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Research and Educational Trends of Korean History at Japanese Universities
This presentation provides an overview of how research and education on Korean history have been done at Japanese universities and equivalent research and educational institutions and introduces the current situation.
In Japan, the research and education of Korean history began when the education and research organization for 'Oriental History' was established in the early 20th century at two imperial universities in Tokyo and Kyoto. Under Japanese rule, many Japanese in the Korean peninsula were also engaged in the study of Korean history centered around Gyeongseong Imperial University. However, it goes without saying that these studies of Korean history prior to 1945 contain various problems. After Japan was defeated in World War II, the research and education system on Korean history began to be reconstructed based on reflection on the previous research and education. From around the 1950s, teachers related to Korean history were employed at universities, etc. and engaged in research and education. However, there was no university with specialized education curriculum or research organization until the 1960s. From the 1970s through the 1990s, research and education bases for Korean history were established at Tokyo University and Kyushu University, and other universities also created organizations closely related to Korean history. Currently, a growing number of universities are nurturing Korean history researchers in addition to Tokyo University and Kyushu University.
However, the overwhelming majority of the full-time teachers of Korean history at universities are contemporary history major. Even the number of papers on Korean history published in Japan from the 1950s to the present suggests that most research results and achievements have been in the field of contemporary history. On the other hand, there are not many researchers of medieval history and modern history, and research in those fields has not been very active. It is deemed that one of the futures tasks is to solve this issue.
The Japanese archipelago and the Korean Peninsula are literally separated only by a narrow strip of water and various exchanges have been made between them since ancient times. Under such geographical conditions and historical circumstances, research and education of Korean history as a modern discipline has continued uninterrupted in Japan, despite various difficulties since historical research and education began as a modern discipline at Japanese universities to the present day. I think that there is no country, other than Korea itself that has a record of accomplishment of research and education in Korean history as much as Japan does. However, on the other hand, the proportion of Korean history research in the entire international history research in Japan is far from high. The fact is that people can major in Korean history in a far fewer number of universities in Japan compared to other foreign history research. Let's verify this assertion first before we move on to the main part of this presentation.
When the University of Tokyo was founded in 1877, history was first taught along with philosophy and politics as a modern Western-style study in the first Division of the Faculty of Letters. However, it was the case for the European history: The East Asian history centered on Chinese history was taught in the second Division as part of the university's traditional Chinese studies. After that, the University of Tokyo was renamed the Imperial University (Tokyo Imperial University, hereinafter abbreviated as Tokyo Imperial University, in 1897) under the Imperial University Order of 1886. Its organization also shifted from the conventional undergraduate system to the departmental university system. In the College of Liberal Arts, whose predecessor was the Faculty of Letters, the Department of History was established independently from the First Division where the European history was lectured with the education of East Asian history handled by the Department of Chinese Literature.
Amid such developments, 'Oriental History' was conceived as a new academic field to study East Asian history by introducing Western-style modern historical methods to the field of traditional Chinese studies. The person who proposed it is identified as Michiyo Naka (1851-1906). After studying at Keio University, Naka became a professor at Tokyo Higher Normal School in 1894 while also serving as a lecturer at the College of Liberal Arts of Tokyo Imperial University starting from 1896. During this period, he studied the ancient history of Japan, China, and Korea including the history of the Yuan Dynasty in China. The 'Oriental History' he advocated was followed by his disciples Shiratori Kurakichi (1865-1942), Tsuda Sokichi, Inaba Iwakichi (1876-1940, pen name Junshan) and Ikeuchi Hiroshi (1878-1952), among others.
However, it was Kyoto Imperial University established as the second imperial university in 1897 (hereafter abbreviated as KyotoU), not UTokyo, that opened a lecture called 'Oriental History' for the first time at a Japanese university. When the College of Liberal Arts was established in KyotoU in 1906, the First Lecture on Eastern History was established in the Department of History, with Torajiro Naito (1866-1934, pen name Konan) appointed a full-time lecturer (professor in 1909). KyotoU opened the Second Lecture of the Oriental History System in 1908 and the Third Lecture of Oriental History in 1908, with Kenzo Tomioka (1873-1918) appointed a full-time lecturer in 1908 followed by Kuwahara Chitsuzo (1871-1931), a professor, and Haneda Toru (1882–1955), a full-time lecturer, in 1909.
UTokyo restructured the College of Liberal Arts in 1910, four years behind KyotoU, and established several departments in each of three broad academic fields such as Philosophy, History, and Literature. The Department of 'Oriental History' was one of those established in the field of history. The department offered the First Lecture and the Second Lecture on Oriental History, with Shiratori and Ichimura Sanjiro (1864-1947) among others serving as professors.
As such, the two imperial universities in the eastern and western parts of the country, respectively, opened courses on Eastern History consecutively at the beginning of the 20th century, kicking off 'Oriental History' as a modern discipline in Japan, and playing the central role in the research and education of 'Oriental History' ever since. In such circumstances, how was the study of Korean history treated?
Shiratori, who was teaching at UTokyo, is believed to have engaged in the study of Korean history (mainly ancient history) early on while dealing with it in class, too. In 1914, UTokyo decided to open the 'Chosun History Course' in addition to the existing Oriental History courses, with Ikeuchi, a full-time lecturer for the Oriental History course, taking charge of Korean history (from ancient times to the Joseon Dynasty) since 1916.
At KyotoU, it was in 1913 when Imanishi Ryu (1875-1932) came to the College of Liberal Arts as the head of Archaeological Specimen Care and started teaching Korean history. Imanishi opened a course entitled 'Joseon History' while undertaking his main duties. In 1916, he was promoted to assistant professor and appointed to the third course of Oriental History while continuing to teach Korean history focused on the country's ancient history.
At UTokyo, Ikeuchi retired from the university in 1936, and his successor was not appointed until 1965, with the Chosun history course left abandoned. Imanishi, who was in charge of Korean history at KyotoU, moved to Gyeongseong Imperial University as a professor at the Faculty of Law and Literature in 1926 while holding a professorship at KyotoU. However, he died not long afterward in 1932.After that, KyotoU did not hire his successor, so the Korean history class was virtually extinguished naturally at the university without a faculty member in charge.
In the early 1910s, the two centers of Korean history research and education were established coincidentally at about the same time in Japan but became virtually extinct in the 1930's, too. On the other hand, the Korean Peninsula came under Japanese rule following the 1910 annexation, and Gyeongseong Imperial University (hereafter abbreviated as Jodai) founded in 1924 launched preparatory courses in the same year and the main courses of the Faculty of Law and Literature and the Faculty of Medicine in 1926. At that time, the Faculty of Law and Literature opened the first and second lectures of the history of Joseon. Two instructors taught at the time, including Imanishi, who was transferred from KyotoU (ancient history - the first lecture – from 1926 to 1932 while teaching at KyotoU, too) and Shogo Oda from the Japanese Government-General of Korea (1871-1953 / 1926-1932 / the second lecture / history of the Joseon Dynasty).
In 1932, Ryosaku Fujita (1892-1960) transferred from the archeology lecture to the first lecture as a professor (1932-1945 / ancient history). In 1933, Sue Matsu Yasukazu (1904-1992), a former senior fellow in the Korean History Compilation Committee (to be described later) joined the second lecture as an assistant professor (1933 to 1945, professor starting from 1939 / Ancient - Joseon Dynasty History).
