Analysis of A Korean War Captive in Japan, 1597-1600 essay
The Korean War at the end of the 16th century was the manifestation of Japanese aggression and ideology of the territorial expansion. The war was the manifestation of imperialist ambitions of Japan. On the other hand, the Korean War was not a mere invasion of one country by another. Instead, the war was the clash of two different civilizations. On the one hand, there was Confucianist Korea oriented on the internal development, while, on the other hand, there was Japan oriented on the territorial expansion and creation of the huge empire with Japan dominating in Eastern Asia. However, at the moment of the war, the scope of conflict was unclear and it is only due to such works as A Korean War Captive in Japan, 1597-1600 by Kang Hang. Kang Hang became one of the first authors, who has managed to uncover Japan for Korean people and for Korean monarch above all. At the same time, this book is the insider story told by the outsider because the author was a captive in the war, who was always devoted to his country and monarch but was forced to stay in captivity in Japan, where he learned cultural norms and traditions of Japanese, their lifestyle, ideology and philosophy.
Kang Hang has experienced the war in Cholla Province and experienced the horrors of Japanese occupation. The invasion of his country by foreigners, who disregarded the local culture, norms and traditions, has had a considerable impact on the personality of the author and his perception of the invasion, Korean and Japanese culture, which he has mirrored in his book. The Korean War was the clash of totally different forces, countries and cultures. Korea was traditionally oriented on the internal development and was never concerned with invasions. Instead, Japan was traditionally oriented on external invasions and such a trend was determined by scarcity of natural resources that forced Japanese to expand their empire to get wider opportunities to get access to new resources and maintain the fast progress of their country. At the same time, the development of the military conflict between Japan and Korea had a considerable impact on the population of both countries and relations between them. Japan attempted to dominate, while Korea attempted to preserve its independence. In such a context, the invasion of Korea by Japan was a terrible experience for Koreans because they suffered the inhuman attitude to Koreans from the part of Japanese. Japanese treated Koreans as being absolutely inferior to Japanese. This is why the war involved numerous casualties, especially from the part of Koreans, whom Japanese viewed as second-class citizens and, therefore, Japanese did not care much about the life of Korean people. Kang Hang witnessed the horrors of the invasion and suffered from the extermination of his compatriots and sufferings of his people.
Moreover, Japanese invasion resulted in the captivity of the author. Therefore, the invasion of Korea was not only the offense against Kang Hang’s country but also the offense against him in person (Yasunori 2). The capture of the author has had a considerable impact on his personal life and his perception of the surrounding world, which he mirrored in his book. The captivity was terrible for Kang Hang as a Korean because he was aware of the fact that Japanese will never treat him as equal. Moreover, he was also aware of the fact that the captivity would ruin his traditional lifestyle and deprive him of an opportunity to stay at home, which was the main value for him as a Korean. This experience has had a considerable impact on his book, where he clearly reveals his position as a captive of the invader, who treated him as a second-class citizen and whose life was not worth anything. He conveys clearly his fears about his future, but, at the same time, he preserves his spirituality and system of values, which helps him to view his position philosophically.
Furthermore, Kang Hang lived as the captive in Japan but, at the same time, he remained Korean, with extensive knowledge of Chinese culture. Moreover, he was a devoted Confucianist and he continued to promote his ideas in Japan, even while he was a captive. As a result, he gained respect of Japanese that helped him to develop close interpersonal relations with Japanese to learn their culture, values, views and beliefs. Kang Hang preserved his traditional beliefs and values. He even tried to expand his influence on his captors promoting his Confucian ideas. Naturally, his captivity experience has influenced his perception of himself, his country as well as Japan and Japanese consistently and the book reveals how his views evolved in the course of time. The difference is particularly striking at the beginning of the book and at the end, when he starts the book as a Korean, who hates invaders and completes the book as a man, who has deserved the respect of his captors but who is still trying to do his best for his country, even if it is just a book. However, this book became the true revelation, which helped Korean monarch to understand better the enemy, their goals, intentions, philosophy and lifestyle. The information Kang Hang supplied the monarch with in his book became very important for the struggle of Koreans against Japanese invasion.
