인종과 문양 - 大野雲外와 鳥居龍藏의 인종론과 시각자료에 대한 논의를 중심으로

Abstract

This paper examines the ways in which the modern Japanese anthropologists investigated the specific patterns engraved on the Neolithic potteries - largely known as monyō in Japanese - as well as the shape of the earthenware, and then how they identified the racial and ethnic identity of the pottery maker. The pattern designs and formal shape of the Neolithic potteries, during the late Meiji and the early Taisho period, were considered for the modern Japanese anthropologists, as a clue to trace the racial and ethnic identity of the pottery manufacturer. My paper pays a particular attention to the two leading anthropologists - Ōno Ungai and Torii Ryūzō. Ōno was one of the modern anthropologists and illustrators who worked for Tokyo Anthropology Laboratory, and took charge a wide variety of pictures and illustrations for the Journal of the Tokyo Anthropological Association. Not only as an illustrator, but as an anthropologist, he also attempted to define the racial identity of Jōmon pottery creators, under the influence of Tsuboi Shōgoro, by investigating and comparing the patterns to those by Ainu and other races. Torii, as is well known, was one of the leading scholars in Tokyo Anthropological Laboratory, following Tsuboi, and is particularly well-known for his investigation into the prehistoric remains of other Asian regions, including Manchuria, Sakhalin, Taiwan, and Korea, which took place in conjunction with the expansion of the Japanese empire. This paper, in particular, attends to Torii’s discussion on the Chosŏn pottery where he discussed, in the aftermath of the Japan’s annexation of Korea, the forms and patterns in relations to the racial identity of the producer. In this sense, much of the investigations done by modern Japanese anthropologists were not unrelated to the expansion of the Japanese Imperialism. This paper therefore examines the process whereby the patterns from the prehistoric remains became an important evidence in identifying race and ethnicity, and furthermore attempts to raise questions about the practices of classifying races on the basis of the visual materials.