The Adventures of a Japanese Monk in Colonial Korea

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Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 36/1: 125–165

© 2009 Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture

Hwansoo Kim

The Adventures of a Japanese Monk in Colonial Korea

Sōma Shōei’s Zen Training with Korean Masters 

The Japanese Buddhist view of Korean Buddhism from 1877 to 1945 abounded

with colonialist and imperialistic rhetoric. Japanese Buddhist missionaries

declared that Korean Buddhism should be reformed and revitalized under

their guidance. With this mindset, most Japanese Buddhists in colonial Korea

did not find much in Korean Buddhism that was useful or worth learning

about—a paternalistic approach that Korean monks found off-putting and

that therefore undermined potential cooperation. This paper introduces an

unusual Japanese priest who spent six years practicing Sŏn (Jp. Zen) in Korean

monasteries. Sōma Shōei’s identity as an unsui (itinerant monk)—a monastic class shared across the Buddhisms of East Asia—enabled him to develop

friendships with Korean Sŏn masters and fellow practitioners, relationships

that were framed less by colonialist or nationalist discourse than by respect,

empathy, and sincerity. This article presents Sōma’s firsthand experience with

Korean monasticism based on essays he wrote for a Japanese Buddhist journal.

Sōma’s case reveals how religious identity operates within and also beyond the

colonial context. Sōma’s exceptionalism also provides a contrast to the views of

his colleagues, which helps reveal greater complexity in the ways that Japanese

Buddhists thought about Korean Buddhism.