뉴스레터

On last September 30, Northeast Asian History Foundation held a joint academic conference with International Research Center for Japanese Studies under a title "Exchanges and mutual understanding between Korea and Japan in ancient times". Such a conference did not exist in recent years in which Korea-Japan relations have been dealt with by only a group of researchers specializing in ancient histories. While Korea-Japan relations center around the recent 100 years, it is difficult to understand the true historical image of the modern years without knowing the ancient histories at the root.

Examining historical materials in order to correct distorted ancient thoughts

At the base of Japanese view of Korea since the beginning of the modern period is a theory that ancient Japan ruled Korea. The theory includes claims like 'The conquest of three kingdoms in the southern part of Korean peninsula by Empress Jingu' and 'The existence of so-called Imna Japanese government in the southern part of Korean peninsula'. This theory is based on Japan's first official history 《The Historical Records of Japan》 written at a time when a statute nation headed by an emperor was established in the 8^th century. In order to claim the legitimacy of the emperor's rule and demonstrate the holiness of emperor's lineage, the theory imitated the China-centered thought of China and created a governing ideology where the Korean kingdoms were described as colonies of Japan. Empress Jingu, a fabricated female in the ancient period, was described as a guardian who ruled the Korean peninsula and saved Japan from a crisis. The empress appeared as the first model in Japanese currency notes in the modern age. Currency is the face of a nation and a symbol of wealth. The image of Empress Jingu - who had been established as the leader for Japan's expansion into the continent - was appropriate for the design and was the best figure that could remind Japan in everyday life that the nation was ruling Korea. The theory of Imna's rule penetrated into researches and educational sites, and accordingly the distorted image of Korea created in the ancient age has been engraved in the minds of Japanese people since the modern period. In order to uncover the truth about the Korea-Japan relationship in the ancient times, it is necessary to thoroughly examine Japanese records containing a lot of problems like distortions, misunderstandings and incorrect information.

This academic conference was held to correct such incorrect historical knowledge where historians from Korea and Japan presented and discussed issues of the ancient history from various perspectives. Professor Oyama Seiich presented a paper titled "Fujiwara no Fuhito and the Historical Records of Japan" where a fundamental question was raised about a view widely accepted in the Japanese academia. Fujiwara no Fuhito was a person in the ancient period who made his Fujiwara family most noble through a marriage with the royal family. Professor Oyama points Fujiwara no Fuhito as the person who developed the governing ideology for the royal family and the content structure for 《The Historical Records of Japan》. Professor Oyama says that Fujiwara no Fuhito invented a logic for deification of the emperor and uninterrupted lineage of the emperor's family. Fujiwara no Fuhito created a myth of the descent of God's son to connect the heavenly world called 'Dakamanohara' and the emperor on earth by which the worldly emperor and the heavenly king overlap in the myth. For this purpose, the history of the Soga, the real ruler during the Asuka period, was erased and a fictitious figure named 'Prince Shotoku' was created to justify the endless rule of the emperor's family and to claim the continuous succession of the throne by the emperor's family. The uninterrupted lineage of the emperor's family constitutes the logic for the empire's view of history in modern Japan and became the basis for the existence of the modern institution of the emperor system. The ancient idea has been reflected in the governing logic of the modern period. As the Japan-centric self-righteous and exclusive view of history recently shown by the far-right faction of Japan is based on this fabricated historical view of the emperor, the study is appropriate for understanding the origin of the thoughts of the extreme right faction.

Academic conference is necessary to seek common knowledge of the history

Several of those presented papers dealt with people from foreign countries. Statistics in《The New compiled list of surnames》which was produced in 815 show that one third of the population in the capital and the surrounding area were those from foreign countries, which means that these people took a significant place in the history and it would be difficult to understand the ancient history of Japan if these people were neglected. People from foreign countries were explained in a distorted way from the historical view of naturalized people in the past, so the role played by these foreigners in the formation of ancient Japanese states should be reassessed. According to Professor Sato Makoto, people from foreign countries were in charge of preparing and keeping diplomatic and administrative documents relating to the Korean peninsula as well as the continent and registers of people. These people from foreign countries also contributed a lot to introduction of Buddhism and production of pottery, ironware and textiles as well. Furthermore, these foreigners penetrated into the powerful families in regions and introduced Chinese characters and advanced technology to them, and later constituted the basis to form the bureaucracy of the statute nation in the 8^th century. According to him, it is necessary to properly assess people from foreign countries and their cultures in the formation of ancient Japanese states.

Inoue Shoichi dealt with the division of Japan's ancient and medieval histories from the position of the history of modern historical studies of Japan. At present, the 12^th century is the point of time at which Japan's history is divided into ancient and medieval periods by historians in Japan. This means that the historians followed the period division method in the West in which the ancient period is separated from the medieval period at around the fall of the Roman Empire where there was a system of slavery. This division recognizes the existence of a slavery system in ancient Japan, and differentiates itself from the Chinese division in which the ancient and medieval periods are divided at around the fall of the Han Empire. Japanese historians during the country's modern period disconnected the histories on the Japanese islands from other parts of East Asia and divided the historical periods of Japan on its own. The historians thought that Japan is the only country similar to the Europe and wrote a history in which external cultures in ancient times were introduced to Japan directly from Europe. It has pointed that the ancient thoughts developed by the modern historians of Japan influenced the division of historical periods as well.

Other topics discussed included Baekje Revival War, Jinshin War which was the biggest civil war in ancient Japan, issues relating to Japan's adoption of Buddhism, the nature of the official seal of Imna Japanese government, Taika Reform, clans from Baekje during the Nara period, and exchanges and mutual understandings between Balhae and Japan. These are the academic issues disputed between Korea and Japan, and various problems arise from these topics. During the general discussion time, researchers presented their opinions as individuals beyond their nationality, and there were no obstacles in reaching a common understanding.

Through this academic conference, we realized again that expert organizations in both countries conduct researches on fundamental topics and exchange their opinions in order to resolve history disputes between Korea and Japan. The various academic issues that were raised during the conference will provide an opportunity to try to understand the differences in historical understanding between the two countries and pursue truth through joint studies in the future. It will be possible to reach common knowledge in discovering objective historical facts beyond the scope of the border and nation. In addition to joint researches conducted at national level, if researchers communicate their opinions freely according to their conscience and conviction, the history disputes between Korea and Japan will be resolved.