남성적 외금강과 여성적 내금강― 근대기 금강산의 젠더 표상

Abstract

This study takes note of the tendency to recognize the areas of Outer Kumgang and the Inner Kumgang of Mt. Kumgang as “Outer Kumgang = Man, Masculine, Masculinity” and “Inner Kumgang = Woman, Feminine, Femininity” to track the formation of such dichotomous viewpoint and comments on the close connection between the relatively superior status imbued on the Outer Kumgang and the visual culture after the modern period. At the time of Japanese Colonial Occupation in Korea, gender functioned as the lens which selected and constructed the representative landscapes of Mt. Kumgang, utilized as a tool which constructed a differential symbolism of Outer Kumgang with its modern and grand rocks and Inner Kumgang where the past and myth resides in calm valleys. The time period in which the concept of social sex, or gender, begins to be applied on Mt. Kumgang is considered to be post mid-1910s, when the Japanese colonial government-general had begun planning the vitalization of tourism to Mt. Kumgang, centered around the Outer Kumgang. The numbers of rocks and trees, the colors and shapes of the rocks served as indices for comparing the outer and the inner mountains; in the process of developing Mt. Kumgang as a tourist attraction, the characteristics which corresponded to gender is generally recognized were emphasized. Thus aesthetic standards, which described Outer Kumgang as having outstanding mountainous beauty and Inner Kumgang as having alluring beauty in the valleys, began to appear; Manmulsang, which is an exemplary mountainous beauty of the Outer Kumgang, and Manpokdong, showing the beautiful valley of Inner Kumgang, rose as the representative landscapes. An intersection between differential recognition of the areas of Mt. Kumgang and visual culture can also be observed; in visual materials, such as photo postcards, photo album, guidebooks, and even paintings, the images of Outer Kumgang were selected preferentially. The travel guide for Mt. Kumgang, published under the influences of the government-general and the railway bureau, had suggested a reversed route of visiting the Outer Kumgang prior to Inner Kumgang as the regular route. This results in a tense conflict between old traditions in forming attractions of Mt. Kumgang and the new aspects of touring Mt. Kumgang familiar to modern audience, found in the folding screens of Mt. Kumgang depicting the attractions in each of the screens.