[KS] Re: Still doubting about the rendering of Korea prior to

[Richard C. Miller]

Dear Henny,

One might also look at how the Japanese government itself rendered the name
of Korea in their own English-language publications, on the supposition
that they themselves, at least, would participate in their own conspiracy.
>From my own study (long ago) of the English-language publications by the
colonial government, mostly based on materials easily found in our library
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I see no support for the K-conspiracy.

If we begin with the first colonial government, rendered in English (by
themselves) as the "Residency-General of Korea:"

1908	Annual Report for 1907 on Reforms and Progress in Korea.  Seoul: His
Imperial Japanese Majesty's Residency-General. 

1909	Second Annual Report on Reforms and Progress in Korea (1908-1909).
Seoul: Residency-General of Korea. 

The next colonial government styled itself the "Government-General of
Korea," and produced two publications lauding its successes in the penninsula:

1910	The Material Progress of Korea for the Last Five Years (1905-1910).
Seoul: Government-General of Korea. 

1910	Third Annual Report on Reforms and Progress in Korea.  Seoul:
Government-General of Korea. 

After annexation in 1910, when the Empire no longer considered Korea
anything but a large and somewhat wayward prefecture, the colonial
government entitled itself the Government-General of Chosen. It's Annual
Reports, which were occasionally bienial, always called the area "Chosen,"
with the exception of the very first one published after annexation, in
which they felt compelled to clarify what "Chosen" was:

1911	Annual Report on Reforms and Progress in Chosen (Korea) (1910-1911).
Keijo (Seoul): Government-General of Chosen. 

Publications other than the Annual Reports also referred to "Chosen," such as:

1914	Results of Three Years' Administration of Chosen Since Annexation.
Keijo: Government-General of Chosen.

1921	The New Administration in Chosen.  Keijo: Government-General of Chosen. 

1924	Development of Chosen and Necessity for Spiritual Enlightenment.
Keijo: Government-General of Chosen, General Affairs Department. (Moriya
Sakau authored this volume)

1935	Thriving Chosen: A Survey of Twenty-Five Years' Administration.  N.p.:
Taisho Shashin Kogeisho for the Government-General of Chosen, Foreign
Affairs Division. 

This use of "Chosen" continued unabated from 1911 until 1937, when the
Japanese government promulgated a new transliteration system (which,
thankfully, did not survive the Occupation) to replace Hepburn system. I do
not know the history of this other system, but it is interesting to note
that, like those promulgated in nearby countries, this one insisted on
duplicating the vagaries of Japanese kana spelling with Roman letters. In
kana, you may remember, the "ch" sound is represented with a letterform in
the "t" series: ta t[ch]i t[s]u te to. In instances in which other vowels
follow the "ch" sound, the 'i' is replaced with "y+vowel," as in this
series: tya tyi tyu tye tyo (but all pronounced "cha chi chu che cho"). The
"j" sound, which can in theory be represented with either kana in the "t"
series or kana in the "s" series (sa s[h]i su se so) was officially placed
in the latter series, and represented in roman letters with a "z." Thus
"Chosen" became "Tyosen," "Keijo" became "Keizyo," and the reports became
as follows:

1937	Annual Report on the Administration of Tyosen (1936-1937).  Keizyo:
Government-General of Chosen. 

1938	Annual Report on the Administration of Tyosen (1937-1938).  Keizyo:
Government-General of Chosen. 

1938 seems to represent the endpoint of these Annual Reports, no doubt
because, by 1939, the Empire no longer concerned itself with the opinions
of English speakers. Incidently, these documents, and more importantly the
photographs in them, make interesting reading, particularly when you read
them against the backdrop of Japanese self-presentation (nihonjinron in
particular), and in the company of similar documents concerning the
puppet-state of Manchoukuo.
 
So, in sum: the sequence in official Japanese colonial government
English-language documents is "Korea" to "Chosen" to "Tyosen," or K to C to
T, and not C to K at all. I might also point out that the truly
nationalistic Japanese of the era preferred to render their country's name
as "Nippon," which begins with N, so changing from C to K would, in any
case, not have satisfied them. The ICAS folks may have a case for refusing
to spell "Korea" with a "T," but I rather doubt any of them will make it.

Richard
--Richard C. Miller
--UW School of Music
--Manado, Indonesia
--rcmiller at students.wisc.edu


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