LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Chapter 5 The Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden
2. Developing Taste at the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden
Beside from the botanical research, there was another purpose of establishing the Chang- gyeongwon Botanical Garden. It was the term “shumi” (taste). Some notable persons in- cluding Japanese officials used the term shumi as describing the Changgyeongwon Bo- tanical Garden. For example, Mihomatsu Gomiya, who supervised the construction of the Changgyeongwon and served as the Vice Minister of the Imperial Household Department, stated in an interview that the botanical garden was created to “provide taste and knowledge.”53 The Secretary Inoue (井上雅二) also said that the new facilities of the Changgyeongwon would “promote elegant and fresh taste.”54 Shinsen Keijō annai (The new guidebook to Seoul), a travel guide book written by a Japanese journalist and an expert in Korean history Aoyagi Tsunataro (靑柳南冥), in 1915, also stated that due to the construction of the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden “Koreans can now cultivate a very elegant shumi.”55
Above all, Gomiya wrote the term shumi in the introduction of the Leewangga bakmulgwan sojangpum sajincheop (李王家博物館所藏品寫眞帖, Yi Royal Family Museum catalogue), which was published to mark the completion of the museum in 1912 (figure 5-15).
명치 40년(1907) 겨울 당시 한국의 새 황제, 즉 현재의 이왕 전하께서 덕 수궁에서 창덕궁으로 별궁 하시게 되어 창덕궁 수선 공사를 하게 되고 본 인이 그 공사를 감독했다. 11월 4일 당시 내각총리대신 이완용(李完用(李伯
))씨와 궁내부대신 이윤용(李允用(李男))씨가 함께 공사장을 둘러보고, 본
인에게 “새 황제께서 이궁전으로 이어하셔 새로운 생활이 즐거우시도록 모든 시설과 설비를 하기 바란다”라고 당부했다. 본인이 그 뜻을 잘 받들 어 심사숙고하여 계획을 수립하겠노라고 말씀을 드렸다. 같은 달 6일 본
* The second section of this chapter is based on Kyungjin Zoh and the author’s paper, “Inventing Modern Taste at the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden,” accepted to Landscape Research in May 2016. It will be published in 2017, see http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2016.1260699.
53 Anonymous, “After visiting Gomiya vice-minister of the imperial household department” (小宮宮內次官 を訪ふ), Chosen 9 (1908): 56-58.
54 Inoue Masaji, “Establishment of a museum, zoological and botanical gardens” (博物館及動植物園の設 立に就て), Chosen 4 (1908): 68-69.
55 Aoyagi Tsunataro, Shinsen Keijō annai, edited and translated by Gu Tae-hoon and Park Sun-ok (Suwon:
Japan Research 21), 159.
인이 이궁상에게 동물원과 식물원 및 박물관 창설을 제의하며그 계획의 개요를 설명하자 궁상도 크게 기뻐하며 찬성했다. 따라서 이기관들의 장 소와 건물 설계 그리고 물건의 수집에 착수하고, 41년(1908) 9월에 관장 부 서인 어원사무국을 신설하였다. 동물원 시설의 첫 단계로, 얼마전에 경성 에서 사립동물원 경영을 시작한 유한성의 동물 전부를 구입하고 유한성과 그의 동업자 한사람을 직원으로채용하였다. 식물원 특히 온실 설비를 위 해서는 [후쿠바 내원장] 자작의 지도를 받았다. 박물관 사업은 스에마쓰 구마히코와 시모코리야마 세이이치 두 사람에게 맡겨, 그 당시 어떤 사정 으로 전무후무하게 많이 발굴된 고려도자기와 고려동기류를 구입하고 또 회화와 불상 등 ‘조선’의 각종 예술품을 사들였다. 이렇게 세 가지 사업이 착착 진척되자 명치 42년(1909) 11월 1일 이왕전하는 한편으로 즐거움을 대중과 함께 나누시고, 다른 한편으로는 대중의 지식 개발을 위한 목적으 로 동물원, 식물원, 박물관이 위치한 궁원의 일부인 창경원을 공개하기로 하셨다.56
Thus, in attempting to reveal the role and significance of the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden, this study examines the underlying meaning of “chwimi” or “shumi” within the social history of the emergence of the term taste during the early twentieth century.
56 Gomiya Mihomatsu, Introduction to Leewangga bakmulgwan sojangpum sajincheop, ed. Yi Royal Fam- ily Government (Keijo: Yi Royal Family Government, 1912), 1-4; as cited in Song Ki-hyung, “A Chronicle of the Yi Royal Household Museum in Changgyong Palace,” The Korean History Education Review 72 (1999): 173-174. [ ] : author’s revision. Song translated the Japanese word ‘shumi’ into ‘to have fun’ in Ko- rean.