At that time, Jodai had many faculty members not only in the field of the history of Joseon but also in the fields associated with or related to Korean history. Those faculty members include Shinpei Ogura of linguistics (1882-1944), Takahashi Toru (1878-1967) of Confucian History and Chinese Literature, Akiba Takashi (1888-1954) of sociology, Tabohashi Kiyoshi (1897-1945) of diplomatic history, Shikata Hiroshi (1900-73) of economics and Okudaira Takehiko (1900-34) of political science. Those who joined later as faculty members include Kono Rokuro (1912-1998) of linguistics, Toriyama Kiichi (1887-1959) of oriental history, Tavana Tameo (1896-1983) of education history, Naito Kichinosuke (1894-1946) of economics, and Suzuki Takeo (1901-1975) of economics.
In the Korean Peninsula under Japanese rule, research and education of Korean history were conducted in Jodai, a place of national academism while the compilation of the Korean history was also conducted in the Korean History Compilation Committee established in 1925 as a sub-organization of the Japanese Government-General of Korea. Among the compilers who were engaged in the project were Inaba Iwakichi (history of the Joseon Dynasty), Fujita Ryosaku (ancient history), Nakamura Hidetaka (1902-84 / history of the Joseon Dynasty), Suematsu Yasukazu (history of the Joseon Dynasty), Tagawa Gojo (1909-1988, history of the Joseon Dynasty), and Marugame Kinsaku (the dates of birth and death unknown, History of Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties). Among those who did not belong to public institutions and worked largely as independent researchers were Hosoi Hajime (1886-1943), Aoyagi Kotaro (1886-1943) and Imamura Tomo (1870-1943).
As such, the Korean Peninsula under Japanese rule had many Japanese scholars who were engaged in the research of Korean history as the members of Jodai and the Korean History Compilation Committee or independent scholars. Under Japanese colonial rule, national academism and the research of Korean history in government institutions were monopolized by the Japanese. There were a very limited number of places where Korean researchers played an active part. Of course, it is regrettable that the research of Korean history was carried out without Koreans. Also, in terms of research contents, needless to say, it was wrong to justify Japanese colonial rule and conduct research from the wrong perspective that was later criticized as theories based on the concepts of heteronomy and stagnation.
Researchers of Korean history who had been repatriated from the Korean Peninsula eventually found employment in Japan and resumed their research activities. Specifically, Suematsu was hired by Gakushuin University (1947-), Tagawa by Oriental Library (1948- / UTokyo from 1965), and Nakamura by Nagoya University (1948-／Tenri University from 1966), Fujita by Tokyo University of the Arts (1949-／Nara National Institute of Cultural Heritage from 1959).
Researchers in adjacent or related fields found jobs in universities and embarked on research and education, including Takahashi at Fukuoka University of Commerce, then Tenri University; Akiba at Kyushu University, then Aichi University; Shikata at Nagoya University; and Kono at Tokyo University of Education. The research activities by these repatriated researchers from the Korean Peninsula became a central axis that led the study of Korean studies in Japan in the 'post-war period.'
In terms of the reconstruction of the Korean history research and education system after the war, the trends that Tenri University demonstrated deserve special attention. Let's begin with the Korean Language Department established in the university's Foreign Language School. In the post-war Japan, as part of the ongoing educational reform, the Basic Act on Education was promulgated in 1947. The higher education system was restructured leading to the launch of a number of new universities. Tenri Foreign Language School, which was established to train overseas teachers of Tenrikyo (literally 'Religion of Divine Wisdom'), was reborn as Tenri University in 1949.
Tenri Foreign Language College had the Faculty of Korean Language, which was launched in 1925 by the college's predecessor, Tenri School of Foreign Language. In 1952, Tenri University opened the Faculty of Foreign Languages which launched the Joseon Literature and Linguistics Department, an offshoot of the Faculty of Korean Language. The department which was later renamed the Department of Chosun Studies was the only higher education facility to teach the Korean language professionally in Japan until the establishment of the Department of Korean Languages at Osaka University of Foreign Studies in 1963. The department has produced many Korean studies researchers and diplomats in charge of the Korean affairs.
Outstanding among the scholars of Korean history from Tenri University is Hiraki Makoto (1938-／History of the Joseon Dynasty). After graduating from Tenri University in 1962, he became the first Japanese student to study in Korea in the post-war era. He studied at the graduate school of Seoul National University and obtained a doctorate in literature with 'Research on slavery in the late Joseon Dynasty.' In 1971, he became a full-time lecturer at Tenri University (then assistant professor and professor later) and taught at the university until 2004.
Next, let's look at the establishment of the Academic Association of Koreanology in Japan as a national academic organization with its headquarters in Tenri University. In 1950, Tenri University invited Takahashi, a former professor at Jodai as a professor of its Department of Chosun Studies. In the same year, the Academic Association of Koreanology in Japan was launched by those related to Jodai, including Takahashi, as well as those from Tenri University and Tenrikyo. The Academic Association of Koreanology in Japan is a national Korean studies organization with scholars in the fields of Korean language, literature, history, culture and society, including a number of researchers of Korean history. The 'Journal of the Academic Association of Koreanology in Japan' is the publication of the organization currently published twice a year.
While the Academic Association of Koreanology in Japan is an organization that covers all aspects of Korean studies, the Society for Korean Historical Science, founded in 1959, is a national academic organization focused solely on Korean history. The Society for Korean Historical Science which was inaugurated by Suematsu, Tanaka Naokichi (1907-1996／modern history) and Hatada Takashi (1908-1994／History of Koryo - modern times) was joined by many young researchers who started studying Korean history in the post-war era as well as Korean researchers residing in Japan. While absorbing research achievements made in two Koreas, they have conducted research on the autonomous development process of Korean history and actively involved in social movements by speaking out on the issue of Korean expatriates in Japan and political trends on the Korean Peninsula. The organization's journal is called 'the Journal of the Society for Korean Historical Science' published once a year.
As described above, it was around 1950 that teachers started research and education of Korean history at universities, etc. in Japan. Though limited to Tenri University, a department was launched where people could study the Korean language professionally at that time. In the 1960s, the Department of Korean Language was established in the Faculty of Foreign Languages15 of Osaka University of Foreign Studies, a national university, increasing the number of specialized Korean language courses at the university level to two in Japan. Academic organizations such as the Academic Association of Koreanology in Japan and the Society for Korean Historical Science were founded in line with the gradual reconstruction of the research system of Korean history. However, Japan still did not have a university with a specialized curriculum or research organization in the field of Korean history. Students could study Korean history only if their schools had faculty members in their Department of History or those who taught specialized courses of 'Oriental history' after majoring in Korean history. Such universities were very few. Meiji University, Gakushuin University, Tokyo Metropolitan University, and Utokyo were such exceptions.
Faculty members in charge of Korean history at the educational institutions included Aoyama Koryo (1896-1980／tenure: 1949-1965 / History of the Goryeo Dynasty) at Meiji University, Suematsu (tenure: 1949-1975) at Gakushuin University, Hatada (tenure: 1950-1972) at Tokyo Metropolitan University, and Tagawa (tenure: 1965-1969) at UTokyo. Aoyama and Hatada taught the history of Goryeo Dynasty while Suematsu dealt with the period from ancient times to the Joseon Dynasty and Tagawa focused on the history of the Joseon Dynasty.
