제국일본의 식민지배와 공공기념물

Abstract

It is from the late 19th century when large monuments began to be constructed in public spaces in Korea. As the Emperor Gojong constructed the monument for the 40th anniversary of inauguration of the Emperor Gojong, not only he desired for a succession of tradition, but also enhanced the status of the Empire by utilizing the urban space with modernized conception. However, even before the monument was settled as part of the city landmark, the Japanese Empire constructed various formation of enormous monuments in major areas of the city that were never seen in traditional society before. They constructed monuments in tribute to those Japanese who died in Joseon from 1879, before Japan’s annexation of Korea, and a monument that invokes the spirits of the dead, who died in Joseon about 20 years ago. Also, they constructed a monument in Namsan, Seoul – where Joseon people hold it sacred – that commemorates those who were killed in battle. Furthermore, Japanese earned their legitimacy of the settlement by hosting commemorative rites for the spirits of the dead. Therefore, they cut off the stream of the modern monument construction with tradition in the period of the Korean Empire. As the Japanese Empire constructed all kinds of monuments in earnest all over the nation after Japan’s annexation of Korea, they used it as creating the ideology of colonization. There are various types of monuments that Japanese Empire constructed in modern era of Korea, and this paper focuses on the formative characteristics such as 1) the type of a triumphal arch shape, 2) the type of arms shape, 3) the type of a stele shape, and 4) the type of an obelisk shape. Furthermore, this study seeks to perceive the significance of them. Other than bronze statues or monuments for the war dead, studies on public monuments of the Japanese colonialism were never achieved even the primary research. Although the Japanese Empire constructed lots of various public monuments in order to bring out and enlighten the colonialized people, we overlooked the existence of those monuments constructed by Japanese, because we destroyed most of them right after the liberation. This study, as an essay of the research on modern public monuments in Korea, hopes not only to find how the Japanese Empire utilized the public monuments in Korea in creating the colonization ideology, but also to be promoted to understand the contemporary public monuments.