Re-examination of the Historical Significance of Shim Su-gwan Family : Focusing on the Satsuma Phenomenon in the Meiji Export Ceramics Industry

Abstract

The Shim Su-gwan (Chin Jukan in Japanese) family in Kagoshima, Japan, which is Satsuma ware producer, has attracted attention from the media and scholars because it is the only abducted pottery maker family during the 16th century Japanese invasion of Korea which has kept their Korean last name and passed it on from generation to generation. However, most of the discussions focused on the national identity and identification of the first-generation ancestor. As a result, no full consideration was given to the family s pottery business and works. In this paper, I will re-examine the historical significance of the Shim Su-gwan family in the context of the industry of Japanese export ceramics in the early Meiji era. It was during the 12th generation (1835-1906) that the fame of the family was firmly established. Satsuma ware, which the Satsuma domain exhibited at the Paris International Exposition of 1867 independently from the Edo Shogunate, gained popularity in Europe and established itself as a key export item of Japonism. Interestingly, as Satsuma ware became widely popular in Western countries, the so-called Satsuma phenomenon occurred, in which Satsuma-style pottery was made under the name &Satsuma& throughout Japan, in Kyoto and Kanazawa, the production centers of traditional Japanese ceramics, as well as in cities adjacent to export ports such as Nagasaki, Kobe, Yokohama, and Tokyo, and then exported. In this paper, I focus on this Satsuma phenomenon and analyze the role of the 12th Shim Su-gwan at the center of the phenomenon. In particular, I investigate his activities as a manager and leader of Satsuma producers, which have up until now been overlooked. Furthermore, I point out the double hurdle for the Shim Su-gwan family of being from Kagoshima, Japan s southernmost region, and being a descendant of foreigners. Even today, the stigma of being the descendants of Korean potters and the role as the guardian of Koreanness exert an impact on the family. Moreover, people project the image of a modern artist onto Shim Su-gwan while overlooking the change in the position of ceramic production in the industry field. To understand the historical significance of the Shim Su-gwan family, we need to consider the Korean-Japanese modern history and the transformation of the concept of art since the modern period.