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At the final stage of the Japanese occupation period, Japanese colonial policy focused on turning Koreans into “loyal and obedient subjects to the Japanese emperor” so as to mobilize them for forced conscription. As Japan sought to transform the Korean Peninsula into its logistics base and set up a wartime posture, it put much emphasis on eliminating the national consciousness and assimilating Koreans into Japanese imperial subjects. To that end, the Japanese Government General of Korea banned the use of the Korean language, forced Koreans to take Japanese names, and forced them to bow toward the Japanese imperial palace. Japan forced the local people under its colonial rule to bow in the direction of the Japanese imperial palace in far-off Tokyo as a manifestation of their allegiance to the Japanese emperor.
This material is a leaflet promoting bowing toward the Japanese imperial palace. It has the Japanese national flag at the upper center. Right below it are words that read “Let’s bow in the direction of the imperial palace every morning,” written vertically in Japanese on the right side and in Korean on the left side. There is a phrase at the bottom that says “Advocated by the Joseon National Spirit Mobilization League,” indicating the organization that produced the leaflet.
Japan required not just Japanese people, but also the local people in its colony to bow their heads in the direction of the imperial palace as part of measures for spiritual regeneration. This leaflet indicates that leaflets for such efforts had been widely distributed in those days. |
