Religion and Politics in Korea Under Japanese Rule (review)

Abstract

82BOOK REVIEWS Religion and Politics in Korea UnderJapanese Rule, by Wi Jo Kang. Studies in Asian Thought and Religion Volume 5. Lewiston, New York. Edwin Mellen Press, 1987. Pp. x, 113, notes and index. No price given. This slim book covers an important aspect of modern Korean history which has not received appropriate consideration in most works which survey either Korean history or Korean religion: the relationship between the Japanese administration in Korea from 1910 to 1945 and the various religions of Korea. The book consists of four chapters plus an introduction and a conclusion. The Introduction provides the historical background to the various religious traditions in Korea. Chapters one through four deal in turn with the relations of the Japanese administration with Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism, and the indigenous religions. The author states in his preface that his work will deal principally with the policies of the Japanese government in Korea towards Korean religions and with "the response of the Korean adherents of these religions." This is an important task and this book ought to have made a significant contribution to our knowledge of this period of modern Korean history. Unfortunately this book not only fails to fulfill the task which it sets out to accomplish, but it is filled with historical inaccuracies, has inaccurate transliterations of Korean and Japanese words, and has been inadequately edited and proofread. 1. Problems with the Content and Structure of the Work A. DISCUSSION OF JAPANESE POLICIES TOWARD RELIGION Although the author in his preface clearly states that this book is not to be an essay in political science, the topic which Professor Kang has chosen for discussion requires some mention of Japanese government policies toward religion in general, with a fuller discussion of the attitude or approach to particular religions being given in the chapters which deal with them. The major problem of this book is that it nowhere states specifically the policy of the Government General of Chosen to religion. Furthermore, no indication is given of the differing attitudes held by members of the colonial government or influential Japanese outside of the administration. Nor is there any discussion of the changes in approach which took place throughout the colonial rule of Korea, or an explanation of why these changes occurred. Also it would have been useful to have set this discussion of the official Japanese approach to religion in Korea against a backdrop of the policies toward religion in Japan proper. There is no discussion of any of these issues. In fact there is a surprising, and nearly total, absence of particular Japanese people from the body of the work. The Japanese are dealt with in an abstract manner. Comparatively few Japanese source documents have been consulted, and this fact is reflected in the problems just mentioned. What the author has done in this work is to deal with some of the major conflicts which particular religions had with the Government General of Chosen . Chapter one, which deals with Christianity during the Japanese colonial BOOK REVIEWS83 period, is by far the most complete chapter, and well illustrates the essential problem of this book. It contains many interesting and important tidbits of information , but nonetheless does little more than survey the four major conflicts between Christianity and the Japanese government: the alleged assassination plot against Governor General Terauchi in 1912, the March First Independence Movement of 1919, the conflict over worship at Shinto shrines in the 1930s, and the forced merger of the various Protestant denominations just before the end of the Second World War. We are not given any insight into stated policies, why they were implemented, how or why they were changed, or conflict among the Japanese administrators themselves over policy matters. There is, however, a full discussion of the activities of Korean Christians and foreign missionaries, but this information is readily available in other sources. Also this chapter lacks concluding comments about Christianity during the period of Japanese colonial rule. The problems of this chapter are duplicated in the subsequent chapters dealing with Buddhism, Confucianism, and the indigenous religions. In addition , these later chapters not only lack the depth of coverage given to Christianity , but do not fully cover the...