Heritage Management in Korea and Japan: The Politics of Antiquity and Identity

Acknowledgments

ix Acknowledgments In the course of researching and writing this book, the following mentors , colleagues, sponsors, and friends extended unwavering support and encouragement. It is my pleasure to finally express my gratitude in print. First, I would like to thank professors Inaga Shigemi and Yamada Shōji for inviting me to the Research Center for Japanese Studies, better known as Nichibunken in Kyoto. The former invited me as a visiting research professor in 2000–2001, and the latter in 2007–8 to participate as one of the core members of his research team project called “The Ownership and Spread of Culture.” At Nichibunken, I also participated in several international symposiums organized by senior archaeologists such as Uno Takao, Akazawa Takeru, and Senda Minoru. Their insights, support, and encouragement gave me new perspectives into their respective fields of expertise—the Kofun period, human evolution, and environmental archaeology. Former staff members Okuno Yukiko, Sasaki Ayako, and Ishida Miho, who coordinated everyday matters and planned outings in and around scenic Kyoto, made my life at Nichibunken the most memorable of all of my foreign trips. The staff of the Nichibunken Library and Information Services also provided invaluable assistance with scanning the numerous figures included in this book. Of all of the specialists in Kyoto who have assisted me in more ways than I can do justice to here, I am most indebted to the members of the Mokuyō Club, whose biweekly seminars opened my eyes to the history of modern Japanese archaeology. I always looked forward to our after-seminar drinking sessions, held at out of the way izakayas in old residential neighborhoods in Kyoto and Nara that only locals would be familiar with. I have | Acknowledgments x depended extensively on the club’s journal, Nihon kōkogakushi kenkyū, published annually by founding members Uchida Yoshiyaki (Kyoto City Buried Cultural Properties Center) and Hirose Shigeaki (Shinyōsha Publishing Company) since 1996. The articles are devoted to unearthing the lives, careers, and achievements of the earliest pioneers of Japanese archaeology , and have set new standards for archaeological scholarship in Japan, which is unknown outside of small circles. I remember fondly our memorable road trip together to the Torii Ryūzō Memorial Museum located in Tokushima, Shikoku. Inhaling the fresh, crisp winter sea air on a cold February day in 2001, I paid respects at the grave of the first prehistoric archaeologist to survey Korea in 1911. To my surprise and delight, Torii and his wife were interred under a monumental Korean table-style dolmen. The club’s members also invited me to accompany them to the laboratory of Fujii Keisuke, professor of Japanese architecture at the University of Tokyo. I want to thank Professor Fujii personally for taking the time to show us Sekino Tadashi’s original writings, drawings, sketches, and even his handwritten undergraduate thesis, now archived at the Department of Architecture library. The late Arimitsu Kyōichi, retired professor of Korean archaeology at Kyoto University who passed away on May 15 2011, at the age of 103, was an inspiring figure who urged me to write this book. He was the last Japanese director of the former Colonial Government Museum, whose collections were turned over to the new Korean director, Kim Chae-wŏn (1909–92) following the liberation of Korea on August 1945 (for more about this, see the conclusion). In April 2001, despite his advanced age of ninety-four, Arimitsu agreed to be interviewed. Professor Yoshii Hideo of Kyoto University and the members of the Mokuyō Club played a critical role in Arimitsu’s agreeing to the interview. They also participated in our question-andanswer session, which was subsequently summarized in volume ten of the Nihon kōkogakushi kenkyū (Mokuyō Club 2003, 3–30). During our threehour session, Arimitsu responded to all of my inquiries with good humor and incredible recall regarding the daily activities of a field archaeologist in the 1930s. His many vivid recollections and anecdotes were remarkable in detail, and he provided me with personal insights concerning the inner workings of the Committee on Korean Antiquities, museum management, and staffing that are unattainable through published colonial sources. Acknowledgments | xi Kim Ri-na, the daughter of Kim Chae-wŏn (1909–90), the first director of the National Museum of Korea (1945–70) and now a retired professor of Hongik University’s Department of Art History in Seoul, was also one of my informants. She inherited...