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Yanagi Muneyoshi (柳宗悅, Mar. 21, 1889 - May 3, 1961) was a native of Tokyo who initiated the Mingei (民藝: Fork Craft) Movement. A member of the magazine Shirakaba (白樺), he also studied philosophy and religion at the University of Tokyo and was influenced by William Blake's mysticism through Bernard Leach. In 1914, captivated by the beauty of Korean ceramics, he came to Korea and buried himself in the study of old structures and ceramics. He had unusual love for Korean art, and it was expressed, for example, when he insisted that the old structures of Korea (e.g. Gwangwhamun (Gate) and Bulguksa (Temple)) should be preserved during the Japanese occupation of Korea. In 1924, Yanagi Muneyoshi established the 'Korean National Art Museum' in Jibgyeongdang at Gyeongbok Palace in Korea. In 1936, he founded the Japan Folk Crafts Museum (日本民藝館) in Komaba (駒場), Tokyo, which is still in existence and open to the public.

Yanagi Muneyoshi's World View and its Limitations

Yanagi Muneyoshi had a romantic world view; he rediscovered the Eastern ideas inspired by William Blake and Walt Whitman, and saw 'beauty (美)' as a vehicle for overcoming differences between the East and the West. After travelling China and Korea for about two months from August 1916, he wrote: "Until now, we have introduced Western art only. But I would like to start introducing Eastern artworks once in a while with a fresh eye. Until now, we have tried to find the truth (美: beauty) from the West. From now on, we should turn to the East in our pursuit of the truth." (Sirakaba, Nov. 1916). But critics say that his discovery of the East was only typical of aesthetes, and it was 'a refracted form of Japan's Orientalism,' as former University of Tokyo professor Kang Sang-jung put it.

Various Debates on Yanagi Muneyoshi's Perception of Korea

Yanagi Muneyoshi is often well known as a Japanese who highly regarded and loved Korean art during the Japanese occupation of Korea. His thought is characterized by his unique world view that combined 'religious aesthetics' with 'aestheticism'; he equated the principles of the beauty of things with religious principles. In 2005, professor Nakami Mari (中見眞理) said in her evaluation of Yanagi's thought that his thought was characterized by its critical spirit toward uniformity that swallows others and forces them to conform and lose their individuality, and its 'belief in absolute peace' that reject the exercise of military force in all forms. From 1916 to 1940, Yanagi travelled Korea about 21 times. Having discovered in Korea the value of universal beauty not restricted to the East or the West, he argued that preserving it was 'their duty as Asians.' The essay he wrote to oppose the Japanese Government-General of Korea's plan to demolish Gwanghwamun, published under the title "In Defense of a Korean Structure Facing Demolition" (1922), evoked responses in both Japan and Korea. "It was the most effective of all Yanagi's essays" written out of his sense of duty for his time, as commented in 1976 by Japanese historian and philosopher Tsurumi Shunsuke (鶴見俊輔).

In Korea, on the other hand, Yanagi received criticism, first from historian Kim Dal-su (金達壽), who in 1968 criticized him for associating Korea's white china and clothing with sorrow or mourning, and then from poet Choi Harim (崔夏林) and art historian Mun Myeong-dae (文明大), who denounced his thought as 'the colonial view of history held by Japanese government scholars like masters pitying their servants' ingeniously combined with Japan's imperialist policy designed to make Koreans believe that they were failures. Art historian Yu Hong-jun (兪弘濬) wasn't as critical; in 1995, Yu said, instead of criticizing the critics of Yanagi's excessively personal emotions, that he thought highly of Yanagi for the depth of his thinking that allowed him to reach the understanding of psychology, philosophy, and religions.

Meanwhile, in Japan, essays critical of Yanagi's perception of Korea and the folk craft theory began to be written. In 1988, Idekawa Naoki (出川直樹) pointed out that the insights that Yanagi had used in discovering beauty in folk craft theory had produced contradictions in the theory of folk craft and given birth to the distorted view on Korean craft that associated it with the 'beauty of sadness.' In 2003, Ito Toru (伊藤徹) pointed out that Yanagi had been naive enough to let himself be used, although unwittingly, by Japanese imperialism, and reluctant to reflect on his biased views. But he also added that writing off Yanagi's thought as being in accomplice relations with imperialistic politics and denying it entirely would be like neglecting to have dialogue with thought.

Yanagi Muneyoshi's Perception of Korea: Beyond the Question of True Heart Toward the Idea of Peaceful Coexistence of Northeast Asian Nations

It is likely that Yanagi's thoughts on Korea will continue to be debated. The reason for controversy is that his ideological view on Korean art serves the transcendental function of nullifying the political reality of colonial rule. However, it should be remembered that Yanagi was one of the few Japanese thinkers who, in times where Japan was turning increasingly militaristic and despising Korea, recognized Korean art for its excellence and thought highly of its value. Of course, Yanagi's thought wasn't without its limitations; personal sentiments were given too much weight in his writing, and he longed for an idealistic society which was at odds with the reality. Nevertheless, Yanagi's idea of absolute peace advocating the peaceful existence of Korea, China, and Japan, instead of narcissistic views on the distinct characteristics of Japanese culture, is worth revisiting as a discourse reminding us of the danger of the current military buildup in East Asia.