통감부의 초등학교 역사교육정책과 역사인식

Abstract

History education was a tool to awaken the newly composed public to the modern national consciousness at a turning point to the modern era. In the article, I tried to clarify with what historical image and value the Japanese Residency-General tried to inculcate the Korean students through history education. For this, I analyzed history teaching materials inserted in “Korean reader” and “Japanese reader”, and compared them with the contents of “Dongmongseonseub” which had been used as a history textbook for the Korean students for a long time and was used at that time and the contents of a history textbook published privately to form nationalism. In traditional Confucian value of respecting the strong and comforting the weak, Korea could teach pride as a little China realizing the Cinic civilization to the students in spite that Korea was a small country located in a remote corner from China, the center of the Cinic civilization. But modern value was different from the traditional one and it was a time that the standard of value was the force to keep national independence. In the textbook newly published in the flowering stage, it was written that Korea had its own history and culture originated from Dangun and depended itself from China and Japan’s aggression and kept its independence for a long time. Regarding this, The Japanese Residency-General denied Korea’s historical identity and made a historical textbook focused on the relationship with neighboring countries. According to the textbook, Korea considered Dangun as the progenitor of Korean history, however, its historical origin was unclear and Korea was an effeminate, small and weak country without the spirit of independence. China bordering Korea constantly invaded Korea and treated Korea like a subject state. By contrast, Japan frequently engaged in interchanges with Korea, and maintained friendly relations with Korea, and had helped Korea militarily. Recently Japan made Korea which was treated like a subject state by China an independent state through two wars. Like this, at the turning point of the standard of value to physical force and the Western culture supporting it, the Japanese Residency-General described that Korean image was lack of its own originality and Korea was a state having no power to keep its independence for itself. In relations to the big and strong neighboring countries, self-awareness that Korea was a small and weak state could take away Korean people’s self-confidence about their own community and arouse an inferiority complex. Though there were some parts reflecting the situation that outwardly Japan should admit Korea to be an independent state by mentioning Dangun in history education, the image of Korean history already put down roots firmly in the Japanese Residency-General’s colonial history education that would be taught regularly since then. The historical image that Korea was a small and weak country then and historically it had no capability to secure and develop its independence for itself could be vitally used for justification of Japanese invasion of Korea and its colonial rule.