by David Waterhouse Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:11 am
The Korean sound system is more complicated than that of Japanese, but follows regular rules. One thing to bear in mind is that in the pronunciation of Korean words there are automatic sound changes: so that the river whose name is spelled Aplok, for example, comes out as “Amnok”. Some 80% of Korean vocabulary consists of Chinese loan words to which Sino-Korean readings are applied (as with Japanese on readings); it follows that Japanese words which derive from Chinese can easily be read as Korean, if one knows the characters used to write them. Thus Tōkyō 東京, literally “Eastern Capital”, becomes Tongkyǒng 동경 (which was also an old name for the Korean city of Kyǒngju); and Kōdōkan 講道館, literally “Hall for Expounding the Path”, becomes Kangdogwan 강도관. On the other hand, the technique names of jūdō 柔道 (Kor. yudo), which in Japan are written with Chinese characters but pronounced as Japanese words, are assigned new Korean names.
So long as one uses hangul, plus Chinese characters when necessary, no problem arises: the Korean alphabet, its letters arranged to form syllable blocks, was a brilliant invention which suits the language admirably. For writing Korean in Roman script (romaja), much the best system is the McCune-Reischauer, as followed by most serious writers on Korean topics; but there are several competing systems, which are a continuing source of confusion for foreigners. One of the best Korean-English dictionaries was edited by Samuel E. Martin and his associates in 1967, but uses a system of romanisation which is peculiar to Yale University, and has not caught on elsewhere. Some years ago the South Korean government approved for tourism a grotesquely ugly system of romanisation, which seems to be influenced by the old French romanisation of Chinese, and has unfortunately been adopted by several museums outside Korea. It uses voiced initial consonants, even when they are not pronounced as voiced; and it uses vowel clusters, in order to avoid diacritics: hence your example “Dong-gyeong” (for Tongkyǒng). Needless to say, yet another system of romanisation is used in North Korea.
I have a limited ability to read Korean, but I happen to have in my personal library two books on the history of Korean jūdō. One of these is Yi Hang-nae 李學來, Hanʼguk yudo paltal sa 韓國柔道發逹史 (Sŏul Tʻŭkpyŏlsi: Pogyŏng Munhwasa, 1990), and it is particularly well-informed. As you may know, a pioneer of jūdō in Korea was Uchida Ryōhei 内田良平 (1874-1937), who went there in 1906 in the entourage of Itō Hirobumi. Uchida’s jūdō seems to have been unorthodox, something of a cloud hangs over his head for other reasons. Including Uchida’s dōjō, between 1906 and 1910 some ten jūdō clubs were formed in Korea (Yi, p. 47, lists them), connected above all with the Y.M.C.A. or the police. Another early Japanese teacher was Kimotsukushi Munetsugu 奇付宗次, a Kōdōkan yondan; and the names are recorded of eight Koreans who were enrolled at the Kōdōkan between 1901 and 1903 (Yi, p. 37). From the little I have read, it seems that none of these early clubs was affiliated officially with the Kōdōkan.
In 1918, however, the Chinmuhwi 振武會 (진무회), an organisation set up in 1916 with young dan holders, was inaugurated as the Korean branch of the Kōdōkan (講道館朝鮮支部). According to Kanō Sensei Denki Hensankai 嘉納先生伝記編纂会, ed., Kanō Jigorō 嘉納治五郎 (Tōkyō: Kōdōkan, 1977), p. 697, the visit to Korea by Kanō Jigorō to which you refer took place in October 1918; and a note in Matsumoto Yoshizō 松本芳三, ed., (Shashin zusetsu) Jūdō hyakunen no rekishi (写真図説) 柔道百年の歴史 (Tōkyō: Kōdansha, 1970), p. 273, adds that Kanō was present at this ceremony in Keijō 京城 (i.e. Sǒul) on the 6th of the month. I have not found any mention of Shinoda Jisaku: what is your source?
I can add another detail which has been overlooked. It happens that in 1918 a younger cousin, Kanō Tokutarō 嘉納徳太郎, was Deputy Governor of the Bank of Chōsen (created in 1909). Tokutarō had been closely involved in the affairs of the Kōdōkan since its earliest days, as himself a jūdōka and in a senior administrative capacity; as well as in other educational endeavours of Kanō Jigorō. In the photograph I have of him, in an album entitled Pictorial Chosen and Manchuria: Compiled in Commemoration of the Decennial of the Bank of Chosen (Seoul, October 1919), p. 46, he looks both able and energetic, and bears a strong family resemblance to his cousin. It is reasonable to assume that he too would have been present on this occasion, and probably played an active part behind the scenes. Photographs of the Bank’s headquarters show an imposing stone structure, with four corner towers and a galleried banking hall.
I hope that the above goes some way towards answering your questions.
David Waterhouse
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