[Market Economy Guide] The Path of Heungseon Daewongun, the Path of Fukuzawa Yukichi

Heungseon and Fukuzawa, Who Changed the History of Joseon and Japan

…The Closed-Door Policy and the Open-Door Policy Divided the Fate of Nations

“When the Western barbarians invade, not fighting them is tantamount to advocating peace with them, and advocating peace with them is tantamount to selling out the country.”

—Inscription on the Stele Rejecting Harmony, erected after the 1871 Shinmiyangyo

When people think of Heungseon Daewongun, the images that come to mind are only rather old-fashioned things such as the Stele Rejecting Harmony, the closed-door policy, and “upholding orthodoxy and rejecting heterodoxy.” That is not exactly untrue, but neither do such images fully explain who Heungseon Daewongun was.

The Philosophy of Heungseon Daewongun

For example, it is not widely known that Heungseon Daewongun studied under Chusa Kim Jeong-hui, a scholar of Silhak famed in late Joseon. Yet the series of reform policies he carried out—including the implementation of the hopo system, the abolition of seowon, the abolition of the hwangok system and introduction of the sachang system, and the abolition of the Bibyeonsa with the restoration of the Uijeongbu—were in large part influenced by Chusa’s Silhak thought, which pursued practical learning and the search for truth from facts.

The reason Heungseon Daewongun, who showed himself to be an outstanding reform-minded statesman in domestic affairs, came to be seen as an old man out of touch with the world was, after all, his hard-line closed-door policy. Even here, however, there is at least some room for extenuation: Joseon had in fact maintained national seclusion as state policy for all 500 years of its existence, so it is somewhat unfair that Heungseon Daewongun came to be known as though he alone were the very symbol of isolationism.

That said, the failed attempt by the German Oppert to rob the tomb of Namyeongun, Heungseon Daewongun’s father, reportedly gave him a considerable shock and had a profound influence on his policy of seclusion. Through the General Sherman incident, the Byeonginyangyo, and the Shinmiyangyo, Joseon became an extremely closed society.

The Philosophy of Fukuzawa Yukichi

While Heungseon Daewongun’s policy of seclusion held sway over Joseon, Japan was moving in a different direction. The Edo shogunate collapsed, and a sweeping transformation took place as the state was remade into a modern nation centered on the emperor. The Meiji Restoration, named after the era name adopted in 1868, completely transformed Japan’s politics, economy, and society. And behind it stood the philosopher Fukuzawa Yukichi, who provided the ideological foundation for the Restoration.

Fifteen years younger than Heungseon Daewongun, Fukuzawa was born the son of a low-ranking samurai. He is said to have been deeply dissatisfied with a class society in which talent alone could not bring success. In that respect, perhaps he was bound to walk a different path from Heungseon Daewongun, who had been born into royalty.

During the period of enlightenment and opening, there were only a few paths to advancement for someone from a humble family, but fortunately Fukuzawa appears to have had a talent for foreign languages. He earned the opportunity, as a low-ranking interpreter for the shogunate, to tour Europe and the United States, and this reportedly changed the course of his life.

As an intellectual of the enlightenment period, Fukuzawa devoted himself to journalism and education after traveling through Europe and the United States. He was also the founder of Keio University, today one of Japan’s leading prestigious universities, and of the influential newspaper Sankei Shimbun. In An Encouragement of Learning, still widely read by Japanese people today, he argued that “Heaven does not create one man above another, nor one man below another,” and that all people are equal and independent human beings, each possessing inviolable rights.

His political outlook sought reform through accepting Western institutions and culture instead of retaining shogunal politics. His thought had a major influence not only on the Meiji Restoration but also on the Gapsin Coup in Joseon. Kim Ok-gyun, a central figure of the Enlightenment faction, revered Fukuzawa as a master, calling him a man like an immortal sage; judging from the fact that Fukuzawa also thought highly of Kim Ok-gyun, the two were presumably close on a personal level as well.

The Closed Door Within

After Heungseon Daewongun fell from power, Joseon opened the country by concluding the Treaty of Ganghwa with Japan, but it could not reverse the fate of a country that had already begun to walk the road to ruin. Even after the opening of the ports, Heungseon Daewongun remained involved in politics for more than 20 years as a senior statesman, but the results were for the most part not good.

Reform and openness were matters of life and death for both Joseon and Japan at the time. In a situation where the initiative in world history had already passed to the Western great powers, whether to open up or not was no longer a matter of choice, yet even Heungseon Daewongun, an outstanding reform politician, failed to perceive this. By contrast, the figure who helped achieve Japan’s modernization was a thinker from a low-ranking samurai family. The road to an open and liberal society may perhaps have to begin with opening the closed doors within our own society first.

■ Please remember

After Heungseon Daewongun fell from power, Joseon opened the country by concluding the Treaty of Ganghwa with Japan, but it could not reverse the fate of a country that had already begun to walk the road to ruin. Even after the opening of the ports, Heungseon Daewongun remained involved in politics for more than 20 years as a senior statesman, but the results were for the most part not good.

Sung-no Choi, President, Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: [시장경제 길라잡이] 흥선대원군의 길, 후쿠자와 유키치의 길

Author: Sung-no Choi

Date: 2020-04-27

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=column&pn=8&idx=22581