This international conference will explore Japanese academic practices towards Ancient Korea (history, archaeology, heritage protection policies), while also considering the precedent established by French archaeological practices in colonial Cambodia and the case of continental China. 

Organizers

• Institut Français de Recherche sur le Japon, Maison Franco-Japonaise
• Ryusaku Tsunoda Center of Japanese Culture, Waseda university

Argument

Studying the ancient past of the Korean peninsula became a central objective in the studies and surveys conducted by the Japanese colonial administration in Korea from the protectorate era (1905-1910) through to the end of colonial rule. These academic investigations were also part of the colonial government’s political agenda to control Korea. It established the Commission for the Investigation of Korean Antiquities (1915), which aimed to investigate and protect the past, and the Commission for the Compilation of Korean History (created in 1922 and renamed a Society in 1925) in order to write the history of the peninsula up to the period of Japanese rule. These projects occupied a critical position among the tasks conducted by Imperial Japan.

This international conference will explore Japanese academic practices towards Ancient Korea (history, archaeology, heritage protection policies), while also considering the precedent established by French archaeological practices in colonial Cambodia and the case of continental China. The aim will be to analyze the relationship between archaeology, history, and the “politics of the past” as practiced in colonial situations during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Ultimately, in terms of “reconstructing” the past, the case of French Indochina and the EFEO (French School of Asian Studies, founded in 1900) established an important precedent; in the same manner, Korean colonial archaeology became a model for the archaeology conducted in China during the interwar period, as well as for North and South Korean archaeologies and for post-1945 Japanese archaeological and historical research.

Programme

April 22, 2016

at Maison Franco-Japonaise (3-9-25 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo)

• 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., Keynote speech LI Sŏngshi (Waseda University) “Overcoming the Colonialism and the Research upon Ancient Korea”

April 23, 2016

at Waseda University, Ōkuma Memorial Tower (building 26) Basement Hall (516-1 Waseda Tsurumaki-chō, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo / Subway Tōzai line, Waseda Station)

10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Panel 1: Archaeological Research in Colonial Korea

Chair: Arnaud NANTA (Maison Franco-Japonaise)

• CH’OE Sŏg’yŏng (Director of the Korean National Theatre Museum): “The Archaeological Excavations and Museum Established in Korea by the Japanese Government-General”
• SAOTOME Masahiro (Tokyo University): “Archaeological Research and Heritage Site Protection in Colonial Korea: Towards which Image of Korea’s Past?”
• YOSHII Hideo (Kyoto University): “The Position of Kyoto Imperial University’s Archaeological Department vis-à-vis the Archaeological Investigations Conducted by the Government-General of Korea”

2:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Panel 2: Historiography, Representations, and Modern Colonialism

Chair: LI Sŏngshi (Waseda University)

• HAKOISHI Hiroshi (Historiographical Institute, Tokyo University): “The Organization and Working Practices of the Society for the Compilation of Korean History”
• PAI Hyung Il (University of California, Santa Barbara): “Visualizing Imperial Destinations: The Photographic Classification of Ruins and the Tourist Industry in Colonial Korea”
• FUJIHARA Sadao (Ibaraki University): “Colonial Archaeology in East Asia: A Comparison between Objectives and Practices”