일제강점기 ‘황도유학皇道儒學’의 논리와 허구성

Abstract

Since Japan provoked the Manchurian Incident in 1931, it gradually escalated the war through the invasion of the continent, and in July 1937, it strengthened its war footing by provoking the Sino-Japanese War. Jiro Minami, who was appointed as the Governor-General of Choseon in 1936, implemented the Naeseon Ilche policy and the Colonial Policy of Subjecting to Japan, to maintain the strengthened war footing. Naeseon Ilche is a theory that Choseon and Japan are one, insisting that Japan and Choseon is blood-related and has the same historical origins. Japan felt the necessity to control thought in the course of provoking and expanding the war. Imperial Confucianism was a theory derived in line with the thought control policy. Imperial Confucianism was created by Toru Takahashi, a professor of Choseon Language and Literature at the Faculty of Literature at the Keijo Imperial University, in order to mobilize Choseon people to the war. The content of the Imperial Confucianism is based on the Land of Gods Ideology (Shinguksasang) of Japan. Land of Gods Ideology insists that Japan was founded by the Goddess of Sun Amaterasu, and the Japanese emperor, who is the descendant of Amaterasu, reigns over Japan by carrying on the family line. Imperial Confucianism did not accept Seonyang, which means handing over the throne to a man of virtue, and a Dynastic Revolution. Dynastic Revolution was a revolutionary idea in Confucianism that an oppressive monarch which fails to preserve the life and property of the people can be replaced by a virtuous monarch. The Imperial Confucianism, which denied this idea, has the logic that one Emperor is more important than countless number of people. It claims that many people exist only for one Emperor. Imperial Confucianism regards the Emperor as a living God, so he is the sacrosanct existence in all circumstances, who is the object of unconditional obedience. The Imperial Confucianism propagates that the Emperor is the descendant of the absolute Goddess Amaterasu, and inherits the eternity through one divine bloodline through generation, so he is the absolutely sacred being unprecedented in the world history. Why did Japan need such logic of Imperial Confucianism? It was because, as the war became protracted, Japan needed to strengthen the spirit of all citizens in order to win the war. Moreover, Japan required the voluntary and proactive support of colonial Choseon people. Imperial Confucianism was the product of militaristic fascism, and no more than an anachronistic theory to mobilize the people to war.