By Robert Neff
There is an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words but is the story that it is telling the truth? When viewing an image we need context. Who were the people who appear in the picture, when and why was it taken and who was the photographer ― with this information we are better able to understand what the image is trying to tell us.
My friend Diane purchased a postcard recently with an interesting but somewhat confusing story. The postcard ― postmarked "Yokohama, 18 April 1907" ― was sent by a Royal Navy sailor named Charles Walter Candy (1877-1930) to his future wife and, in itself, is not overly interesting, but the dealer's description of the card was:
"This [postcard] shows a Meiji-period boy and girl, the boy reaching forward to take the girl's hand. He wears the uniform of a Japanese Army General and she wears a splendid kimono, richly and dramatically decorated. This would seem to be a very cute and whimsical childhood image, but is in fact a piece of Japanese political propaganda, relating to the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1907, which allowed Japan to colonize and control Korea. The woman is not Japanese in meaning at all, but the famous female Korean freedom fighter Yun Hui-Sun (1860-1935) who was an organizer of female militias who resisted Japanese control."
Is the card truly "a piece of Japanese political propaganda"?
According to some sources, Yun Hui-sun's family was from the Haeju area in North Korea but she was born in Seoul on June 25, 1860. Pae-yong Yi, the author of "Women in Korean History," described her as being "brilliant and high-spirited, and filial toward her parents from an early age."
At the age of 16, she married Yu Jae-won and went to live with him at his home in the Chuncheon area of Gangwon Province. Following her marriage, she "was deeply devoted to her father-in-law and faithfully carried out her obligations toward her husband's relatives and ancestors, while treating her inferiors with affection."
At some point, most likely in the late 1870s or early 1880s, they had a son named Yu Don-sang. It is not clear if Don-sang was their only child, as he is the only one mentioned. it is also possible there were others who died while very young as the infant mortality rate in Korea was quite high. Much of Yun Hui-sun's normal day was probably spent in the tedium of running a household ― which she apparently did very well and managed to keep harmony in the family thus earning her the respect of her in-laws ― but, judging from her later life, she also managed to find sanctuary in intellectual pursuits.
While peace and harmony reigned in her household, the rest of the peninsula was a vortex of turmoil and change.
When Queen Min (posthumously elevated to Empress Myeongseong) was assassinated in October 1895, unrest and anti-Japanese sentiment spread across the peninsula. Yun's father-in-law, Yu Hong-seok, a noted scholar and a man of great standing in the local community, was infuriated with the Japanese government meddling increasingly in Korean politics. He and his cousin, Yu In-seok, formed their own militia and became leaders of the insurgency in the Chuncheon area.
Yun was also enflamed by this despicable act and posted proclamations in the streets of her village in which she warned the Japanese authorities and pro-Japanese Koreans that there would be retributions meted out for the crimes committed upon Joseon. Defiantly, she signed at least four of these proclamations.
Perhaps the final straw was at the beginning of January 1896 when the pro-Japanese newly formed Korean government issued an edict banning the topknot and requiring all Korean men to have their hair cut. Seoul was paralyzed as farmers and merchants refused to transports goods ― food and fuel ― to the capital out of fear of having their topknots forcefully shorn. The peninsula erupted into unrest ― especially in the Chuncheon area.
In a report to his government, Walter C. Hillier, the British representative in Seoul, wrote:
"At [Chuncheon], a city on the borders of this province some 50 miles off, where the Government tried to enforce the ordinance, the people have risen en masse, murdered the Governor and his whole establishment, whom they are said to have torn limb from limb, and have now taken possession of the town and surrounding country."
Hillier notes that the people were subsequently informed that that the hair-cutting ordinance was not compulsory and they were free to exercise their choice in the matter. However, "this step has not had the desired effect, and some 400 [government] troops, with two or three Japanese officers, have been sent to disperse the rebels." Hillier had little confidence in the government's efforts as Chuncheon was "admirably adapted for defence" and amongst the insurgents were a number of Korean tiger hunters who were "excellent shots with rifle or matchlock" whereas the government troops were "for the most part raw recruits who have never fired a rifle, and who will most assuredly run away at the slightest opposition being made to their advance."
It doesn't challenge the imagination to assume Yu Hong-seok and Yu In-seok were the leaders of these ferocious "rebels." According to Pae-yong Yi:
"Yun beseeched her father-in-law to take her with them, but he adamantly refused. After he left, Yun made an altar in a mountain behind her house and prayed every day at 3 a.m. for his victory. She offered prayers before a clean bowl of fresh water after taking a bath."
