울릉도 토속신앙과 일본신사

Abstract

The Japanese started temporaily fishing in the seas of Joseon on September 25, 1883, when Korean empire government signed the “Japan People’s Trade Agreement in Joseon”. And then it became active after 1889, when the act, which allowed Japanese to fish in Joseon, came into effect. Since 1903, the Japanese colonial government had purchased territory near good fishing spot of Joseon and established a fishing base, planning migration fishing village. On the other hands, in fishing ports overflowing with fish species such as Ulleungdo and Guryongpo, migrant fishing villages were formed autonomously. The migrant fishing villages that were formed either intentionally by the Japanese imperialism or autonomously by Japanese fishermen needed the Japanese shinto shrine, a space performing the Japanese people’s life-long passage rites and seasonal customs. With the beginning of squid fishing began in Ulleungdo in 1903 and its growth, the Japanese migration had increased until 1914. On February 24, 1914, the Uldo Fisheries Association was established due to the promulgation of the 「Chosun Fisheries Decree」 in June 1911. The Japanese on Ulleungdo island expanded their collective settlements through fishing associations. Afterwards, Japanese shinto shrines were built in Dodong, Jeo-dong and Sa-dong of Nam-myeon and Taeha-dong of Seomyeon, to pray for the safety of sailing and good catches of Japanese fishermen by local notables of the Uldo Fisheries Association. During the Japanese colonial period, only shrine for mountain gods existed and there was no shrine for sea gods where Korean fishermen held rituals. After Korean independence, the number of farmers engaged in the fisheries industry increased, using several power vessels and fishing tools left by the Japanese; as a result, in the fishing village of Ulleungdo island, the ritual for sea gods started at Japanese shinto shrine that was abandoned by the Japanese. This phenomenon does not appear only on Ulleungdo island, but also occurs in representative colonial migration fishing villages such as Gampo, Tongyeong and so on. Therefore, this paper aims to examine how Japanese shinto shrines in a migrant fishing village were related to Indigenous religion. This study might be helpful for understanding the diversity of cultural changes in colonial migrant fishing villages because cultural changes in Japanese colonial rule are not divided by dichotomous standards of oppression and resistance.