미래의 <국민>과 <공민>사이 -1915년 청년단체 훈령의 청년상-

Between Future Nation (kokumin) and Citizen (komin): The Images of Youth Suggested in the 1915 Directive on Youth Organizations

This paper aims at examining the images of the Youth suggested in the 1915 directive on the guiding of the youth organizations delivered by the Home Mininstry and the Ministry of Education. It also look at the official letter called the standard on the establishment of the youth organizations delivered by the deputy ministers of the Home Ministry and the Minstry of Education on the same day. The government policy on youth targeted the youth group aged over 12 to 13 years old who graduated from primary schools but gave up advancing to the middle schools. The government policy suggested in the directive aimed at nurturing healthy nation and good citizen This paper tries to explain why the Japanese government used both nation and citizen in the directive describing the desirable images of the youth. The First World War caused a fundamental change in the nature of war and soldiers and the outburst of social demand of the people. The youth organizations appeared after the Russo-Japanese War began to participate in the local politics around this time. The Japanese government needed to respond to these changes in the Japanese society. The Ministry of Education wanted to educate the youth group who remained in the rural areas by giving up advancing to the middle schools. The Japanese Army paid a special attention to this youth group after witnessing the important role played by the European youth group in the coming of totalitarian wars during the First World War. They found the future nation and soldiers in them. The 1915 directive could be designed to cope with these social changes.