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A Study on A Sword and Pottery written by Noguchi Gakuchu - Demolition of a racial boundary through a positive valuation about Imjinwaeran

金鶴童 1

1충남대학교

ABSTRACT

This article relays the study of A Sword and Pottery (1988) of works written by Noguchi Gakuchu who naturalized to Japan in October, 1952, and whose past name was Jang, Hyeokju. The books A Sword and Pottery and Han and Wae are works after the author’s heart in the final part of the writer’s life. They portray the introduction of pottery and racial interchange between Japan and Korea. The writer claims that Doyotomi Hideyosi believed the Japanese and Chosunin(Korean) were the same tribe because of similarities in their respective potteries and started Imjinwaeran to confirm his notion. Additionally, these books take the viewpoint that the Chosun’s potters voluntarily went to Japan, rather than being forced there. Gokuchu’s viewpoint contests the typical perspective of an antagonistic relationship between the two countries by portraying Hideyosi’s intents as a passion to reunite the tribes rather than an attempt to invade Chosunin. He furthers his viewpoint in Han and Wae by portraying intimate interchange between the Yamato regime in Japan and the Backjae and Gaya dynasties in Korea. Noguchi Gakuchu’s endeavor may possibly influence the correlation of the two nations in the future and highlight the ill effects of the blind racialism in the past. However, this essay can still be construed as a justification in self-defense due to the writer’s naturalization to Japan and his past pro-Japanese leanings. Imjinwaeran was, in essence, an invasion and cruel slaughter.

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