近代日本における明成王后関連怪談の成立と 変容

Abstract

Empress Myeongseong (1851-1895) was the mother of King Sunjong (1874-1926), the last king of Joseon.　She became the most famous queen in Korean history when she was killed by the Japanese on October 8, 1895.　Despite the situation during her reign as a queen, there are many places that have been greatly glorified just by the fact that she was killed by the Japanese. Nevertheless, so far, the evaluation of Empress Myeongseong has not been decided in Korea, and there is a mixture of positive reviews as a heroine who fought against Japan and negative reviews as the culprit who ruined the country. In modern Japan, various ghost stories, that is, stories of Empress Myeongseong appearing as ghosts, were circulated. This paper aims to examine the relationship between Empress Myeongseong and modern Japan from a slightly different angle, focusing on this ghost story. Empress Myeongseong has been repeatedly called after her death as a representative of Joseon’s barbarism. Considering that Kim Ok-kyun, a Japanese civilized man, was assassinated by Joseon’s barbarian Empress Myeongseong, Kim Ok-kyun’s ghost is likely to be described as a poor victim, but while Kim Ok-kyun’s ghost became a woman at this time, there is nothing to say about his resentment. Empress Myeongseong was also described as an evil spirit that killed a close court lady unrelated to the historical fact that she was killed by the Japanese, and later, like Kim Ok-kyun, her femininity was emphasized and talked about.