In 1938, an Imperial Japanese ideologue took over Chungshin Girls’ High School in Seoul and replaced prayers with moments of silence for the Imperial military, replaced bible readings with Imperial vows, and scrubbed foreigners from school portraits
Chungshin (정신) Girls’ High School is a private school in Seoul that was founded by Dr. Horace Underwood, an American missionary who also founded Yeonhui College, the predecessor of Yonsei University. In 1938, the American principal of the school was removed and replaced with an Imperial Japanese ideologue, who proceeded to dechristianize the school, replacing morning prayers with moments of silence for the Imperial Japanese military, and replacing bible readings with Imperial Japanese vows. In 1942, he also removed the American principals and teachers from the school portraits.
The Imperial Japanese vow (皇国臣民ノ誓詞), which the high school girls were forced to recite instead of the usual bible readings, was promulgated throughout Korea on October 2, 1937. It was actually drafted by a Korean collaborator named Lee Gag-jong (李覺鐘）, and then finalized by then Governor of occupied Korea, Minami Jiro. The vow is as follows.
- 私共は、大日本帝国の臣民であります。
- 私共は、心を合わせて天皇陛下に忠義を尽します。
- 私共は、忍苦鍛錬して立派な強い国民となります。
- 我等は皇国臣民なり、忠誠以て君国に報ぜん。
- 我等皇国臣民は互に信愛協力し、以て団結を固くせん。
- 我等皇国臣民は忍苦鍛錬力を養い以て皇道を宣揚せん。
- We are subjects of the Great Empire of Japan.
- We are united in our hearts in our loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor.
- We will persevere and train ourselves to become a fine and strong people.
- We are subjects of the Imperial State, and we will repay the sovereign nation with loyalty.
- We, the subjects of the Imperial State, shall love and cooperate with each other, and thus solidify our unity.
- We, the subjects of the Imperial State, shall cultivate the power of endurance and discipline, and thereby proclaim the Imperial Way.
Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) February 5, 1942
Changing bible readings into Imperial Japanese vows
Seoul Chungshin Girls’ School to remove US influences
Principal Igaki says “Focus on education for Imperial Japanese subjects”
Seoul Chungshin Girls’ School in Hyehwa-dong, which used to be an American school having a history of 54 years since being established in the peninsula, had become a tool of the vicious Anglo-American religious invasion into East Asia, feeding off of the young people of the peninsula for many years as a girls’ school founded by the American missionary Underwood, the protagonist whose statue has already been removed from the garden of Yeonhui Specialized School.
This had been the concern of the school’s principal, Mr. Igaki Hao, ever since he followed in the footsteps of the previous principal, M.L. Smith, in 1938. The removal of the foreign teachers in the commemorative photos of the graduates displayed in the school is now finally underway.
In order to change the heavy religious atmosphere of the school which he encountered upon taking office, Principal Igaki replaced the morning prayers with moments of silence for the Imperial Japanese Military, and changed the bible readings into vows of Imperial Japanese subjects, so that Christianity could be deprived of its place, and so that he could reboot the school and switch all educational methods into those for raising up Imperial Japanese subjects.
For four years since then, he has been steadily building up on his accomplishments. As one of his last remaining tasks, Principal Igaki said that, given the current school culture, it would not be interesting to leave the arrogant appearance of the former principal Smith and other foreign teachers in the commemorative photos of the school’s graduates, as if they were a testament to the power of the past. With the progress of the Greater East Asia War and the spectacular fall of Singapore just around the corner, he decided to remove them from the commemorative photos.
In regards to this, the school principal acknowledged that, when graduates visited the school not so long ago, the fact that their former teachers had disappeared from their dear commemorative photos did not fail to evoke a certain sense of sentimentality among them. However, he emphasized that the US and Britain were now the great enemies of East Asia, and even though the teachers were once their benefactors, they were already people to be considered their enemies. For three days, with love and compassion and tears in his eyes, he called upon all of the graduates to deeply reflect upon the fact that these former teachers were no longer mentally necessary for them. He asked them to set aside the past in its entirety and understand the true meaning of their alma mater, which is based on the education of the Imperial Japanese people, and that he hopes that they will work together to guide younger generations of students.
(Transcription into modern Japanese orthography)
京城日報 1942年2月5日
聖書を誓詞に改め
米系を撤去する京城貞信女学校
井垣校長：皇民教育に重点
かつては米国系の学校として半島に設立され五十四年の歴史を有していた恵化町京城貞信女学校は、既に延禧専門校の庭から撤去された銅像の主人公、米国宣教師アンダーウッドが設立した女学校として幾多半島の子女階層に喰い入っては飽くことを知らぬ英米一流の悪辣な東洋宗教侵略の具となっていた。
これに対して同校校長井垣覇雄氏は、昭和十三年前校長米人MLスミスの跡を追って校長となって以来の懸案であった。同校内に掲げてある卒業生記念写真中の外人教師撤去方を、この度愈よ実行することとなった。
井垣校長は就任以来宗教色濃厚であった同校の弊風を改むるべく毎朝の礼拝を皇軍の黙祷にかえ、聖書を皇国臣民の誓詞に改めて先ずキリスト教に締め出しを喰わせると共に一切の教育法を皇国臣民の育成に切り替えて再発足を試みたのであった。
爾来四年間益々業績を上げ井垣校長は最後に残るたったの一つの仕事として同校卒業生の記念写真中に、依然として納まっている前校長スミス等の外人教員が昔の勢力を物語るような傲然たる様子をこのまま存置しておくことは、現在の校風から見ても面白からずとし大東亜戦の華々しい獅港陥落を目睫にして断然撤去を決意したのであった。
これに対して同校長は過去の卒業生が不日同校を訪れた際、懐かしい自分達の記念写真にかつては恩師であった人の姿が消え去っていることは、ある意味での感傷を呼び起さぬでもないが、今や米英は東亜の大敵であり、如何に恩師とはいえ、既に敵国人たる人達の姿はこの際、精神的にも不要であることを深く反省して、一切の過去を捨て潔く皇民教育の下にある母校の真意を了解して、ともに手を執って後輩指導に当ることと希望すると声涙とともに三日真情を尽くして卒業生一同に呼びかけた。
