일제강점기 보통학교용 역사교과서 개정 편찬에 관한 고찰

Consideration of the Revised Edition of the History Textbook for Primary Schools during the Japanese Occupation of Korea

The present article analyzes the contents of the history textbook published by the Japanese Government General of Korea which were used at primary schools during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Japan did not teach history at primary schools after the occupation. Instead, it taught the basics of the Japanese history in Japanese. But the country witnessed the power of Chosun through 1919 (Samil) Independence Movement, and then changed the existing military government to the so called cultural politics. In accordance with these changes, Japan extended the total school years for Chosun children to six years from four years. Therefore, the subject of history was taught to Chosun children for two hours per week from the fifth grade. Since the Japanese Government General of Korea did not prepare for the unexpected changes of the education system, it only adopted the history textbook edited by the Japanese Board of Education and published a supplementary textbook briefly explaining only relational histories relating to Chosun. The Japanese Government General of Korea legally published the history textbook to be used at primary schools since 1922. Until 1938, the history textbook published by the Japanese Government General of Korea was written on the basis of the history textbook published by the Japanese Board of Education. The Chosun’s real history was only discussed as supplementary information. However, in “Elementary History” published in 1940 and used by both Chosun and Japanese children, the fifth grade courses were revised, and the history courses of the sixth grade were more substantiated. On the contrary, Japanese education adopted the chronological order and names in an old fashioned way, instead of keywords and reviews. The history textbook published by the Japanese Government‐General of Korea after “Primary School Law” had the purpose of training the loyal Japanese citizens in order to lead the Pacific War to victory. Ironically, the history textbook for Chosun children published by the Japanese Government General of Korea overemphasized stronger ideologies than the history textbook for Japanese children published by the Japanese Board of Education.