식민지시기 ‘전통’ 놀이 씨름의 근대화 과정과 특징

Abstract

This paper attempted to analyze the process by which the Korean elites of the colonial period transformed ssireum(씨름), a traditional game, into a modern sport to identify the characteristics of the modern culture formation process during the colonial period. Ssireum has been a traditional game enjoyed by people of all classes in all regions since before the modern era. The Korean elite chose Ssireum as the National Sports, a sport representing the Korean people. However, it was necessary to make traditional games a modern sport. The Joseon Ssireum Association(조선씨름협회) and the Young Men’s Christian Association(YMCA) promoted the unification of the game rules. Although left Ssireum(왼씨름) was adopted as a standard, it did not replace right Ssireum(오른씨름) in Gyeonggi-do(京畿道) and Jeolla-do(全羅道), and in the end, left Ssireum and right Ssireum of the Joseon Ssireum Association and the Young Men’s Christian Association were combined. In the process of converting to modern sports, sportsmanship and amateurism were emphasized. In particular, efforts were made to eliminate the practice of offering Farming cows(農牛) as a prizes, but these efforts failed. Finally, it actively promoted the participation of the student class, emphasizing skills rather than strength. However, there was a problem in that the participating class was limited to the students from Gyeongseong(京城) at the Ssireum competition hosted by the Korean elite.