Nevertheless, Kang Hang always felt being a stranger in Japanese society. He had different values, beliefs and philosophy and he could not adapt Japanese system of values and philosophy. Therefore, his assimilation was virtually impossible. On the other hand, he has managed to understand better the traditional Japanese system of values and culture. In such a way, he remained an outsider in Japanese society but, on the other hand, he has managed to understand Japanese culture, system of values and philosophy better (Kim 92). In such a way, the position of Kang Hang remained quite controversial but he has managed to view Japanese culture from inside, although he remained a stranger and outsider. Paradoxically, the outsider has managed to have a look on Japan from within. In this regard, his critical thinking skills have played probably the determinant part. At the same time, Kang Hang was flexible enough in his self-perception that he could view Japanese culture from a different perspective. He has managed to set himself free of many biases and stereotypes Koreans had in regard to Japanese. Instead, he observed their life, traditions, cultural norms and beliefs, their socioeconomic and political system, their military and made his notes, which laid the foundation to his book. In such a way, he has managed to collect the valuable information about the country, which has ruined his life and made him a captive, who has lost his home and his country, but who has remained devoted to his people for the rest of his life.
Kang Hang describes Japanese from different standpoints because his perception of Japanese changes and evolves in the course of time. At first, he views them as brutal invaders, who attempt to invade his country and his home. At the beginning of his book, it is possible to trace the impact of traditional Korean views on Japanese as aggressive and dangerous enemies (Turnbull 132). These views prevail at the beginning of the book but steadily the author’s narrative becomes more thoughtful and less emotional. His initial hatred is replaced by interest and transforms into the quest, where the author of the book wants to find out what Japan is and what Japanese people actually are. He has managed to cope with his biases and stereotypes and observe Japanese in their real life environment. These observations helped him to change his views on Japanese and, more important, helped him to make other Koreans to view Japanese from a different standpoint.
Steadily, he expands his view of Japanese and views them as representatives of the totally different culture compared to that of his own. To put it more precisely, he comes to the point, when he realizes that his Confucianist background with his focus on himself, his home and his country, confronts the different culture and philosophy of Japanese people, who viewed the invasion and expansion of their empire as prior to their personal life, well-being and prosperity of their home or family. The author uncovers the striking difference between Korean and Japanese cultures due to his experience of being a captive of Japanese and the time he has spent in Japan became the valuable time, when he has being learning Japanese as a nation but not as a hated enemy.
Nevertheless, Kang Hang basically tries to explore his captors from the standpoint of a representative of Confucianist philosophy. Remarkably he does not view them exactly from the standpoint of a captive. He attempts to take his position from a philosophic ground. He has managed to evaluate critically his observations and reject his biases and stereotypes concerning Japanese, which he has learned during his life in Korea. He has also managed to reject his personal negative attitude to Japanese, who actually ruined his life by capturing him and moving to Japan. Instead, he makes objective judgments on the ground of his experience and observations, which he has made in the course of his life in Japan as a captive.
At the same time, Kang Hang always remains loyal to his monarch. In this regard, his attempts to view Japanese from the broader, Confucianist perspective are just attempts to get more information about Japanese and to understand them better. While working on his book, he serves rather as a spy of his monarch than a mere writer. At any rate, he manifests his loyalty to the monarch. If he were biased, he could never make objective judgments about Japanese and uncover what Japanese actually were. Instead, he would just give the description of Japanese, Koreans and Korean monarch wanted him to make. Instead, he gives a relatively objective description of Japan and its people on the ground of his objective judgments because he views them philosophically.
Kang Hang provides the broad scope of information about Japan, starting from the regular life of Japanese people to their political system, ideology, values, beliefs and philosophy. The author also attempts to give insight into the military structure of Japanese army but his focus is broader and expands his scope. He serves as the spy, who focuses on fundamental concepts of Japanese society and culture. His book helps to understand Japanese culture and uncover the essence of Japanese culture and nation. The detailed description of Japan provided by Kang Hang became an important source of information about Japan for Korean monarch and Korean people.
Thus, Kang Hang became a captive of Japanese but, instead of describing them as monsters slaughtering Koreans, he has managed to conduct the in-depth study of Japan and Japanese people to create the book that uncovers the truth about the life, ideology, value and culture of Japan and different aspects of life of Japanese. This is why his book is a valuable source of information about the 16th century Japan.
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