First, let's take a look at UTokyo. As already mentioned, after Ikeuchi retired (1936), the Joseon history class at Utokyo was left abandoned. In 1965, Tagawa took over as a full-time lecturer, reviving classes on Korean history in 29 years. Following the retirement of Tagawa in 1969, Takeda Yuki (1934-2021／History of Ancient Times to the Joseon Dynasty) took office in 1971 (tenure: 1971-1995). He was initially engaged in the study of Goryeo history but changed his focus to ancient history centered on the history of Goguryeo. In class, however, he covered a wide range of eras and fields. He nurtured many Korean history researchers including Yoshida Mitsuo (1946- / History of the Joseon Dynasty), Kazue Inoue (1949- / Joseon to modern times), Yoshino Makoto (1948 / modern history), Kasuya Kenichi (1949-／Joseon Dynasty - modern times). Yamauchi Koichi (1952-／Joseon Dynasty), Namiki Masahito (1957-2014／modern history), Hayashi Yusuke (1962-／modern history) and Morihira Masahiko (1972-／Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties).
Initially, Takeda belonged to the Eastern History Training Course in the Faculty of Literature. In 1993, when the Chosun Culture Division was established in the Cultural Exchange Research Facility affiliated with the Faculty of Literature, he moved there and strove to enhance the research foundation of Korean culture at UTokyo. At the time of the establishment of the Joseon Culture Division, Yoshida who was a research assistant at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies was appointed an assistant professor (1993-2015).
A Korean history researcher was also appointed to the Institute of Advanced Studies on Asia, an affiliated research institute of UTokyo. He was Miyajima Hiroshi (1948- / History of Joseon Dynasty – modern times) (tenure: 1983-2002) transferred from Tokyo Metropolitan University. At the institute, Miyajima was engaged in research on the Joseon land survey project and Koreans' genealogy during the Joseon Dynasty while teaching at the graduate school, nurturing many young researchers with a focus on modern history.
At Kyushu University (hereinafter abbreviated as Kyudai), the Chosun History Course was established in the History Department of the Faculty of Literature in 1974, and Osa Masanori (1933-87／History of the Joseon Dynasty) was appointed assistant professor (tenure: 1974-87, professor from 1981).Based on the geographical condition that Fukuoka, home for Kyudai, is the closest to the Korean Peninsula and has been a channel for exchanges with Korea since ancient times, Kyudai was aiming for the establishment of the Research Center for Korean Studies as an organization for the comprehensive study of Korean culture in three major areas such as philosophy, language & literature, and history. Kyudai's Korean history course, focused on the history of the country, was offered by an educational organization approved by the Ministry of Education. It was the first establishment of a course on the history of Joseon at a national university in Japan, which deserves special mention more than anything else.
Osa majored in the history of Korea-Japan relations during the Joseon Dynasty at Nagoya University under the guidance of Nakamura, but used various documents from the Joseon Dynasty, such as 'the Annals of King Sejong' and 'Taekriji (an Ecological Guide to Korea' as textbooks in class. His major proteges include Akizuki Nozomi (1949- / modern history), Rokutanda Yutaka (1962- / History of the Joseon Dynasty), Kuwano Eiji (1963-／History of the Joseon Dynasty). After Osa died of an illness in office, Hamada Kosaku (1949-／History of ancient Korea) took over as his successor (tenure: 1989-2015) in 1989 while Roku Tanda was appointed an assistant professor (tenure: 1996-2002) in 1996. During his tenure, Hamada launched the Kyushu University Research Center for Korean Studies on the back of the university's Korean history course and began to publish 'Annual Review of Koreanology' which is still published once a year.
This presentation skips the details of what happened in UTokyo and Kudai except the fact that they established research and education bases for Korean history during the period. What is also remarkable during this period across Japan is a significant increase in faculty members majoring in Korean history appointed by various universities. Several universities established organizations dealing with academic fields related to Korean history, too. Among national universities, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies launched the Department of Korean Language in the Faculty of Foreign Languages in 1977 while the University of Toyama opened the Korean Language and Literature Course in 1978 in the Department of Humanities. Among private universities, the Kanda Institute of Foreign Languages opened the Department of the Korean Language in its Faculty of Foreign Languages in 1989 followed by the launch of Korean language courses by several other universities in the 1990s.
First, UTokyo expanded and ugraded the Joseon culture research part in its cultural exchange research facility affiliated with the Faculty of Literature in 2002 by launching the Department of Korean Studies at Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology. The organization is aimed for interdisciplinary research and education on Korean culture and society using the methods of humanities and social sciences. The establishment of such an organization at the graduate school level was the first in Japan. In the field of Korean history, the Department of Korean Studies started with faculty members such as Yoshida from the Department of Korean Studies and Rokutanda who moved from Kudai as an assistant professor (associate professor in 2007 and professor in 2015). The department has researchers majoring in archeology, philosophy, linguistics, cultural anthropology, and sociology including international students from Korea and China besides Japanese students.
The department has produced doctorate recipients in Korean history, including Toyoshima Yuka (History of the Koryo and Joseon Dynasties), Tsuji Yamato (History of the Joseon Dynasty) and Suzuki Gai (History of the Joseon Dynasty). However, after Yoshida retired, only Rokutanda is in charge of Korean history. Yoshida's successor has yet to be found. Besides, Rokutanda teaches Oriental History in the Faculty of Literature in addition to his responsibility at the graduate school.
UTokyo also a Korean and Joseon research course in the College of Arts and Sciences. It is equipped with a system to educate not only Korean history, but also a wide range of other topics such as politics, economy, society, and culture of the country. Korean history is taught by Tsukiashi Tatsuhiko (1962- / modern history) and Mitsui Takashi (1974- / modern history) who also teach Korean history at the Department of Language and Information Sciences of UTokyo's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Some graduate students, albeit small in the number, study the history of modern agricultural economy in Korea under the guidance of Matsumoto Takenori (1960- / modern history) of the Graduate School of Agricultura and Life Sciences.
Meanwhile, in Kyudai, the Research Center for Korean Studies established in 2000 functioned as the core of Korean studies throughout the university. In accordance with the university's emphasis on graduate studies, the history of Joseon was transferred from the Faculty of Literature to the Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences. Morihira was hired in 2003. He was promoted to professor in 2015 following the retirement of Hamada.
In addition, Ono Yasteru (1982-／modern history) was appointed as an associate professor in 2017, enabling a research and education system to cover a longer period of time in Korean history.
Among the graduate students who majored in Korean history at Kyudai and obtained a doctorate while Hamada was working there are Hara Tomohiro (modern history) and Oshikawa Nobuhisa (History of the Joseon Dynasty) and Kawanishi Yuya (History of the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties).
UTokyo and Kyudai are the only universities that have established a research and education system specialized in the study of Korean history or Korean culture which includes Korean history. However, there are several other universities that are in charge of nurturing Korean history researchers. They include Hitotsubashi University and KyotoU, which are national universities, and Waseda University and Doshisha University which are private universities.
At Hitotsubashi, Kasya taught modern Korean history for a long time in the Faculty of Sociology and the Graduate School of Sociology, nurturing many researchers of modern Korean history. Since Kasya retired, his disciple and successor, Kato Keiki (1983- ) has continued to teach modern Korean history as an associate professor. Notably, the university's graduate school has many students majoring in modern Korean history, too. At KyotoU, Mizuno Naoki (1950- ) of the Institute for Research in Humanities taught modern Korean history at the Faculty of Letters/Graduate School of Letters. Currently, Yagi Takeshi (1964- ), who is also affiliated with the Institute for Research in Humaities, is teaching Korea's medieval and modern history at the Faculty of Letters/Graduate School of Letters.