Figure 5-15. The term “shumi” (趣味, taste) in an introduction written by Gomiya Mihomatsu. Colored by the author.
(Source: Yi Royal Family Government, ed., Leewangga bakmulgwan sojangpum sajincheop, 1912, p.ⅰ.)
Shumi: Colonial Politics and Botanical Gardens
1) Shumi and Culture Improvement Movement in the Late Meiji
The Japanese term for taste is shumi (趣味). This was a word newly coined by the writers who advocated cultural improvement in Japan about 40 years after the Meiji Restora- tion.57 According to Hiroshi Minami (南博), a Japanese social psychologist, the concept of shumi represented the movement away from westernization and “material civilization”
at the beginning of the Meiji period towards “spiritual reformation” and “cultural civili- zation” at the end of the Meiji period.58 This is supported by the foreword of the first issue of the magazine Shumi published in 1906.
We have reached the point where we must deal with the urgent need to improve and preserve our world of shumi. We must exert every effort to publish this magazine for the sole purpose of addressing this issue. Shumi must become a leader in the fields of music, theatre, speech, painting, architecture, gardening, ornamentation, amusement, and fashion. It must also contribute to the development of Japan in the twentieth cen- tury by providing good reading and entertainment for Japanese families.59
Articles in the magazine show not only the context in which the term shumi emerged, but also its birth in modern thought. For example, Tsubouchi Shoyo (坪內逍
遥
), a Japanese scholar of English literature, who was the pioneer of the modern theatre movement in Japan, wrote, “According to Carlyle, ‘taste is to detect what is truly high and large...’ The word taste can be translated into shumi.”60 The editor of the magazine stated, “Guiding people to develop refined shumi is an important task to educate and develop generations of people.”61 Ueda Bin (上田敏) explained shumi in terms of ethics and society.62
57 Jinno Yuki, Taste Produced by the Department Store, trans. Moon Kyoung-yeon (Seoul: Somyung books, 2008), 24-28.
58 Minami Hiroshi, Taishō bunka [Japanese society and culture], trans. Jeong Dae-seong (Seoul: J&C, 2007), 68-73.
59 As cited in Jinno Yuki, Taste Produced by the Department Store, 33-34.
60 As cited in Ibid., 38.
61 As cited in Ibid., 42.
62 Ibid., 40-41.
Therefore, Jinno Yuki (神野由紀), a Japanese design historian, who studied the relation- ship between taste and shopping preference in modern Japan, claimed, “Acquisition of shumi by all people of Japan, which enables them to digest and absorb Western taste as their own, is what we promoted in Japan around 1900.”63 In short, the term shumi was a signifier of spiritual reformation and cultural improvement in the transitional period of the 1900s in Japan.
2) Propagating Shumi: From Barbarism to Civilization
The Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden was founded in the late 1900s at the time when the Japanese term shumi emerged and the issue, “propagating shumi” or “civilizing Korea”
was discussed. Japanese government officials insisted on developing shumi in Korea in the articles published in the two Japanese magazines about Korea, the Chosen (朝鮮) and The Chosen and Manshu (朝鮮及滿洲).64 The Chosen and Manshu even published a special issue, “How to promote taste,” in 1912, after collecting the opinions of 17 Japa- nese government officials and public figures residing in Korea at the time.65 Building a
“spiritual pleasure facility”66 or a “public pleasure facility”67 were suggested as a way of developing taste. The focus of the special issue was on establishing botanical gardens, parks, libraries, music halls, and theatres in order to develop taste and “civilize Korea.”
Such statements serve to underline how the term shumi, which represented cul- tural improvement towards modern society in Japan as mentioned earlier, became a crite- rion, in Japan’s colony, for discerning what was “civilized” and what was “barbaric.” The two Japanese magazines about Korea, the Chosen and The Chosen and Manshu shed light
63 Ibid., 39.
64 The Chosen was a monthly magazine that started publication in March 1908 for the purpose of publishing articles in support of imperialism. The title means Korea. In 1912, the magazine Chosen was officially re- named The Chosen and Manshu, which was published monthly until 1941. On the two magazines, see Choi Hea-joo, “Shakuo’s Activities in Korea and His Recognition on Joseon during the Empire of Korea and Japa- nese Colonial Period,” Journal of Studies on Korean National Movement 45 (2005): 13-15.