She also took a more active role by composing letters to Japanese military commanders issuing threats of war and warning the Korean soldiers under Japanese supervision that they, too, would suffer.
Following Emperor Gojong's forced abdication in 1907, Yu Hong-seok and Yu In-seok redoubled their militia activities in the Chuncheon area. Yun Hui-sun implored her father-in-law to allow her to participate but, once again, he refused, claiming the battlefield was not a place for women. Undaunted, Yun Hui-sun participated in other ways. She organized a group of women volunteers to help collect donations for the cause, helped with the menial chores of camp life and helped establish a munitions factory for the militia.
In 1911, disgusted with the situation on the peninsula, Yu Hong-seok contemplated committing suicide but was persuaded to move to southern Manchuria where he would continue to fight against the Japanese occupation of Korea.
The day after he departed for Manchuria, a band of Japanese soldiers suddenly raided her home. They demanded to know where Yu Hong-seok had gone but she steadfastly refused to answer ― even as they began to beat and threaten the life of her son, Yu Don-sang. In defiance she proclaimed that her son's life was not as important as her father-in-law's life as he was a great independence fighter. She challenged them to kill her own child but the Japanese backed down.
Yun and her son immediately departed for southern Manchuria where they joined her father-in-law, husband and the other independence fighters. In late 1913, Yu Hong-seok died and less than two years later he was followed by his cousin and then Yu Jae-won (Yun's husband) ― the latter died after being captured and severely tortured by the Japanese authorities.
For the next 20 years, Yun and her son continued to fight for Korean independence. In July 1935, Yu Don-sang was captured by the Japanese police and died while in custody. The struggles of the past seven decades and the loss of her son were too much and on Aug. 1, 1935, Yun died.
In October 1994, her remains were returned to Korea and she was buried with her husband in his ancestral tomb site. She was posthumously presented with a presidential medal of citation and the National Medal of Order of Merit for National Foundation. According to Wikipedia (which cites Pai-yong Yi) Yun was creator of the first Korean militia song composed by a woman and the first to be written down in the Korean language
Unquestionably, Yun was an important figure in Korean history, but what made the dealer believe this card represented her and her role in Korea's fight for independence ― a simple error or an attempt to cash in on a bitter history?
Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.
 |
| Is this card, circa April 1907, "a piece of Japanese political propaganda about Yun Hui-sun"? Courtesy of Diane Nars Collection |
My friend Diane purchased a postcard recently with an interesting but somewhat confusing story. The postcard ― postmarked "Yokohama, 18 April 1907" ― was sent by a Royal Navy sailor named Charles Walter Candy (1877-1930) to his future wife and, in itself, is not overly interesting, but the dealer's description of the card was:
"This [postcard] shows a Meiji-period boy and girl, the boy reaching forward to take the girl's hand. He wears the uniform of a Japanese Army General and she wears a splendid kimono, richly and dramatically decorated. This would seem to be a very cute and whimsical childhood image, but is in fact a piece of Japanese political propaganda, relating to the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1907, which allowed Japan to colonize and control Korea. The woman is not Japanese in meaning at all, but the famous female Korean freedom fighter Yun Hui-Sun (1860-1935) who was an organizer of female militias who resisted Japanese control."
Is the card truly "a piece of Japanese political propaganda"?
According to some sources, Yun Hui-sun's family was from the Haeju area in North Korea but she was born in Seoul on June 25, 1860. Pae-yong Yi, the author of "Women in Korean History," described her as being "brilliant and high-spirited, and filial toward her parents from an early age."
At the age of 16, she married Yu Jae-won and went to live with him at his home in the Chuncheon area of Gangwon Province. Following her marriage, she "was deeply devoted to her father-in-law and faithfully carried out her obligations toward her husband's relatives and ancestors, while treating her inferiors with affection."
 |
| The mountainous region of the eastern part of the peninsula in the early 1900s Robert Neff Collection |
At some point, most likely in the late 1870s or early 1880s, they had a son named Yu Don-sang. It is not clear if Don-sang was their only child, as he is the only one mentioned. it is also possible there were others who died while very young as the infant mortality rate in Korea was quite high. Much of Yun Hui-sun's normal day was probably spent in the tedium of running a household ― which she apparently did very well and managed to keep harmony in the family thus earning her the respect of her in-laws ― but, judging from her later life, she also managed to find sanctuary in intellectual pursuits.
While peace and harmony reigned in her household, the rest of the peninsula was a vortex of turmoil and change.