At Waseda University, Lee Seong-shi (1952- ) is in charge of the ancient Korean history in the Faculty of Letters and the Graduate School of Letters, Arts and Sciences. He has nurtured Hashimoto Shigeru and Inoue Naoki, rare researchers of ancient Korean history in Japan. Doshisha University has many researchers of modern and contemporary Korean history, as the university is responsible for nurturing researchers in this field. The researchers include Itagaki Ryuta (1972-) in the Department of Sociology; Fukuoka Masaaki (1973-) in the Faculty of Economics: Ogawara Hiroyuki (1971-) in the Faculty of Global and Regional Studies; and Osamu Ota (1963-) in the Graduate School of Global Studies.
The universities and researchers that deserve mentioning do not stop there. However, because of a limit to the number of characters in this presentation, let me stop the introduction of researchers here. But please refer to the list of the universities and their departments with full-time faculty members majoring in Korean history as of July 2021, which I have attached hereto as an attachment. You can count on its reliability as I have checked the content myself. The list is not necessarily complete. Yet it demonstrates that a vast majority of university faculty members major in modern Korean history. Specifically, the list shows that among 61 university professors, 39 people (63.4%) major in modern history, whereas 13 (21.3%) in medieval/early modern period and 9 (14.8%) in ancient history, with two of them majoring in archeology).
Some Korean history researchers teach Korean history at universities as part-time lecturers rather than full-time ones. Of course, they are not included in the attachment. I could not find out the exact number of those part-time instructors yet. Combined, instructors teaching Korean history at Japanese universities are likely to exceed 100. As mentioned at the beginning of this presentation, that number is still very small compared to the number of researchers studying other countries' histories, but it is truly impressive that in recent years, many universities have offered Korean history classes even though they have not always assigned full-time instructors to the course.
Meanwhile, in 1999, just before the dawn of 21st century, a new academic society with a deep connection with Korean history was launched. It was the Association for the Study of Korean Culture and Society. The association was organized by cultural anthropologist and researchers of a wide range of humanities and social sciences related to Korea, with quite a number of researchers of Korean history joining the ranks. It publishes 'Korean Culture and Society' once a year as its journal.
[Table 1] summarizes the number of papers on Korean history published in Japan from 1950 to 2017 and their trends analyzed for every ten years. The figures are based on the 'Bibliography of Postwar Japanese Research in Korean studies (database edition) (thesis edition)' and include not only the achievements of researchers majoring in Korean history, but also those made by the researchers majoring in associated fields such as Japanese history as well as their writings targeting the general public. Still the figures point to certain trends.
[Table 1] Summarizes the number of papers on Korean history published in Japan
First, let's look at the 'total' item in [Table 1] and check the overall trend in the number of papers related to Korean history, It is no surprise that in the post-war 1950s, the number of papers was extremely small and research activity was also low overall. In the 1960s, the number of papers spiked by 2.7 times. The increase has continued ever since. We can see that in the 2000s, the increase reached 14.3 times compared to the 1950s. It is true that research on Korean history in Japan made great strides in the 75 years after the war ended.
Next, let's look at the characteristics by period. In [Table 1] the periods of Korean history are classified into four such as 'Ancient/Prehistoric', 'Goryeo', 'Joseon' and 'Modern'. In the 1950s, the 'Ancient/Prehistoric' period ranked first followed by 'Joseon' and 'Modern,' with 'Goryeo' taking the last position. In the 1960s and onward, 'Modern' ranked first followed by 'Ancient/Prehistoric', 'Joseon' and 'Goryeo' in that order. [Table 2] is a summary of the ratios of the papers produced for the four periods: In the 1950s, 'Ancient/Prehistoric' was 40.5%, with 'Goryeo' standing at 12%, 'Joseon' at 26.4%, and 'Modern' at 20.9%. Since the 1960s, the ratio of 'Ancient/Prehistoric' has gradually decreased, while 'Modern' showed a marked increase, reaching nearly 50% in the 2010s. 'Goryeo' which accounted for 12% in the 1950s has gradually decreased to hover around 3-4% since the 1970s. 'Joseon' fell below 20% from the 1970s to the 1980s, but it remained at the 20% level during the other decades.
[Table 2] Ratio by period of papers on Korean history published in Japan (%)
From the data, we can conclude that research of 'Modern' Korean history has produced the biggest achievements in Japan followed by research on ancient history. The reason for the biggest achievements by research of 'Modern' history is that Korean history during this period cannot be ignored when researchers deal with the modern Japanese history, including the issue of colonial rule. The same goes for ancient history: It is difficult to understand the issue of Japan's ancient state formation without looking into the ancient Korean history. As such, Japanese history researchers have been heavily involved in the research of Modern and Ancient Korean history. Although not as much as Modern history and Ancient history, the study of the Joseon Dynasty has been relatively active, with the research of Korea-Japan relations by Japanese history researchers occupying a significant proportion. Few studies discuss the politics, economy, and society of the Joseon Dynasty themselves.Only a few researchers are studying the history of the Goryeo period.
In sum, since the end of World War II, Japanese research of Korea's Medieval and Early Modern periods has not been as active as research on Modern and Ancient Korean history. Of course, Modern history is still important to 'rectify the 'past history' lying between Korea and Japan. Still deepening the understanding of Medieval and Modern history cannot be underestimated as it increases people's insight into the traditional cultures and traditional societies of Korea which are so different from Japan's. Not only that. It also helps a lot in understanding what has happened in Korea since the modern era ended. In terms of resolving the era-related imbalance, it is desirable to study Medieval and Modern history more actively in the future. I would like to emphasize that it is one of our imminent tasks to increase the number of classes and curricula for pre-modern Korean history at universities, including ancient Korean history which currently has a smaller number of researchers.
In Japan, the research and education of Korean history began when the education and research organization for 'Oriental History' was established in the early 20th century at two imperial universities in Tokyo and Kyoto. Under Japanese rule, many Japanese in the Korean peninsula were also engaged in the study of Korean history centered around Gyeongseong Imperial University. However, it goes without saying that these studies of Korean history prior to 1945 contain various problems. After Japan was defeated in World War II, the research and education system on Korean history began to be reconstructed based on reflection on the previous research and education. From around the 1950s, teachers related to Korean history were employed at universities, etc. and engaged in research and education. However, there was no university with specialized education curriculum or research organization until the 1960s. From the 1970s through the 1990s, research and education bases for Korean history were established at Tokyo University and Kyushu University, and other universities also created organizations closely related to Korean history. Currently, a growing number of universities are nurturing Korean history researchers in addition to Tokyo University and Kyushu University.
However, the overwhelming majority of the full-time teachers of Korean history at universities are contemporary history major. Even the number of papers on Korean history published in Japan from the 1950s to the present suggests that most research results and achievements have been in the field of contemporary history. On the other hand, there are not many researchers of medieval history and modern history, and research in those fields has not been very active. It is deemed that one of the futures tasks is to solve this issue.