65 See “How to promote taste” (如何にせば趣味化し得るか), The Chosen and Manshu 49 (1912): 45-58.
66 Shakuo Shunjo, “Japanese in Korea and taste” (在韓邦人と趣味), Chosen 23 (1910): 6-7.
67 Anonymous, “Taste and pleasure institutions” (趣味と娛樂機關), Chosen 24 (1910): 43-47.
on Japan’s imperial perspective on Korea in relation to shumi at the time. Japanese au- thorities stated that, “Joseon is still devoid of shumi and barbaric,”68 Shakuo Shunjo (釋
尾春芿), the chief editor of the two magazines, wrote:
I hope that Governor Derauchi would try to change Joseon, devoid of shumi, into a beautiful world and this Seoul, devoid of shumi, into a joyful city, by focusing govern- ment expenditures and efforts for regulations and interventions for developing shumi.69
The above statement serves to clearly demonstrate how Japan’s perception on the lack of shumi in Korea led the Japanese to declare the need for intervention in Korea. In other words, the concept of shumi was applied, in Japan’s colony, to support Japan’s argument for intervening in Korea under the notion of civilizing Korea.
Indeed, it seemed that Japanese authorities thought they had improved Chang- gyeong Palace and brought civilization to Korea by creating the Changgyeongwon Bo- tanical Garden. This is supported by the Leewangga bakmulgwan sojangpum sajincheop, published in 1912, which juxtaposed pictures of the landscape before and after the con- struction of the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden (figure 5-16). As analyzed by Mok, such “a display seems to have been intentional to highlight”70 how the Japanese govern- ment contributed to the transformation of the “ruined palace” into a “civilized facility.”
Similarly, Aoyagi described the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden as a dramatic trans- formation of the “ruined farmland” into a well-groomed botanical garden: “The once dev- astated farmland had been replaced with joyously undulating water.”71 Furthermore, alt- hough Fukuba criticized Japan’s misguided sense of cultural superiority over Korea, he did state that, “the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden would be a great facility to bring civilization in the future” in Korea, which is “culturally not advanced.”72
68 Anonymous, “The theory of taste” (趣味の說), Chosen 15 (1909): 1.
69 Shakuo Shunjo, “The facilities to promote taste” (趣味化の設備), The Chosen and Manshu 49 (1912): 7;
as cited in Park So-hyun, “Imperial Taste: Yi Dynasty Museum and the Cultural Politics of Imperialist Ja- pan,” Art History Forum 18 (2004): 154.
70 Mok Soo-hyun, “The Colonial Construct of the Yi Royal-Family Museum during the Japanese Occupa- tion,” Korean Journal of Art History 227 (2000): 94.
71 Aoyagi, Shinsen Keijō annai, 160.
72 Fukuba Hayato, Fukuba Hayato’s memoirs, vol. 1, 295-296.
In short, shumi was a criterion for discerning what was “civilized” and what was
“barbaric.” Thus, it may be said that the phrase, “We established the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden to provide shumi” was an impulse to show how Korea would be civi- lized by creating the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden.
Figure 5-16. Before (top) and after (bottom) views of the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden juxtaposed in the catalogue.
Source: Leewangga bakmulgwan sojangpum sajincheop, 1912, p.ⅶ.)
3) Disseminating the Japanese Taste for Cherry Blossoms in Korea
Because the aesthetic value of Goryeo ceramics at the Yi Royal Family Museum in the Changgyeongwon was increased for the purpose of developing a connection between the Japanese shumi in relation to teas and Korean ceramics,73 the museum is known to have played a considerable role in introducing the Japanese shumi in relation to teas into Korea.
According to the Japanese art historian Sato Doshin (佐藤道信), there was a tendency in the Meiji era to build museums to advance national identity and promote Japonism.74
The Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden was no exception in Japan’s efforts to disseminate Japanese shumi in Korea. For example, the designer, gardeners, and the plant collections were brought from the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in Tokyo, Japan.75 The two conservatories in Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden and Shinjuku Gyoen Na- tional Garden, are highly similar in terms of architectural features, such as the shape of the buildings, the pattern of windows, and the materials.76 Moreover, Japanese authorities made active efforts to encourage Koreans to visit the Changgyeongwon when it was founded. The Royal Garden Office issued official documents to encourage students to visit the Changgyeongwon by notifying the school principals in Seoul of free admissions a few days after the opening of the garden.77
Above all, cherry trees, symbolising Japan, were planted in the Changgyeong- won Botanical Garden.78 At the beginning of the construction, about 300 cherry trees were transplanted in 1908 and 1909,79 and the number of cherry trees increased to almost
73 Park So-hyun, “Aesthetic Consumption of ‘Asia’: The Origin of Imperialistic Art-Culture Policy,”
Munhwagwahak 53 (2008): 392-395.
74 Doshin Sato, Modern Japanese Art and the Meiji State: The Politics of Beauty, trans. Hiroshi Nara (Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2011), 107.
75 Fukuba, Fukuba Hayato’s memoirs, vol. 1, 291.
76 Choi A-sin, “A Study on the Materials and the Construction Methods of the Greenhouse in Chang- gyeonggung (Palace),” 31-35.
