ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

The existing Confucian history was described from the perspective that Confucian society was reduced to a pro-Japanese force by the Japanese governance policy. In contrast, this paper tried to prove that local traditional Confucian scholars endured Japanese colonial era while maintaining an anti-Japanese tendency. To this end, this paper analyzed informal data such as diaries and novels as well as the official records of Hyanggyo. This study started from the perspective of recognizing Hyanggyo as a space for pro-Japanese cooperation in which the administrative power of Japanese imperialism operates and a space for defending Confucian tradition. The religious specificity of Joseon Confucianism, which is distinct from Chinese Confucianism, and the human networking method centered on the academic background, were the factors that the Japanese government’s policy to seize Confucianism failed based on this. First, Joseon Confucianism did not develop a professional clergy or religious organization, but it was dissolved as a national religion and governed a secular society. Hyanggyo was both an autonomous space for local Confucian scholars and a place of religious practice. Traditional Confucian scholars focused on preserving Hyanggyo rituals in a situation where Hyanggyo was dominated by local public authority and pro-Japanese group. However, as Japanese imperialism undermined its religious character, traditional Confucian scholars refrained from entering Hyanggyo, which prevented them from cooperating with Japanese imperialism. Second, there was no organizational system for Japanese imperialism to take control of Confucian society from the beginning because Confucian society was operated by academic connections during the Joseon Dynasty. As a result, only pro-Japanese forces captured by the Japanese colonial rule participated in the attempt to dominate the Confucian society. The results of this study could contribute to a more accurate description of modern and contemporary Confucian history.

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