When Queen Min (posthumously elevated to Empress Myeongseong) was assassinated in October 1895, unrest and anti-Japanese sentiment spread across the peninsula. Yun's father-in-law, Yu Hong-seok, a noted scholar and a man of great standing in the local community, was infuriated with the Japanese government meddling increasingly in Korean politics. He and his cousin, Yu In-seok, formed their own militia and became leaders of the insurgency in the Chuncheon area.
Yun was also enflamed by this despicable act and posted proclamations in the streets of her village in which she warned the Japanese authorities and pro-Japanese Koreans that there would be retributions meted out for the crimes committed upon Joseon. Defiantly, she signed at least four of these proclamations.
Perhaps the final straw was at the beginning of January 1896 when the pro-Japanese newly formed Korean government issued an edict banning the topknot and requiring all Korean men to have their hair cut. Seoul was paralyzed as farmers and merchants refused to transports goods ― food and fuel ― to the capital out of fear of having their topknots forcefully shorn. The peninsula erupted into unrest ― especially in the Chuncheon area.
 |
| Crossing a mountain stream in the early 1900s Robert Neff Collection |
In a report to his government, Walter C. Hillier, the British representative in Seoul, wrote:
"At [Chuncheon], a city on the borders of this province some 50 miles off, where the Government tried to enforce the ordinance, the people have risen en masse, murdered the Governor and his whole establishment, whom they are said to have torn limb from limb, and have now taken possession of the town and surrounding country."
Hillier notes that the people were subsequently informed that that the hair-cutting ordinance was not compulsory and they were free to exercise their choice in the matter. However, "this step has not had the desired effect, and some 400 [government] troops, with two or three Japanese officers, have been sent to disperse the rebels." Hillier had little confidence in the government's efforts as Chuncheon was "admirably adapted for defence" and amongst the insurgents were a number of Korean tiger hunters who were "excellent shots with rifle or matchlock" whereas the government troops were "for the most part raw recruits who have never fired a rifle, and who will most assuredly run away at the slightest opposition being made to their advance."
It doesn't challenge the imagination to assume Yu Hong-seok and Yu In-seok were the leaders of these ferocious "rebels." According to Pae-yong Yi:
"Yun beseeched her father-in-law to take her with them, but he adamantly refused. After he left, Yun made an altar in a mountain behind her house and prayed every day at 3 a.m. for his victory. She offered prayers before a clean bowl of fresh water after taking a bath."
She also took a more active role by composing letters to Japanese military commanders issuing threats of war and warning the Korean soldiers under Japanese supervision that they, too, would suffer.
Following Emperor Gojong's forced abdication in 1907, Yu Hong-seok and Yu In-seok redoubled their militia activities in the Chuncheon area. Yun Hui-sun implored her father-in-law to allow her to participate but, once again, he refused, claiming the battlefield was not a place for women. Undaunted, Yun Hui-sun participated in other ways. She organized a group of women volunteers to help collect donations for the cause, helped with the menial chores of camp life and helped establish a munitions factory for the militia.
In 1911, disgusted with the situation on the peninsula, Yu Hong-seok contemplated committing suicide but was persuaded to move to southern Manchuria where he would continue to fight against the Japanese occupation of Korea.
The day after he departed for Manchuria, a band of Japanese soldiers suddenly raided her home. They demanded to know where Yu Hong-seok had gone but she steadfastly refused to answer ― even as they began to beat and threaten the life of her son, Yu Don-sang. In defiance she proclaimed that her son's life was not as important as her father-in-law's life as he was a great independence fighter. She challenged them to kill her own child but the Japanese backed down.
Yun and her son immediately departed for southern Manchuria where they joined her father-in-law, husband and the other independence fighters. In late 1913, Yu Hong-seok died and less than two years later he was followed by his cousin and then Yu Jae-won (Yun's husband) ― the latter died after being captured and severely tortured by the Japanese authorities.
For the next 20 years, Yun and her son continued to fight for Korean independence. In July 1935, Yu Don-sang was captured by the Japanese police and died while in custody. The struggles of the past seven decades and the loss of her son were too much and on Aug. 1, 1935, Yun died.
In October 1994, her remains were returned to Korea and she was buried with her husband in his ancestral tomb site. She was posthumously presented with a presidential medal of citation and the National Medal of Order of Merit for National Foundation. According to Wikipedia (which cites Pai-yong Yi) Yun was creator of the first Korean militia song composed by a woman and the first to be written down in the Korean language
Unquestionably, Yun was an important figure in Korean history, but what made the dealer believe this card represented her and her role in Korea's fight for independence ― a simple error or an attempt to cash in on a bitter history?
Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.