1. Introduction
The purpose of this presentation is to provide an overview of how research and education on Korean history have been conducted in Japanese universities (and similar research and educational institutions) and introduce the current situation.The Japanese archipelago and the Korean Peninsula are literally separated only by a narrow strip of water and various exchanges have been made between them since ancient times. Under such geographical conditions and historical circumstances, research and education of Korean history as a modern discipline has continued uninterrupted in Japan, despite various difficulties since historical research and education began as a modern discipline at Japanese universities to the present day. I think that there is no country, other than Korea itself that has a record of accomplishment of research and education in Korean history as much as Japan does. However, on the other hand, the proportion of Korean history research in the entire international history research in Japan is far from high. The fact is that people can major in Korean history in a far fewer number of universities in Japan compared to other foreign history research. Let's verify this assertion first before we move on to the main part of this presentation.
2. Establishment of ' Oriental History' and Research of Korean History in Japan
As you are aware, it was after the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate and the start of the Meiji Restoration era (1868) that the historical research and education system was established as a modern discipline in Japan. However, the establishment of 'Oriental History,' including Korean history, as part of such historical studies, was made a bit later than that.When the University of Tokyo was founded in 1877, history was first taught along with philosophy and politics as a modern Western-style study in the first Division of the Faculty of Letters. However, it was the case for the European history: The East Asian history centered on Chinese history was taught in the second Division as part of the university's traditional Chinese studies. After that, the University of Tokyo was renamed the Imperial University (Tokyo Imperial University, hereinafter abbreviated as Tokyo Imperial University, in 1897) under the Imperial University Order of 1886. Its organization also shifted from the conventional undergraduate system to the departmental university system. In the College of Liberal Arts, whose predecessor was the Faculty of Letters, the Department of History was established independently from the First Division where the European history was lectured with the education of East Asian history handled by the Department of Chinese Literature.
Amid such developments, 'Oriental History' was conceived as a new academic field to study East Asian history by introducing Western-style modern historical methods to the field of traditional Chinese studies. The person who proposed it is identified as Michiyo Naka (1851-1906). After studying at Keio University, Naka became a professor at Tokyo Higher Normal School in 1894 while also serving as a lecturer at the College of Liberal Arts of Tokyo Imperial University starting from 1896. During this period, he studied the ancient history of Japan, China, and Korea including the history of the Yuan Dynasty in China. The 'Oriental History' he advocated was followed by his disciples Shiratori Kurakichi (1865-1942), Tsuda Sokichi, Inaba Iwakichi (1876-1940, pen name Junshan) and Ikeuchi Hiroshi (1878-1952), among others.
However, it was Kyoto Imperial University established as the second imperial university in 1897 (hereafter abbreviated as KyotoU), not UTokyo, that opened a lecture called 'Oriental History' for the first time at a Japanese university. When the College of Liberal Arts was established in KyotoU in 1906, the First Lecture on Eastern History was established in the Department of History, with Torajiro Naito (1866-1934, pen name Konan) appointed a full-time lecturer (professor in 1909). KyotoU opened the Second Lecture of the Oriental History System in 1908 and the Third Lecture of Oriental History in 1908, with Kenzo Tomioka (1873-1918) appointed a full-time lecturer in 1908 followed by Kuwahara Chitsuzo (1871-1931), a professor, and Haneda Toru (1882–1955), a full-time lecturer, in 1909.
UTokyo restructured the College of Liberal Arts in 1910, four years behind KyotoU, and established several departments in each of three broad academic fields such as Philosophy, History, and Literature. The Department of 'Oriental History' was one of those established in the field of history. The department offered the First Lecture and the Second Lecture on Oriental History, with Shiratori and Ichimura Sanjiro (1864-1947) among others serving as professors.
As such, the two imperial universities in the eastern and western parts of the country, respectively, opened courses on Eastern History consecutively at the beginning of the 20th century, kicking off 'Oriental History' as a modern discipline in Japan, and playing the central role in the research and education of 'Oriental History' ever since. In such circumstances, how was the study of Korean history treated?
Shiratori, who was teaching at UTokyo, is believed to have engaged in the study of Korean history (mainly ancient history) early on while dealing with it in class, too. In 1914, UTokyo decided to open the 'Chosun History Course' in addition to the existing Oriental History courses, with Ikeuchi, a full-time lecturer for the Oriental History course, taking charge of Korean history (from ancient times to the Joseon Dynasty) since 1916.
At KyotoU, it was in 1913 when Imanishi Ryu (1875-1932) came to the College of Liberal Arts as the head of Archaeological Specimen Care and started teaching Korean history. Imanishi opened a course entitled 'Joseon History' while undertaking his main duties. In 1916, he was promoted to assistant professor and appointed to the third course of Oriental History while continuing to teach Korean history focused on the country's ancient history.
At UTokyo, Ikeuchi retired from the university in 1936, and his successor was not appointed until 1965, with the Chosun history course left abandoned. Imanishi, who was in charge of Korean history at KyotoU, moved to Gyeongseong Imperial University as a professor at the Faculty of Law and Literature in 1926 while holding a professorship at KyotoU. However, he died not long afterward in 1932.After that, KyotoU did not hire his successor, so the Korean history class was virtually extinguished naturally at the university without a faculty member in charge.
In the early 1910s, the two centers of Korean history research and education were established coincidentally at about the same time in Japan but became virtually extinct in the 1930's, too. On the other hand, the Korean Peninsula came under Japanese rule following the 1910 annexation, and Gyeongseong Imperial University (hereafter abbreviated as Jodai) founded in 1924 launched preparatory courses in the same year and the main courses of the Faculty of Law and Literature and the Faculty of Medicine in 1926. At that time, the Faculty of Law and Literature opened the first and second lectures of the history of Joseon. Two instructors taught at the time, including Imanishi, who was transferred from KyotoU (ancient history - the first lecture – from 1926 to 1932 while teaching at KyotoU, too) and Shogo Oda from the Japanese Government-General of Korea (1871-1953 / 1926-1932 / the second lecture / history of the Joseon Dynasty).
In 1932, Ryosaku Fujita (1892-1960) transferred from the archeology lecture to the first lecture as a professor (1932-1945 / ancient history). In 1933, Sue Matsu Yasukazu (1904-1992), a former senior fellow in the Korean History Compilation Committee (to be described later) joined the second lecture as an assistant professor (1933 to 1945, professor starting from 1939 / Ancient - Joseon Dynasty History).
At that time, Jodai had many faculty members not only in the field of the history of Joseon but also in the fields associated with or related to Korean history. Those faculty members include Shinpei Ogura of linguistics (1882-1944), Takahashi Toru (1878-1967) of Confucian History and Chinese Literature, Akiba Takashi (1888-1954) of sociology, Tabohashi Kiyoshi (1897-1945) of diplomatic history, Shikata Hiroshi (1900-73) of economics and Okudaira Takehiko (1900-34) of political science. Those who joined later as faculty members include Kono Rokuro (1912-1998) of linguistics, Toriyama Kiichi (1887-1959) of oriental history, Tavana Tameo (1896-1983) of education history, Naito Kichinosuke (1894-1946) of economics, and Suzuki Takeo (1901-1975) of economics.
In the Korean Peninsula under Japanese rule, research and education of Korean history were conducted in Jodai, a place of national academism while the compilation of the Korean history was also conducted in the Korean History Compilation Committee established in 1925 as a sub-organization of the Japanese Government-General of Korea. Among the compilers who were engaged in the project were Inaba Iwakichi (history of the Joseon Dynasty), Fujita Ryosaku (ancient history), Nakamura Hidetaka (1902-84 / history of the Joseon Dynasty), Suematsu Yasukazu (history of the Joseon Dynasty), Tagawa Gojo (1909-1988, history of the Joseon Dynasty), and Marugame Kinsaku (the dates of birth and death unknown, History of Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties). Among those who did not belong to public institutions and worked largely as independent researchers were Hosoi Hajime (1886-1943), Aoyagi Kotaro (1886-1943) and Imamura Tomo (1870-1943).
