조선총독부 판사, 노무라 초타로(野村調太郞)의 조선 사회 인식

Understanding on Colonial Joseon Society from the Perspective of Nomura Chotaro(野村調太郞), the Judge of Japanese Governor-General of Joseon : Focused on the Family System

This article idenfies Joseon’s family system by the detailed study on academic activities of Nomura Chotaro and the way he recognized the family system. Nomura Chotaro, as the judge of Japanese governor- general of Joseon, was a judicial colonial official and engaged in judical administration, especially on the family system. He was an academic researcher who published numbers of articles on the family law of Joseon as well. Therefore, it is obvious that his dual identity affected how he understood social customs of Joseon. Especially, he considered Joseon society as society which had followed confucian code of clan regulation. His identity of a legal scholar, however, forced him to re-interpret the social customs of Joseon from the perspective of Japanese modern law. Nomura construed the right of jesa(ancestor worship ritual) inheriance through legal principles and affected a judgement of the high court to deny the legal significance of Jesa inheritance. Furthermore, he was an orientalist and understood Joseon society from a standpoint of Euro- centrism. He argued that Joseon was a stagnant society running against the historical development, because the status system seemed to be organized by the logic of the right of Jesa inheritance. Moreover, he asserted that hoju(a head of family) system, implemented in the name of nae-seon(Japan-Joseon) assimilation policy, had lead the historical trans- formation of Joseon. In conclusion, the family system of Joseon Nomura figured out was a Japanese-translated version of Joseon society. It was a his own vision of Joseon, who trained himself as Japanese judge and armed with the knowledge of social customs of Joseon, as the judicial colonial official.