[TEMPLE ADVENTURES] Buddha's Birthday during Japanese occupation era

Lotus lantern parade, published in The Korea Times May 21, 2007. / Korea Times Archive

By Dale Quarrington

At the end of the?1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom, and with the growing influence of Japan and Japanese Buddhism on the Korean Peninsula, Korean Buddhism faced the double threat of the continuation of centuries of persecution and marginalization by their own government and having their own traditions hijacked and supplanted by foreign traditions.

Korean Buddhists were faced with the choice of either modernizing or simply being replaced. It was this dynamic that helped modernize Korean Buddhism. As such, the reimagining of Buddha's Birthday, similar to the modernization of Christmas in the West, was a highly complex negotiation among Korean Buddhists about what their traditions meant, while also plying their way through the political turmoil that faced both the final days of the Joseon court and the interference and influence that both Japan and Japanese Buddhism hoped to have over the Korean Peninsula. The 1910-45 Japanese occupation of Korea was a tumultuous time of competing ideologies, both religious and political, which would partially find an outlet in the form of Korea's Buddha's Birthday Festival.

In Korea, Buddha's Birthday was traditionally the highlight of the annual Buddhist ceremonial calendar. These widespread Buddhist festivals started during the 918-1392 Goryeo Kingdom and evolved over time. Originally, Buddha's Birthday was celebrated with lighting lanterns, reading sutras and inviting both monks and laypeople for meals at temples. Eventually, Buddha's Birthday would be affixed to the eighth day of the fourth lunar month during early Joseon.

Because of Joseon's anti-Buddhist polices, the new neo-Confucian policies of the state quickly eroded the importance of Buddha's Birthday celebrations. Instead of being a celebration of Buddha's Birthday, the April 8 lantern festival essentially became a holiday for children. In a way, a quasi-Buddhist festival formed around this date during the majority of Joseon's duration.

This would start to change, however, by late Joseon, with the increasing contact that Korean monks had with other monks from various countries throughout the world. Korean monks gained a better understanding of their position in their own country by seeing the governmental policies of other countries towards international Buddhism. This comparison was especially heightened with the presence of Japanese Buddhist missionaries through the deepening involvement that Japan had in Korean affairs from the early 1900s onward.

Dongguk Temple in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, is the only Japanese-built temple still in existence in Korea. / Courtesy of Dale Quarrington

After Japan seized power over Korea in 1910, Korean Buddhists, temples and cities expanded this holiday under agreement with the Japanese colonial government. By the 1920s, Korea's native version of Buddha's Birthday was back in place and celebrated nationally. And it was with this ongoing modernization of not only Buddha's Birthday, but Korean Buddhism as a whole, that Japanese Buddhist turned its attention to attempting to alter the Korean celebrations with their own version: Hana Matsuri.

Hana Matsuri was known in Korean as "Hwaje" (Flower Festival). This colonial government-sponsored festival, which was a joint venture by Japanese and Korean Buddhist authorities, first started in 1928 and continued until liberation. Both Korean and Japanese Buddhists were attempting to manufacture a modern Buddhist festival in Korea that would help consolidate the two peoples into one identity, while also competing with aggressive Christian missionaries as well.

The first-ever Hana Matsuri Festival in Korea started at 8 a.m. on May 26, 1928 (following the traditional Korean lunar calendar). The festivities began with five rounds of fireworks being shot from Mount Nam in Seoul. Two hours later, an airplane made a celebratory flight over the city, showering the 300,000 Seoul residents with some 1 million blue and red petals and 30,000 additional flyers promoting the ensuing festival.

Overlooking Seoul from Mt. Nam in April 1931 / Courtesy of Robert Neff

In total, three locations were selected in Seoul, which differed from the festivities in Tokyo that took place in one location at Hibiya Park. In addition to these three locations, three different times of the day would divide the inaugural festival, as well. The first public event took place at the square in front of the Bank of Chosen at 11 a.m. with the Japanese Buddhist organization officiating it. Fireworks and an airplane flyover followed the event at this location. By 1 p.m., the Korean Buddhist Central Administrative Institution took charge. The location of this early afternoon event took place in front of the Dong-a Ilbo building. This was then followed by the last event of the very first Hana Matsui Festival at 3 p.m. in Jangchungdan Park, which was presided over by the Association of the Celebration of Hana Matsuri. There is no doubt that while the festival was religious, it was also political in nature.

The reason for the various locations of these festivities is that the central office of Korean Buddhism was located in the northern half of Seoul, while the temples of the Japanese Buddhist sects were located in the southern half. Additionally, and economically, the Korean stores were congregated in Jongno District, while the Japanese businesses were concentrated mainly south of Cheonggye Stream. So not only did the organizers have a symbolic meaning behind the festival, but they also had a strategically practical economic reason, as well. As for the third location, it seems to have been chosen as a symbolically significant location that was meant to reconcile the divisions found between the colonizer and the colonized.

By participating in the inaugural Hana Matsuri Festival in 1928, and continuing to do so until liberation in 1945, Korean Buddhists made the most of their situation. While previously oppressed and persecuted during Joseon for centuries with varying degrees of suppression, Korean Buddhists found a lifeline through the Japanese colonizers and the religious bond found between the two.

In celebration of Buddha coming, published in The Korea Times May 13, 2008. / Korea Times Archive

With Japan attempting to create a bond through pan-Asian Buddhism to combat Western economic, cultural and religious influences, and with Korean Buddhists finally gaining a small chair at the table, Korean Buddhists made the most of events like the Hana Matsuri Festival. And that festival continued developing to become the popular festival we see today in Korea.

Dale Quarrington has visited over 500 temples throughout the Korean Peninsula and published three books on Korean Buddhism. He runs the popular website, "Dale's Korean Temple Adventures."