일제 강점기 한국과 일본에서의 『삼국지연의』연재의 의미

Among the serialized versions of Romance of the Three Kingdoms (hereafter, Romance) published during the Japanese colonial era, Eiji Yoshikawa’s version displayed the most alteration, which was done to promote the understanding of China and the war against China in the period of Second Sino-Japanese War. When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out, Yoshikawa visited China as a war correspondent and, afterwards, started serializing Romance in Jugaisyokyo Sinpo. This novel was simultaneously published in Kyungsung Ilbo, which was the government gazette of the Government General of Korea during the Japanese occupation. During this period, various translations of Romance appeared in Japan, and this raises the suspicion that there was some other motivation to this phenomenon other than providing simple reading pleasure to the readers. In fact, “wartime editions” were sold in Japanese bookstores at this time, and the Chinese Classics were translated as the means of which to provide better understanding of China. Romance was a particularly popular choice, since the battle situations, place names and characters often overlapped with the reality. Yoshikawa even created new scenes by inserting phrases or conversations that did not appear in the original text. The beginning part where Liu Bei got his precious tea, which he was bringing for his mother, and noted sword robbed by the Yellow Turbans was in fact Yoshikawa’s creation. Tea, here, is the symbol of filial piety and sword the loyalty; Liu Bei’s mother tells him the origin of the sword and emphasizes to Liu Bei that he shares the royal lineage of the emperor who unified China. When this anecdote was read in the context of Second Sino-Japanese War, it seems like an encouragement to Japanese people to participate in the war. On the other hand, serialization of Romance in Korea displayed a completely different mode from its serialization in Japan. Serialization of Romance by Han Yong-un, which was contemporaneous with that by Yoshikawa, in fact, reflected Korea’s longing for a hero, along with the motivation to arouse national consciousness and the spirit of resistance. For the original text upon which he based his translations, he chose the version with the commentary by Mao Zong Gang, which underscored the legitimacy of Shu Han to arouse national consciousness in relation to Korea’s historical situation and his conscious authorship. That is, sympathetic view towards Shu Han reflected in Romance stressed the significance of legitimacy and nationalism. China’s constant suffering from the invasions of nomadic tribes expressed in Romance spoke to Koreans under colonial rule and the emphasis on the legitimacy of Shu Han provided them with consolation.