As such, the Korean Peninsula under Japanese rule had many Japanese scholars who were engaged in the research of Korean history as the members of Jodai and the Korean History Compilation Committee or independent scholars. Under Japanese colonial rule, national academism and the research of Korean history in government institutions were monopolized by the Japanese. There were a very limited number of places where Korean researchers played an active part. Of course, it is regrettable that the research of Korean history was carried out without Koreans. Also, in terms of research contents, needless to say, it was wrong to justify Japanese colonial rule and conduct research from the wrong perspective that was later criticized as theories based on the concepts of heteronomy and stagnation.
3. Post-war Reconstruction of Korean History Research and Education System
In 1945, Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration and surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. With Japan's defeat, World War II ended and the Korean peninsula, which had been a colony, was liberated. The Japanese who lived in the peninsula were repatriated to Japan which was then called 'naeji (mainland).' However, major cities in Japan were devastated by US airstrikes and the shortage of food and other supplies was so severe that reconstruction of life had to be the top priority for the time being. It was not a situation where scholars could conduct research comfortably. Notably, many of the researchers who had been repatriated from the Korean Peninsula left their research materials behind, so even if they wanted to do research, they did not have the means to do so. However, in the midst of such circumstances, as society gradually stabilized, a movement toward a new study of Korean history emerged, little by little, from the standpoint of reflecting on pre-war research.Researchers of Korean history who had been repatriated from the Korean Peninsula eventually found employment in Japan and resumed their research activities. Specifically, Suematsu was hired by Gakushuin University (1947-), Tagawa by Oriental Library (1948- / UTokyo from 1965), and Nakamura by Nagoya University (1948-／Tenri University from 1966), Fujita by Tokyo University of the Arts (1949-／Nara National Institute of Cultural Heritage from 1959).
Researchers in adjacent or related fields found jobs in universities and embarked on research and education, including Takahashi at Fukuoka University of Commerce, then Tenri University; Akiba at Kyushu University, then Aichi University; Shikata at Nagoya University; and Kono at Tokyo University of Education. The research activities by these repatriated researchers from the Korean Peninsula became a central axis that led the study of Korean studies in Japan in the 'post-war period.'
In terms of the reconstruction of the Korean history research and education system after the war, the trends that Tenri University demonstrated deserve special attention. Let's begin with the Korean Language Department established in the university's Foreign Language School. In the post-war Japan, as part of the ongoing educational reform, the Basic Act on Education was promulgated in 1947. The higher education system was restructured leading to the launch of a number of new universities. Tenri Foreign Language School, which was established to train overseas teachers of Tenrikyo (literally 'Religion of Divine Wisdom'), was reborn as Tenri University in 1949.
Tenri Foreign Language College had the Faculty of Korean Language, which was launched in 1925 by the college's predecessor, Tenri School of Foreign Language. In 1952, Tenri University opened the Faculty of Foreign Languages which launched the Joseon Literature and Linguistics Department, an offshoot of the Faculty of Korean Language. The department which was later renamed the Department of Chosun Studies was the only higher education facility to teach the Korean language professionally in Japan until the establishment of the Department of Korean Languages at Osaka University of Foreign Studies in 1963. The department has produced many Korean studies researchers and diplomats in charge of the Korean affairs.
Outstanding among the scholars of Korean history from Tenri University is Hiraki Makoto (1938-／History of the Joseon Dynasty). After graduating from Tenri University in 1962, he became the first Japanese student to study in Korea in the post-war era. He studied at the graduate school of Seoul National University and obtained a doctorate in literature with 'Research on slavery in the late Joseon Dynasty.' In 1971, he became a full-time lecturer at Tenri University (then assistant professor and professor later) and taught at the university until 2004.
Next, let's look at the establishment of the Academic Association of Koreanology in Japan as a national academic organization with its headquarters in Tenri University. In 1950, Tenri University invited Takahashi, a former professor at Jodai as a professor of its Department of Chosun Studies. In the same year, the Academic Association of Koreanology in Japan was launched by those related to Jodai, including Takahashi, as well as those from Tenri University and Tenrikyo. The Academic Association of Koreanology in Japan is a national Korean studies organization with scholars in the fields of Korean language, literature, history, culture and society, including a number of researchers of Korean history. The 'Journal of the Academic Association of Koreanology in Japan' is the publication of the organization currently published twice a year.
While the Academic Association of Koreanology in Japan is an organization that covers all aspects of Korean studies, the Society for Korean Historical Science, founded in 1959, is a national academic organization focused solely on Korean history. The Society for Korean Historical Science which was inaugurated by Suematsu, Tanaka Naokichi (1907-1996／modern history) and Hatada Takashi (1908-1994／History of Koryo - modern times) was joined by many young researchers who started studying Korean history in the post-war era as well as Korean researchers residing in Japan. While absorbing research achievements made in two Koreas, they have conducted research on the autonomous development process of Korean history and actively involved in social movements by speaking out on the issue of Korean expatriates in Japan and political trends on the Korean Peninsula. The organization's journal is called 'the Journal of the Society for Korean Historical Science' published once a year.
As described above, it was around 1950 that teachers started research and education of Korean history at universities, etc. in Japan. Though limited to Tenri University, a department was launched where people could study the Korean language professionally at that time. In the 1960s, the Department of Korean Language was established in the Faculty of Foreign Languages15 of Osaka University of Foreign Studies, a national university, increasing the number of specialized Korean language courses at the university level to two in Japan. Academic organizations such as the Academic Association of Koreanology in Japan and the Society for Korean Historical Science were founded in line with the gradual reconstruction of the research system of Korean history. However, Japan still did not have a university with a specialized curriculum or research organization in the field of Korean history. Students could study Korean history only if their schools had faculty members in their Department of History or those who taught specialized courses of 'Oriental history' after majoring in Korean history. Such universities were very few. Meiji University, Gakushuin University, Tokyo Metropolitan University, and Utokyo were such exceptions.
Faculty members in charge of Korean history at the educational institutions included Aoyama Koryo (1896-1980／tenure: 1949-1965 / History of the Goryeo Dynasty) at Meiji University, Suematsu (tenure: 1949-1975) at Gakushuin University, Hatada (tenure: 1950-1972) at Tokyo Metropolitan University, and Tagawa (tenure: 1965-1969) at UTokyo. Aoyama and Hatada taught the history of Goryeo Dynasty while Suematsu dealt with the period from ancient times to the Joseon Dynasty and Tagawa focused on the history of the Joseon Dynasty.
