[KS] Japan, Korea and the Asia-Pacific (Japanese iron spikes in Korea)

[Kirk W Larsen]

The oft-cited belief that Japanese colonial official used iron spikes to 
disrupt the geomantic efficacy of Korea was mentioned in a Choson Ilbo 
article (or photograph and caption to be more precise) more than a year ago 
(http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200402/200402170012.html).

I used that article to raise some questions and issues concerning this 
matter on my blog (see 
http://kwlarsen.blogspot.com/2004/02/of-geomancy-colonialism-and-national.html 
for the whole thing).

In the interest of promoting discussion (and seeking clarification and 
correction), I reprint a few of my questions/observations below:

4) Is there any evidence that the Japanese subscribed to the same theories 
concerning geomancy as Koreans did? I don't know enough about Japanese 
culture of the first half of the 20th century to know for sure. If I were to 
guess, I would guess that Japan and Korea had similar views on geomancy but 
I have never seen any Koreans make this case.

5) Assuming that the Japanese did believe in geomancy in the same way that 
Koreans did, is there any evidence to support the idea that the Japanese 
conception of geomancy-the power or energy that pulses through the land and 
the ways in which that power can be either harnessed or disrupted-included 
the notion that the power in the earth was capable of discriminating between 
the original Korean inhabitants of the land and the more recently arrived 
Japanese overlords? Remember, this is 1943 we're talking about in this 
particular case. Korea had been a formal Japanese colony for 23 years. On 
maps, in official documents, and in the Japanese popular imagination the 
Korean peninsula was part of Japan! (and not for the first time; the 
Japanese claimed that the ancient kingdom of Kaya/Mimana was actually 
Japanese). To be sure, Japanese colonial officials did not live up to their 
naisen ittai ("Korea and Japan are one") rhetoric: Koreans were nearly 
always treated as second-class citizens rather than equal participants in 
the empire. But nevertheless, Korea (or, from the Japanese viewpoint, 
Chosen) was a part of the empire, and an integral one at that. By 1942 the 
Japanese had constructed an extensive rail and road network, communications 
infrastructure, and a burgeoning number of industries in Korea. Japanese 
officials lived in Korea in great numbers. Japanese policemen patrolled the 
streets (or sat in police boxes). Japanese farmers worked the soil (albeit 
not in nearly as great of numbers as the Oriental Development Company 
dreamed of). Japanese industrialists established and managed factories of a 
wide variety (like the Onoda Cement factory) and considerable numbers. So 
one would have to demonstrate that the Japanese believed that disrupting the 
power that flowed through the earth by pounding iron spikes in the ground 
would have an adverse impact only on Koreans and not on the numerous 
Japanese people and institutions on the peninsula.

6) Assuming that the Japanese did believe that the force in the earth 
applied only to Koreans and not to the Japanese in Korea, is there any 
evidence that the Japanese in 1943 really wanted to diminish the 
power/energy/spirit of Koreans? After all, by 1943 Koreans worked in 
Japanese factories (and in management in growing numbers), grew rice for 
Japanese workers to eat, served in the Imperial Japanese army (Park Chung 
Hee, for example), worked in Japanese coal mines and other undesirable 
operations, and were forced to serve as comfort women for the sexual 
pleasure of Japanese soldiers and officers. The Japanese Empire clearly did 
not treat its Korean imperial subjects as equals. But they relied upon their 
hard work nonetheless. Why would they try to enervate the energies of the 
very people they relied so much upon?

There is other evidence besides this latest photo (see here for a photo and 
discussion of iron spikes that have been unearthed). When the Kim Young Sam 
administration ordered the destruction of the old Governor-General building 
in the early 1990s, workers were said to have found thousands of iron spikes 
in the foundation (early 20th century Japanese rebar perhaps?). But in the 
end I have yet to find evidence that clearly determines exactly what the 
Japanese intended to do and why they did it. There are plenty of other 
reasons to conclude that the Japanese rule of Korea was brutal, oppressive, 
and nasty. No need to grasp at straws that do not appear to be supported by 
evidence.

Cheers,

Kirk W. Larsen
Korea Foundation Assistant Professor of
History and International Affairs
Phillips 330
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20052
(202) 994-8115
kwlarsen at gwu.edu

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "caprio" <caprio at rikkyo.ne.jp>
To: "Korean Studies Discussion List" <Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 11:59 PM
Subject: Re: [KS] Japan, Korea and the Asia-Pacific


> An acquaintance recently sent me the following inquiry.  If anyone has 
> information
> regarding it, or can offer a source that might address this issue it would 
> be appreciated.
>
> Best,
>
> Mark Caprio (caprio at rikkyo.ne.jp)
> Rikkyo University
> Tokyo
>
> I am trying to track down a story that the Japanese had spiked 
> mountainside graves of eminent Korean scholars during the Japanese 
> colonization of Korea. This was done to "kill the spirits" of the 
> mountain, it is said.