation through oral tradition. Among others, the story of the heroic Zen monk Samyöngdang who led a guerrilla war against Hideyoshi's army is the best known. In addition, many stories of anti-Japanese resistance were preserved and passed on, such as Imjinnok [Record of the Hideyoshi invasions] and Kwak Chae-u chön, the biography of a heroic general who fought against the Japanese invaders. Unlike the Chinese, the Khitan, the Mongols, or Manchus, the memory of whose invasions have faded over time, Japan has always impressed the Korean people as the primary enemy country.1 Behind this special anti-Japanese feeling is the Korean attitude of cul- Korean Studies, Volume 19. ©1995 by University of Hawai'i Press. All rights reserved. 40KOREAN STUDIES, VOL. 19 turai superiority and the habit of condescension to the Japanese. At the basis of this feeling of cultural superiority was the Korean belief in Confucianism and the sinocentric spatial symbolism and cosmology. In such symbolism and cosmology China was the natural center of ch'onha [all under heaven]. The Koreans understood that the Confucian moral ideals of the Five Relationships, the Three Bonds, and the rules of propriety dominated the sphere of Chinese culture. And Koreans distinguished China from the peripheral, barbarian world. They believed that China was the center, and all of the peripheral nations under heaven were to serve China. In terms of the spatial conception of center and periphery they associated the peripheral areas of China with the dwelling place of barbarians, beasts, and evil spirits.2 The Koreans took pride in being called by China the "little China" in the east that faithfully followed Confucianism. But they looked down upon Japan as culturally more backward than Korea because of its peripheral location, calling the Japanese barbarians and "beasts." The Koreans' historical self-understanding further reinforced such feelings of cultural superiority. They believed that it was through Korea that the Japanese had first learned of the more advanced culture from the con- tinent, such as Chinese characters, classical Chinese culture, and Mahayana Buddhism. Koreans also resentfully remembered the abduction of skilled Korean potters as prisoners of war, who had influenced the development of Korean ceramics in Japan, especially in Satsuma and Arita.3 Especially self-gratifying to the Korean scholar-officials was the fact that the Neo-Confucian philosophy of Zhu Xi was first introduced to Japan by Korean scholars. Kang Hang (1567-1618) was a prisoner of war who was captured by Hideyoshi's armies when they invaded Korea in 1592-1598. Brought to Japan, he later helped Fujiwara Seika (1561-1619) lay the founda- tion for the development of Tokugawa Neo-Confucianism. It was through Kang that Fujiwara and his fellow Confucian scholars learned to admire the systems of Confucian moral principles, rituals, and government.4 The Koreans took especially great pride in Yi T'oegye (1501-1570), the Zhu Xi of Korea, who was widely respected by the Japanese Confucian scholars. T'oegye exerted a profound and lasting influence on such Edo scholars as Fujiwara Seika, Hayashi Razan (1583-1657), Yamazaki Ansai (1618-1682), and Yokoi Shönan (1809-1869). As is evident in their travel records, the Korean envoys took special note of this fact because of their preoccupation with Confucian values. The Korean travelers in Iapan deplored Japan's lack of a civil service examination system for government officials. The lack of such a system of recruitment held back men of ability from distinguishing themselves in the world. They also noted with curiosity the lower social status of Confucian scholars compared to warriors, doctors, and monks. They attributed this to Japan's military culture that belittled Confucian literati culture.5 In contrast, it is interesting that they disregarded me more advanced chung: Changing Perceptions of Japan4 1 state of Japanese accomplishments in industry, commerce, and technology. Shin Yu-han (1681-?) visited Japan in 1719-1720 as an attaché of a Korean envoy. He was exceptional in reporting about how he was amazed to see a magnificent castle with ponds, moats, and bridges in Osaka, the old city of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598). Hundreds of Buddhist temples, bridges, and luxurious homes of the nobility and affluent people deeply impressed him. He marveled over a gorgeous palace of a prince with splendid gardens and a library well stocked with the Classics and all kinds of writings from China and Korea. Stores that sold the best wines, well-advertised pharmaceutical stores, and gaudy geisha houses were eye-opening things to him. It is interesting that Shin reported that the Japanese people loved lewd and beautiful things and that men and women in the streets were all clad in silks. He noted that the Osaka region benefited from active foreign trade and had the advantages of rivers, lakes, forests, and moats. Its fertile lands also deeply impressed him. They yielded varieties of rich agricultural products and minerals not found in abundance in Korea, such as gold, silver, copper, tin, and rare lumber.6 Chöng Yag-yong (1763-1836), a foremost Shirhak (Practical Learning) scholar, is known to have transcended the sinocentric worldview of his time more than many of his contemporaries. But even he was not entirely free from a view of Japan that was greatly constricted by Confucian tradition.7 Yet, unlike many of his contemporaries who had condescending views of Tokugawa Confucianism, Chöng was more well-informed about its develop- ment. He took special interest in the scholars of the school of Ancient Learn- ing (Kogaku), such as Ito Jinsai (1627-1705), OgyO Sorai (1666-1728), and Dazai Shundai (1680-1747). These scholars tried to achieve proper morality by reading original works to understand the ideas of the sages. In search of the unadulterated teachings of Confucius and Mencius, the Kogaku scholars criti- cized the systems of Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming. Chöng appears to have found some affinities between the general orientations of the Kogaku scholars and his own wish to return to the pristine teachings of Confucius and Mencius. This is well born out in his famous critiques of the contemporary five schools of learning (Ohangnon, namely, Söngnihak, the school of Nature and Princi- ple; classical exegesis; belles-lettres; learning for civil service examinations; and divinations), which had stifled the original teachings of the Duke of Zhou and Confucius.8 Chöng wrote an important book, Annotated Commentary on the Ana- lects of Confucius (Nonö kogümju).9 This was based on his extensive study of the ancient Han and Tang commentaries and the Song commentaries of the Analects. In this work Chöng makes frequent references to the exegeses of the Analects by the Kogaku scholars such as Ito Jinsai, Ogyü Sorai, and especially Dazai Shundai. But he had some reservations about their interpretations of the Chinese Classics, which he thought were "excellent, although distorted some- 42KOREAN STUDIES, VOL. 19 times."10 Why did he think the views of the Kogaku school was "distorted sometimes?" One example, among others, is his criticism of Dazai's interpre- tation of the following passage in the Analects: "The people may be made to follow a path of action, but they may not be made to understand it."" Sharply distinguishing the Confucian junzi [gentlemen] from shaoren [petty men], Dazai maintained thatjunzi should rule shaoren. If, however, all the petty men were to become gentlemen, there would be no one left for gentlemen to govern. Thus Dazai clearly endorsed the idea that educated gentlemen should govern the ignorant masses. But Chöng thought that this was contrary to his belief that the masses were the basis of society. He judged, too, that Dazai's elitist view contradicted Confucius's view that "in teaching there should be no distinction of classes."12 Japan had been a military, or barbarian, nation without classic learning. And the Japanese had been without the moral knowledge of propriety, righ- teousness, and shame and modesty—therefore a cause for worry. But now that Japan had become a civilized nation, Chöng Yag-yong thought, there was no reason for Korea to worry about it. He reached this conclusion because the level of understanding of the Chinese Classics by the Kogaku scholars such as Ito Jinsai, Ogyü Sorai, and Dazai Shundai were now all "splendid."13 When Chöng thus expressed his optimistic view of Japan, however, he really be- trayed his lack of a fuller knowledge about the country.