4. Expansion of Korean History Research and Education System
The period from the 1970s to the 1990s can be identified as a period of expansion of the Korean history research and education system in Japan. What is particularly noteworthy during this period was the fact that UTokyo and Kyushu University emerged as the country's research and education bases for Korean history.First, let's take a look at UTokyo. As already mentioned, after Ikeuchi retired (1936), the Joseon history class at Utokyo was left abandoned. In 1965, Tagawa took over as a full-time lecturer, reviving classes on Korean history in 29 years. Following the retirement of Tagawa in 1969, Takeda Yuki (1934-2021／History of Ancient Times to the Joseon Dynasty) took office in 1971 (tenure: 1971-1995). He was initially engaged in the study of Goryeo history but changed his focus to ancient history centered on the history of Goguryeo. In class, however, he covered a wide range of eras and fields. He nurtured many Korean history researchers including Yoshida Mitsuo (1946- / History of the Joseon Dynasty), Kazue Inoue (1949- / Joseon to modern times), Yoshino Makoto (1948 / modern history), Kasuya Kenichi (1949-／Joseon Dynasty - modern times). Yamauchi Koichi (1952-／Joseon Dynasty), Namiki Masahito (1957-2014／modern history), Hayashi Yusuke (1962-／modern history) and Morihira Masahiko (1972-／Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties).
Initially, Takeda belonged to the Eastern History Training Course in the Faculty of Literature. In 1993, when the Chosun Culture Division was established in the Cultural Exchange Research Facility affiliated with the Faculty of Literature, he moved there and strove to enhance the research foundation of Korean culture at UTokyo. At the time of the establishment of the Joseon Culture Division, Yoshida who was a research assistant at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies was appointed an assistant professor (1993-2015).
A Korean history researcher was also appointed to the Institute of Advanced Studies on Asia, an affiliated research institute of UTokyo. He was Miyajima Hiroshi (1948- / History of Joseon Dynasty – modern times) (tenure: 1983-2002) transferred from Tokyo Metropolitan University. At the institute, Miyajima was engaged in research on the Joseon land survey project and Koreans' genealogy during the Joseon Dynasty while teaching at the graduate school, nurturing many young researchers with a focus on modern history.
At Kyushu University (hereinafter abbreviated as Kyudai), the Chosun History Course was established in the History Department of the Faculty of Literature in 1974, and Osa Masanori (1933-87／History of the Joseon Dynasty) was appointed assistant professor (tenure: 1974-87, professor from 1981).Based on the geographical condition that Fukuoka, home for Kyudai, is the closest to the Korean Peninsula and has been a channel for exchanges with Korea since ancient times, Kyudai was aiming for the establishment of the Research Center for Korean Studies as an organization for the comprehensive study of Korean culture in three major areas such as philosophy, language & literature, and history. Kyudai's Korean history course, focused on the history of the country, was offered by an educational organization approved by the Ministry of Education. It was the first establishment of a course on the history of Joseon at a national university in Japan, which deserves special mention more than anything else.
Osa majored in the history of Korea-Japan relations during the Joseon Dynasty at Nagoya University under the guidance of Nakamura, but used various documents from the Joseon Dynasty, such as 'the Annals of King Sejong' and 'Taekriji (an Ecological Guide to Korea' as textbooks in class. His major proteges include Akizuki Nozomi (1949- / modern history), Rokutanda Yutaka (1962- / History of the Joseon Dynasty), Kuwano Eiji (1963-／History of the Joseon Dynasty). After Osa died of an illness in office, Hamada Kosaku (1949-／History of ancient Korea) took over as his successor (tenure: 1989-2015) in 1989 while Roku Tanda was appointed an assistant professor (tenure: 1996-2002) in 1996. During his tenure, Hamada launched the Kyushu University Research Center for Korean Studies on the back of the university's Korean history course and began to publish 'Annual Review of Koreanology' which is still published once a year.
This presentation skips the details of what happened in UTokyo and Kudai except the fact that they established research and education bases for Korean history during the period. What is also remarkable during this period across Japan is a significant increase in faculty members majoring in Korean history appointed by various universities. Several universities established organizations dealing with academic fields related to Korean history, too. Among national universities, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies launched the Department of Korean Language in the Faculty of Foreign Languages in 1977 while the University of Toyama opened the Korean Language and Literature Course in 1978 in the Department of Humanities. Among private universities, the Kanda Institute of Foreign Languages opened the Department of the Korean Language in its Faculty of Foreign Languages in 1989 followed by the launch of Korean language courses by several other universities in the 1990s.
5. Current Status of Korean History Research and Education in Japanese Universities
As mentioned above, the Korean history research and education system at Japanese universities has developed steadily. The current status is as follows.First, UTokyo expanded and ugraded the Joseon culture research part in its cultural exchange research facility affiliated with the Faculty of Literature in 2002 by launching the Department of Korean Studies at Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology. The organization is aimed for interdisciplinary research and education on Korean culture and society using the methods of humanities and social sciences. The establishment of such an organization at the graduate school level was the first in Japan. In the field of Korean history, the Department of Korean Studies started with faculty members such as Yoshida from the Department of Korean Studies and Rokutanda who moved from Kudai as an assistant professor (associate professor in 2007 and professor in 2015). The department has researchers majoring in archeology, philosophy, linguistics, cultural anthropology, and sociology including international students from Korea and China besides Japanese students.
The department has produced doctorate recipients in Korean history, including Toyoshima Yuka (History of the Koryo and Joseon Dynasties), Tsuji Yamato (History of the Joseon Dynasty) and Suzuki Gai (History of the Joseon Dynasty). However, after Yoshida retired, only Rokutanda is in charge of Korean history. Yoshida's successor has yet to be found. Besides, Rokutanda teaches Oriental History in the Faculty of Literature in addition to his responsibility at the graduate school.
UTokyo also a Korean and Joseon research course in the College of Arts and Sciences. It is equipped with a system to educate not only Korean history, but also a wide range of other topics such as politics, economy, society, and culture of the country. Korean history is taught by Tsukiashi Tatsuhiko (1962- / modern history) and Mitsui Takashi (1974- / modern history) who also teach Korean history at the Department of Language and Information Sciences of UTokyo's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Some graduate students, albeit small in the number, study the history of modern agricultural economy in Korea under the guidance of Matsumoto Takenori (1960- / modern history) of the Graduate School of Agricultura and Life Sciences.
Meanwhile, in Kyudai, the Research Center for Korean Studies established in 2000 functioned as the core of Korean studies throughout the university. In accordance with the university's emphasis on graduate studies, the history of Joseon was transferred from the Faculty of Literature to the Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences. Morihira was hired in 2003. He was promoted to professor in 2015 following the retirement of Hamada.
In addition, Ono Yasteru (1982-／modern history) was appointed as an associate professor in 2017, enabling a research and education system to cover a longer period of time in Korean history.
Among the graduate students who majored in Korean history at Kyudai and obtained a doctorate while Hamada was working there are Hara Tomohiro (modern history) and Oshikawa Nobuhisa (History of the Joseon Dynasty) and Kawanishi Yuya (History of the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties).
UTokyo and Kyudai are the only universities that have established a research and education system specialized in the study of Korean history or Korean culture which includes Korean history. However, there are several other universities that are in charge of nurturing Korean history researchers. They include Hitotsubashi University and KyotoU, which are national universities, and Waseda University and Doshisha University which are private universities.
At Hitotsubashi, Kasya taught modern Korean history for a long time in the Faculty of Sociology and the Graduate School of Sociology, nurturing many researchers of modern Korean history. Since Kasya retired, his disciple and successor, Kato Keiki (1983- ) has continued to teach modern Korean history as an associate professor. Notably, the university's graduate school has many students majoring in modern Korean history, too. At KyotoU, Mizuno Naoki (1950- ) of the Institute for Research in Humanities taught modern Korean history at the Faculty of Letters/Graduate School of Letters. Currently, Yagi Takeshi (1964- ), who is also affiliated with the Institute for Research in Humaities, is teaching Korea's medieval and modern history at the Faculty of Letters/Graduate School of Letters.