77 See Anonymous, “Eowon isa tongji” [An announcement from the director of Royal Garden], Hwangsung shinmun, November 14, 1909, A2.
78 On the policy of planting cherry trees, see Kim Hai-gyoung, “A Study on Interpreting People’s Enjoyment under Cherry Blossom in Modern Times,” Journal of Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture 29, no. 4 (2011): 127-129.
79 Anonymous, “The origin of cherry blossoms in Seoul” (京城の櫻の來歷), Kyungsung ilbo, April 27,
2,000 by the 1930s.80 This measure was the result of a decision to create a Japanese gar- den in the Changgyeongwon, according to an interview with Shimo, who was the director of the Changgyeongwon until 1945:
At the time of construction, in response to the unanimous suggestion of those who came from Japan to create a garden in the Japanese format, about 200 little-finger sized cherry tree saplings were planted. Subsequently, additional saplings of diverse varieties were planted yearly to build the current Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden. At pre- sent, the garden has about 2 000 cherry trees that are mostly about 30 years old.81
Interestingly, cherry trees or cherry blossoms were rarely found in the literature or artworks of Korea.82 By contrast, hanami (はなみ), the custom of enjoying the beauty of cherry blossoms, had been an aesthetic disposition for a long time in Japan, called “land of cherry blossoms”83 (figure 5-17). However, the interest in cherry blossoms grew
1933, A3.
80 Oh Chang-young, Hanguk dongmulwon palsipnyeonsa, 99.
81 Anonymous, “The first museum of Joseon for king Sunjong” (純宗殿下台覽爲한 朝鮮最初博物館), Chosun Ilbo, March 26, 1938, A2.
82 Kim Hyun-sook, “Night Cherry Blossoms Festival and Yojakura at Changgyeong Garden,” Journal of Korean Modern and Contemporary Art History 19 (2008): 154.
83 Eunice Tietjens, Japan, Korea and Formosa, eds. William H. Wheeler and Burton Holmes (Chicago:
Figure 5-17. Japanese picnic in cherry blossom at the Changgyoengwon Botanical Garden, photo by Sten Bergman in 1936.
(Source: Seoul National University Museum, ed., Korea, Images from Sten Bergman’s Expedition, 2011, p. 123.)
among Koreans, after the Yi Royal Family and high-ranking Japanese government offi- cials held a garden fete and enjoyed cherry blossoms at the Changgyeongwon. Accord- ingly, requests to open the Changgyeongwon to the public at night increased, according to the Korean journalist Cho Pung-yeon:
It seemed that the scene of people sitting under the blossom trees, drinking and singing, looked pleasant to Koreans. Soon, Seoul residents followed suit and began to visit the Changgyeongwon at night. Around sunset, the entire Jongno-4 road was filled with a white parade of people heading towards the Changgyeongwon.84
Finally, the Changgyeongwon was open to the public at night as well, and the festival called “yaaeng” (enjoyment of cherry blossoms at night) was held every April
Wheeler Publishing, 1937), 82.
84 As cited in Oh Chang-young, Hanguk dongmulwon palsipnyeonsa, 100.
Figure 5-18. Figure 5-18. Figure 5-18. Cherry- tree promenade at the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden in the early twentieth century.
(Source: University of Seoul Museum, ed., Yeobseolo boneun geundae iyagi [Modern times in postcards], 2003, p. 55.)
from 1924 until the early 1940s. The Changgyeongwon was described as “the most pop- ular, a new attraction of cherry trees and cherry blossoms”85 due to the spectacular view of about 2,000 cherry trees and cherry blossom tunnels extending from the main entrance to the conservatory (figure 5-18). In just six days in 1929, the cherry blossoms attracted 164,743 people – roughly half the number of citizens of Seoul at the time – who had flocked to see the spectacular view of cherry blossoms (figure 5-19).86 Eventually, by the 1920s, the Japanese custom of enjoying cherry blossoms became widely popular in Korea with the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden contributing significantly to such develop- ment.
Therefore, the term shumi, which Japan found inseparable in describing the
85 Cheong O-saeng, “Jisangjonglam Joseon gakji kkoch pumpyeonghoe” 지상종람 조선 각지 꽃품평 회 [A commentary on flowers from all parts of Korea], Byeolgeongon 20, April 1929, 148.
86 Anonymous, “Changgyeongwon ibjangja simyugmanineul dolpa” 창경원입장자 심육만인을 돌파 [Number of visitors to the Changgyeongwon reaches 16 million], Maeilsinbo, April 26, 1929, A2.
Figure 5-19. A crowd of people at the main gate of the Changgyeongwon during the yaaeng.
(Source: Chosun Ilbo, April 23, 1928, p. A2.)