Chōsen Jingu

Chōsen Shrine (Korean: 조선신궁, Hanja: 朝鮮神宮; Japanese Hepburn: Chōsen Jingū) was the most important Shinto shrine in Korea from 1925 to 1945, during the period of Japanese rule. It was destroyed in 1945.

Chōsen Jingu
Approach to the former Chōsen-jingū in Keijō
Religion
AffiliationShinto
DeityOkunitama
Amaterasu
Frontal view of the shrine (contemporary Japanese postcard)
Bird's eye view (contemporary Japanese postcard)
Chōsen-jingū in Keijō
Chōsen Jingu
Hangul
조선신궁
Hanja
Revised RomanizationJoseon Singung
McCune–ReischauerChosŏn Singung

The famous architect and architectural historian Itō Chūta, also responsible for Meiji Jingū, contributed to its planning.

Background

After the annexation of Korea in 1910, the Japanese government embarked upon a policy of Japanization. This included worship at Shintō shrines, as much a political expression of patriotism as a religious act.[1][2] From 1925, school pupils were required to attend Shinto shrines, and in 1935 it became compulsory for university students and government employees to attend Shinto ceremonies.[3][4] By 1945, there were a total of 1,140 shrines in Korea associated with State Shinto.[3]

Chōsen Jingū was erected in 1925 on the peak of Nanzan mountain in Keijō and was dedicated to Amaterasu and Emperor Meiji. It was constructed in the shinmei-zukuri style of Ise Jingū.[5][6] Chōsen Jingū was demolished in October 1945, two months after Japan's defeat in World War II, and in 1970 the "Patriot An Chung-gun Memorial Hall" was constructed on the site of the former shrine, in honour of An Chung-gun, the assassin of Itō Hirobumi, the first Japanese Resident-General.[2][7]

History

Ogasawara Shozo was an advocate for attempting to use the concept of Okunitama to syncretize Japanese and Korean religion. Some people identified Dangun with Susanoo-no-Mikoto, the government not wanting to take a stand on this enshrined the generic Okunitama at Chōsen Jingu so believers could have their own interpretations.[8] Ogasawara Shozo was a strong advocate of these positions and his advocacy was associated with the enshrinement of Okunitama at both Chōsen Jingu, and Keijo Shrine.[8]

State authorities at Chōsen Jingu however never even allowed for Okunitama to be called "Chosen Okunitama" and indigenous Dangun traditions were suppressed in favor of worshipping Amaterasu in the shrine.[8]

Worship at the shrine increased after but only due to the fact the government began forcing people to attend.[8]

An ethnic korean group proposed to take over Okunitama worship after the war and convert the shrine to one worshipping Dangun but was denied by the new government.[8]

Ogasawara also proposed a system where Japanese people in the colonies were seen as Amatsukami and natives were seen as Kunitsukami.[8]

See also

References
  1. Sung-Gun Kim (1997). "The Shinto Shrine Issue in Korean Christianity under Japanese Colonialism". Journal of Church and State. 39 (3): 503–521. doi:10.1093/jcs/39.3.503.
  2. Wakabayashi, Ippei. "Ahn Jung-geun and the Cultural Public Sphere" (PDF). Bunkyo University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  3. Grayson, James H. (1993). "Christianity and State Shinto in Colonial Korea: A Clash of Nationalisms and Religious Beliefs". Diskus. British Association for the Study of Religions. 1 (2): 13–30. Archived from the original on 5 September 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  4. Wagner, Edward W.; et al. (1990). Korea Old and New: A History. Harvard University Press. p. 315. ISBN 0-9627713-0-9.
  5. "Chōsen Jingū". Genbu.net. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  6. Hiura, Satoko (2006). "朝鮮神宮と学校 : 勧学祭を中心に". Japan Society for the Historical Studies of Education. National Institute of Informatics. 49: 110–112.
  7. Keene, Donald (2002). Emperor of Japan: Meiji and his World, 1852-1912. Columbia UP. pp. 664ff. ISBN 9780231123402.
  8. Kōji, Suga; 𳜳𨀉𠄈 (2010). "A Concept of "Overseas Shinto Shrines": A Pantheistic Attempt by Ogasawara Shōzō and Its Limitations". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 37 (1): 47–74. ISSN 0304-1042.

(in Japanese) Chōsen Jingū (plan and photographs)


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