Chapter Three:
Adult Life in Colonial Korea (1923-1945)
The Aim of this Chapter
In this chapter I will examine the adult life of Ham in Colonial Korea (1923-1945): his life in Tokyo as a college student and as a follower of the Non-Church Group; as a history teacher at Osan School and a writer of Korean history; and as a farmer until Korea's Liberation from Japanese rule. During these two decades, Ham was put in prison no fewer than four times by the Japanese authorities. While he was serving a prison sentence, his father passed away and he learnt of the destruction of his home and family. But to Ham, it was also a period of 'Great Learning' under the roof of the prison cell, both through direct experiences of prison life and through the serious readings of East Asian classics. He read various Buddhist and Taoist scriptures inside the dark prison. Thus as he recalled, "the prison was the university" for his inner development and strength. Most of all, despite his external torments he did not lose his sense of optimism and hope. Certainly he knew he must retain his strength as "tomorrow is another day!"
3.1. Life in Japan (1923-1928)
In April, 1923 Ham arrived in Japan. In Tokyo, Ham personally experienced the discrimination and ill-treatment of Koreans by the Japanese. Although the Japanese regime advocated the motto of "Japan and Korea are One", Japanese policy revealed that Koreans and Japanese could become as one in name only. In reality, the Japanese continued to discriminate against Koreans on the basis of simple ethnic differences. By way of illustration, because Ham was a Korean it was difficult to find a room or accommodation in Tokyo. When Japanese landlords recognised Ham as a Korean, most simply refused to take him as a lodger. Through his experience and struggle to obtain accommodation, Ham sensed the preciousness of a nation's sovereignty.
April, 1923 was a time of social upheaval in Japan. The post-World War I economic slump had brought substantial economic and social difficulties and the working class and tenants of Japan grew into an organised force. Tenancy disputes leaped from 85 in 1917 to 326 in 1919 growing to around 2,000 by 1923. The 1920s also saw an immense decline in the number of small banks, from 2,041 to 1,008, while the amount of bank savings grew by almost a quarter from 1920 to 1929. Compared with previous decades, in the 1920s, books were accessible to whole divisions of consumers, who were familiar with modish journals through their publication in papers, periodicals and the one-yen publications. Liberalism was substituted by socialism among middle-class intellectuals and working-class leaders who had been its primary supporters.
By 1922 there were over three thousand Korean students in Japan, they created several socialist and anarchist mutual-aid groups, including the Hukto-hoe [Black Society] in 1921 and the Puksong-hoe [North Star Society] in 1923. The radicalisation of Korean students in Japan was nourished by the failure of the nationalists to create a consistent modus operandi after 1919, and the inability of the Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai to establish itself as a strong basis for concrete and organised political activity. Korean students in Japan were intensely impressed by the liberalism of the time. Thanks to the Taisho democracy, Ham was able to study in Japan during this period, whereas it would have been impossible either before or after.
On September 1st 1923, there was a great earthquake which destroyed two-thirds of Tokyo, most of Yokohama and worsened the already fragile socio-economic situation. Approximately 400,000 people were either missing or lost their lives and over two million were made homeless. A breakdown in communications meant fear and anxiety spread very rapidly and were difficult to control. Only the hilltop and suburban regions of the city survived. The quake was accompanied by flooding and an outbreak of cholera. Martial law was declared. Hundreds of thousands of refugees deserted their destroyed houses and escaped to the countryside in the hunt for food and refuge.
However, this great earthquake also offered the police an excuse to round-up suspected revolutionaries from all colours of the political spectrum. After the earthquake the Japanese government, fearing an insurrection on the part of the socialists, deliberately propagated a rumour that the Koreans in Japan were planning a revolt, thus instigating a massacre of 5,000 Korean people. During this time of turbulence, Ham experienced his first imprisonment under the Japanese authorities. He was placed there by the Japanese police in order to "protect innocent Koreans" from the Japanese aggressors. Although he stayed in the prison only a single night, it left a grievous impression on him. The radicalism of Korean activities rose in the aftermath of this Japanese massacre of Koreans. Labour activity also spawned various revolutionary unions. In November 1923, the General Federation of Korean Labour Unions in Japan was set up by Korean socialists, and its membership increased remarkably.
