Kim So-un's “Line" as an Image of Korean National Character

: Yanagi Muneyoshi's “Line" and Korean Folk Songs

Abstract

　It is well known that Yanagi Muneyoshi said in the early 1920s that Korean arts had a beauty of “Line". This thought had an influence on many Korean intellectuals at the time. Kim So-un, a translator who translated Korean folk songs and poetry into Japanese during the colonial period, was one of them.

　The fact that Kim So-un was influenced by Yanagi's theory of “Line" has been overlooked until now. Kim often referred to “Line" and used the term in his work to describe Korean national character.

　The most interesting point is that while Yanagi read “Line" from tangible things such as Korean ceramics and architecture, Kim read it not only from tangible things but also from intangible things such as Korean folk songs and even Korean language. And more importantly he developed that into his own theories on Korean folk songs and Korean language or Korean-Japanese translation.

　This paper examines how Kim So-un received Yanagi's theory of “Line", focusing on his writings on Korean folk songs written from 1927 to 1933, which is the period when he carried out Korean folk song-related work (translation and collection, etc.). This paper starts with describing what the theory of “Line" is and why Kim referred to it. It then explores how Kim used the theory in his writings by dividing the period mentioned above into the first half (1927-29) and the second half (1930-33).