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Representation of "Buyeo" and the Aesthetization of Politics in the Late Japanese Colonial Period : On Yi Seok-hun and Jo Taek-won

Moon KyoungYeon 1

1경희대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The Government-General announced the construction of Buyeo Shindo Shrine in 1939. To prove the "blood relation" between Japan and Korea that has been formed since the ancient period, Buyeo was summoned as its historical and spatial evidence and used to reinforce the government-run project of "Naisen ittai(The Unity of Japan and Korea)." Literary figures and artists were rallied up to provide community service for the construction of Buyeo Shindo Shrine and their activities were publicized through various media. Thereupon, to perform a new political task of 'National Cultural Movement' under the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, diverse forms of writing and artistic activities were attempted surrounding the representation of "Buyeo." The play written by Yi Seok-hun, "The Moonlit Night at the Tower of Sabi" and the national dance written by Yi Seo-gu and choreographed by Jo Taek-won, "A Song of Remembrance for Buyeo" would be the typical examples for such attempts. After his community service at Buyeo, Yi Seok-hun published "The Travelogue of Buyeo" and a play called "The Moonlit Night at the Tower of Sabi" (1941) that revolved around the new Shindo Shrine constructed in Buyeo (a.k.a. Sabi). When it was published as a book form in 1945, it was translated into Japanese from what was originally written in Korean and the title was modified to "The Moon of Baekje.""A Song of Remembrance for Buyeo" (1941) sponsored by the Government-General and the National Full-Force Federation of Joseon was a grand scale performance that mobilized artists representative of Japan and Joseon at the time. The performance was composed of glamorous spectacles, combination of traditional and modern dances, large-scale chorus which worked to support the narrative of seeking the origin of 'Naisen ittai' from the history of Baekje. These two texts are the examples that demonstrate the strategy of propagandizing and visualizing the invisible history and ideology of 'Naisen ittai.' In particular, Buyeo was used as representation that emotionally heightened the public into accepting fascism through the aesthetic exaltation of its destructive politics.

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
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