Korean students in Japan had always maintained close links with one another, and at this time several revolutionary groups were formed. Among them was the Choson Haksaeng Chahwar-hoe [Korean Self-Supporting Students' Association], the main socialist organisation. Its journal, Tongu [Comrade], stressed student and worker relief and the importance of tackling the roots of class conflict. They advocated liberty for the individual, rejected the legitimacy of any political power whatsoever, and recommended the use of terror. A particularly striking instance of this was the assassination attempt on the Japanese emperor by a Korean anarchist, Pak Yol (1902-1974), in 1923. Pak came to Japan in 1919 soon after becoming involved with the anarchist movement. In 1921 Pak became the architect of a secret anarchist society in Tokyo. But unlike Pak, Ham was not a man of organisation nor did he possess that fiery temperament.
There was also a group of Marxist theorists who argued that Korean sovereignty could be obtained only by removing Japanese capitalism. To this end they started an organised anti-Japanese struggle most particularly through working class agitation.
Since the outset of their colonial domination, the right-wing Japanese regime had made forceful efforts to curb and stamp out Korean nationalism. To fulfil this aim, Japanese authority banned the study of Korean history and geography and expropriated all Korean history and geography publications, and prohibited the printing of nationalistic publications and any journal. This policy aimed to make Korean students ignorant about their own past and present, and to make them docile toward the Japanese colonial regime. Japan attempted to distort Korean history and the Korean national character, arguing that Koreans were lazy, divisive and hence did not have the capability for self-rule. Thus Koreans needed guidance from an 'enlightened' Japan.
In the mean time, after 'giving up' his dream to be a medical doctor, Ham developed a considerable interest in the fine arts. In particular, after the fiasco of the March Fisrt Movement, while Ham 'wasted away' in his village for two years, he studied the fine arts through omnivorous reading. At that time Ham even carried a sketch-book for drawing when he went out. Nevertheless, Ham felt guilty about studying "professionally" the fine arts as his main subject, considering Korea's national morale was on the edge of downfall. Under the Japanese oppression he considered art to be a luxury. Eventually Ham reached the conclusion that, "studying the fine arts is not urgent for colonised Korea." In view of this, Ham wanted to study a more "imperative subject" for the future of Korea and chose to study history rather than the fine arts.
Accordingly in 1924 Ham entered the Tokyo Teachers' College to pursue his studies of history education. Thereafter until the spring of 1928, Ham studied not only history but also pedagogy and physics with considerable speculative interest. 1924 was also a time of social unrest in Japan. In the Tokyo Teachers' College, there were 50 Korean students at this time, most of them were either Communists or greatly influenced by Communism and anarchism. As a result, Ham, as a non-communist Christian student, was a 'pest' to his contemporary Communist students. Considering Ham had been an enthusiastic Christian since his childhood, his thoughts were torn between Christian ethics and the politics of socialism and anarchism as the key to the salvation of Korea. But political radicalism included aspects which he could not wholly approve of. For example, he disliked the anarchists' advocacy of terror and Communism's advocacy of atheism. He thus experienced enormous internal conflict:
"I entered a period of great agony. Could Christianity really save my people? Under the circumstances, it appeared that only a social revolution could provide the answer. But I could not bring myself to forsake my faith and join in the socialist movement which totally disregarded all sense of morality. For a long period I was in agony over the conflict between Christianity and socialism."
One of Ham's classmates began to persuade him to convert to socialism. Thus for Ham, it was a time of desperate uncertainties and inner turmoil. In this time of inner upheaval, Ham met Kim Kyosin (1901-1945), who was also a graduate of Osan School. Kim came to Japan to study in 1919. From November 1920 until 1927 Kim had attended the Bible study group in Tokyo which was led by Uchimura Kanzo (1861-1930) and it was Kim who introduced Ham to Uchimura's Bible study group or the Non-Church Movement.
