[KS] Re: Japanese and the Sokkuram Buddha (fwd)

[Hyung Il Pai]

Hyung Il Pai, Joint appointment in East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies
& History Department. HSSB Building, University of California,
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Tel: (805) 893-2245  Fax:  (805) 893-3011
EMail:  hyungpai at humanitas.ucsb.edu

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1998 14:13:52 -0800 (PST)
From: Hyung Il Pai <hyungpai at humanitas.ucsb.edu>
To: Robert Ramsey <sr1 at umail.umd.edu>
Subject: Re: Japanese and the Sokkuram Buddha

Dear Ms. Ramsey,
can you forward this to your friend? As far as I know, there is nothing
written on English on the subject. However, there is one person - a
journalist-Yi ku-yol who has been pursuing the subject-he has written a
book called
"Han'guk Munhwajae ui Pihwa (1976)" and 
and an update called "Han'guk munhwajae sunansa."-He mainly deals with a
stolen pagoda originally situated at the entrance of the grotto.
I have read both books and unfortunately he does not name his sources
either. However, these stories are well circulated among archaeolgists and
art historians for decades. My personal opinion is that there have been
many changes done to Sokkuram since the Japanese reconstructions in the
1930's -Sekino Tadashi has an extensive report on this dated to 1938
called "Sekkutsuan to Bukkokuji," which was followed by many efforts
during the Park Chong-hee era. Therefore, it would be hasty to believe
nationalistic rhetoric that usually lays the blame on the Japanese
archaeologists or bureaucrats for the desecration of "korean" heritage
sites. What they had done to Sokkuram is just one accusation out of the
myriad others on the list. I have an article called: 
The Politics of Korea's Past: The History of Japanese COlonial Archaeology
in the Korean Peninsula in East ASian History (1994), if he is interested
in pursuing the topic. If he finds out more, I would love to know myself. 
Hyung Il Pai, Joint appointment in East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies
& History Department. HSSB Building, University of California,
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Tel: (805) 893-2245  Fax:  (805) 893-3011
EMail:  hyungpai at humanitas.ucsb.edu




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