At Waseda University, Lee Seong-shi (1952- ) is in charge of the ancient Korean history in the Faculty of Letters and the Graduate School of Letters, Arts and Sciences. He has nurtured Hashimoto Shigeru and Inoue Naoki, rare researchers of ancient Korean history in Japan. Doshisha University has many researchers of modern and contemporary Korean history, as the university is responsible for nurturing researchers in this field. The researchers include Itagaki Ryuta (1972-) in the Department of Sociology; Fukuoka Masaaki (1973-) in the Faculty of Economics: Ogawara Hiroyuki (1971-) in the Faculty of Global and Regional Studies; and Osamu Ota (1963-) in the Graduate School of Global Studies.
The universities and researchers that deserve mentioning do not stop there. However, because of a limit to the number of characters in this presentation, let me stop the introduction of researchers here. But please refer to the list of the universities and their departments with full-time faculty members majoring in Korean history as of July 2021, which I have attached hereto as an attachment. You can count on its reliability as I have checked the content myself. The list is not necessarily complete. Yet it demonstrates that a vast majority of university faculty members major in modern Korean history. Specifically, the list shows that among 61 university professors, 39 people (63.4%) major in modern history, whereas 13 (21.3%) in medieval/early modern period and 9 (14.8%) in ancient history, with two of them majoring in archeology).
Some Korean history researchers teach Korean history at universities as part-time lecturers rather than full-time ones. Of course, they are not included in the attachment. I could not find out the exact number of those part-time instructors yet. Combined, instructors teaching Korean history at Japanese universities are likely to exceed 100. As mentioned at the beginning of this presentation, that number is still very small compared to the number of researchers studying other countries' histories, but it is truly impressive that in recent years, many universities have offered Korean history classes even though they have not always assigned full-time instructors to the course.
Meanwhile, in 1999, just before the dawn of 21st century, a new academic society with a deep connection with Korean history was launched. It was the Association for the Study of Korean Culture and Society. The association was organized by cultural anthropologist and researchers of a wide range of humanities and social sciences related to Korea, with quite a number of researchers of Korean history joining the ranks. It publishes 'Korean Culture and Society' once a year as its journal.
6. Trends and Current Status of Korean History Research in Japan
Lastly, let me conclude my presentation by briefly mentioning the trends and current status of the research of Korean history in Japan under the country's higher education research and education system.[Table 1] summarizes the number of papers on Korean history published in Japan from 1950 to 2017 and their trends analyzed for every ten years. The figures are based on the 'Bibliography of Postwar Japanese Research in Korean studies (database edition) (thesis edition)' and include not only the achievements of researchers majoring in Korean history, but also those made by the researchers majoring in associated fields such as Japanese history as well as their writings targeting the general public. Still the figures point to certain trends.
[Table 1] Summarizes the number of papers on Korean history published in Japan
| 1950-59 | 1960-69 | 1970-79 | 1980-89 | 1990-99 | 2000-09 | 2010-17 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ancient/Prehistoric | 161 | 283 | 623 | 768 | 846 | 1041 | 899 |
| Goryeo | 48 | 79 | 64 | 93 | 92 | 185 | 122 |
| Joseon | 105 | 212 | 237 | 351 | 580 | 818 | 709 |
| Modern | 83 | 314 | 647 | 823 | 1231 | 1926 | 1707 |
| Contemporary | 104 | 492 | 560 | 1007 | 1310 | 2200 | 1327 |
| Other | 179 | 440 | 557 | 976 | 1625 | 3451 | 1684 |
| All | 669 | 1820 | 2708 | 4018 | 5684 | 9621 | 6445 |
First, let's look at the 'total' item in [Table 1] and check the overall trend in the number of papers related to Korean history, It is no surprise that in the post-war 1950s, the number of papers was extremely small and research activity was also low overall. In the 1960s, the number of papers spiked by 2.7 times. The increase has continued ever since. We can see that in the 2000s, the increase reached 14.3 times compared to the 1950s. It is true that research on Korean history in Japan made great strides in the 75 years after the war ended.
Next, let's look at the characteristics by period. In [Table 1] the periods of Korean history are classified into four such as 'Ancient/Prehistoric', 'Goryeo', 'Joseon' and 'Modern'. In the 1950s, the 'Ancient/Prehistoric' period ranked first followed by 'Joseon' and 'Modern,' with 'Goryeo' taking the last position. In the 1960s and onward, 'Modern' ranked first followed by 'Ancient/Prehistoric', 'Joseon' and 'Goryeo' in that order. [Table 2] is a summary of the ratios of the papers produced for the four periods: In the 1950s, 'Ancient/Prehistoric' was 40.5%, with 'Goryeo' standing at 12%, 'Joseon' at 26.4%, and 'Modern' at 20.9%. Since the 1960s, the ratio of 'Ancient/Prehistoric' has gradually decreased, while 'Modern' showed a marked increase, reaching nearly 50% in the 2010s. 'Goryeo' which accounted for 12% in the 1950s has gradually decreased to hover around 3-4% since the 1970s. 'Joseon' fell below 20% from the 1970s to the 1980s, but it remained at the 20% level during the other decades.
[Table 2] Ratio by period of papers on Korean history published in Japan (%)
| 1950-59 | 1960-69 | 1970-79 | 1980-89 | 1990-99 | 2000-09 | 2010-17 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ancient/Prehistoric | 40.5 | 31.9 | 39.7 | 37.7 | 30.8 | 26.2 | 26.2 |
| Goryeo | 12.0 | 8.9 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 3.3 | 4.7 | 3.5 |
| Joseon | 26.4 | 23.9 | 15.1 | 17.2 | 21.1 | 20.6 | 20.6 |
| Modern | 20.9 | 35.4 | 41.2 | 40.4 | 44.8 | 48.5 | 49.7 |
From the data, we can conclude that research of 'Modern' Korean history has produced the biggest achievements in Japan followed by research on ancient history. The reason for the biggest achievements by research of 'Modern' history is that Korean history during this period cannot be ignored when researchers deal with the modern Japanese history, including the issue of colonial rule. The same goes for ancient history: It is difficult to understand the issue of Japan's ancient state formation without looking into the ancient Korean history. As such, Japanese history researchers have been heavily involved in the research of Modern and Ancient Korean history. Although not as much as Modern history and Ancient history, the study of the Joseon Dynasty has been relatively active, with the research of Korea-Japan relations by Japanese history researchers occupying a significant proportion. Few studies discuss the politics, economy, and society of the Joseon Dynasty themselves.Only a few researchers are studying the history of the Goryeo period.
In sum, since the end of World War II, Japanese research of Korea's Medieval and Early Modern periods has not been as active as research on Modern and Ancient Korean history. Of course, Modern history is still important to 'rectify the 'past history' lying between Korea and Japan. Still deepening the understanding of Medieval and Modern history cannot be underestimated as it increases people's insight into the traditional cultures and traditional societies of Korea which are so different from Japan's. Not only that. It also helps a lot in understanding what has happened in Korea since the modern era ended. In terms of resolving the era-related imbalance, it is desirable to study Medieval and Modern history more actively in the future. I would like to emphasize that it is one of our imminent tasks to increase the number of classes and curricula for pre-modern Korean history at universities, including ancient Korean history which currently has a smaller number of researchers.