In 1924, Ham met Uchimura, a Japanese religious thinker and critic, who had a significant formative influence on many writers and intellectual leaders of modern Japan. Uchimura was one of the most remarkable interpreters of the Bible at a time when Japan was experiencing a move toward modernisation after the Meiji Restoration of 1868. In his early years as a journalist, Uchimura criticised and opposed the Russo-Japanese War on the basis of Christian pacifism. By doing so, he brought up the question of Christian loyalty to the state. He also rejected bowing to the Japanese Imperial Rescript and declined to worship the imperial portrait, seeing the Japanese Emperor as a man not as a 'living God'. Thus Uchimura was branded as a traitor by the Japanese Government.
Uchimura's writings are concerned with all aspects of a Japan suddenly introduced into the modern world. Prior to teaching about Christianity, Uchimura had also placed emphasis on Japanese models of the 'righteous' spirit. He proclaimed a faith which links humans to God through prayer and study of the Bible. According to him, the Japanese, through scrupulous examination of the Bible, could find a Christianity which both met their needs and conformed to their tradition. His later writings presented the Bible and the Non-Church Movement of Christian culture to Japan.
Uchimura and his followers were dubbed the 'non-church people' or, in Uchimura's translation, 'Christianity of no-church principle'. Uchimura maintained the church was neither a building nor a system. Uchimura did not relate to any specific denomination or church, but attempted to live the devout faith of the Bible. He continually made an effort to break away from the inclination to congregate into established and conformist groups, and to bring about a community based on Christian fellowship.
Ham was deeply influenced by Uchimura and his Non-Church Movement with its stress on the Cross as the integrity of Christianity. Ham was impressed by Uchimura's sincere attitude toward the Bible and his serious effort to study the Bible, as opposed to accepting the Bible without question. Ham began to see a new aspect of the Bible and with Uchimura, Ham for the first time in his life had a chance to attend a Quaker Meeting in Japan, although it did not make a notable impression on him at this time.
Uchimura defined the relationship between his country and his religion: "I love two J's one is Jesus and the other one is Japan", an indication of both his religious faith and his nationalism. Ham also could not forsake either the Bible or Korea, and on returning to Korea in 1928, he and his five Non-Church Group friends published the magazine, entitled Songso Choson [Bible Korea]. During the time Ham regularly attended Uchimura's Bible study class his inner turmoil relating to the role of religion and state was alleviated, and he made a solid conviction to live as a Christian patriot. Later, Ham recalled how strong was the influence he received from Uchimura during his life in Japan: "This one man [Uchimura] alone is more than enough to compensate for my thirty-six years of servitude under the Japanese."
Uchimura's Non-Church Movement (NCM) rejected the superficial formalism and piety of the church and emphasised a faith in atonement through the Cross of Christ. That meant finding one's own way through the living truth of the Bible in the eternal light of God, but free from any particular Church's rites, such as Baptism or Sacrament. The NCM do not reject Churches, but do not approve in any way the belief that man is not saved without belonging to the institutionalised Church.
As Ham participated in Uchimura's Bible studies, his inner conflicts, between socialism and Christianity, were gradually resolved, and he made a firm commitment to live as a "true Christian". He recalled that experience: "I developed the confidence to be able to say; 'This is real faith. This is the way the Bible must be read!'" Before Ham met Uchimura, Ham felt some uncertainty about the nature of the Christian Church within society. Framed worship was a ritual to which Ham attached little meaning. Hence Ham was in the middle of his internal struggles to formulate his Christian belief from the tangled social situations of the time. As a man in his early 20s, Ham had been searching for a faith more genuine and essential, yet he was unable to find the goal of his search in the conventional Church. But at Uchimura's Bible study meeting, Christianity was a part of the fabric of life.
Consequently, thanks to Uchimura's teachings, Ham reached the conclusion that his religious belief was not incompatible from the political salvation of his own country, Korea. In view of this, Ham at last chose Christianity rather than socialism as his ideal. Subsequently, from 1925, Ham and Kim Kyosin, together with his four other Korean friends, Song Tuyong, Chong Sanghun, Yu Soktong and Yang Insong, began to study the Greek language and to read the Bible in its original form. Ham devoted all his time and energy to studying the Bible with Uchimura, and history at college.
3.2. A History Teacher and the Songso Choson (1928-1938) Table of Contents