본 연구는 이마무라 도모의 『조선풍속집』에 나타나는 조선 풍속의 내용을 살펴보았다. 그가 조선 사회, 그 중에서도 특히 가족과 관련된 조선의 풍속을 재구성하는 방식에 주목하였다. 이마무라는 경찰 관료이자 동시에 조선 풍속 연구가였다. 『조선풍속집』에 실린 글들이 직업에서 오는 필요성에 의해 연구되었다는 점에서 경찰 관료라는 신분, 일본의 근대 교육체계에 의해 훈련받은 지식인이라는 점 등, 이마무라의 신분적 정체성은 그가 조선의 풍속을 인식하는데 결정적인 영향을 미쳤다. 여기에서 일본적인 것으로 전유된 서구문명론은 일본의 관료나 지식인들이 조선 사회의 풍속이나 관습을 바라보는 주요한 인식틀이었다. 이들에게 문명화라는 것은 인격적 평등, 합리성 등의 용어로 표현되었다. 그런 그에게 조선의 풍속은 문명화의 논리에 반하는 내용들로 구성되어 있었다. 따라서 조선의 풍속은 폭력이자 폐풍이고, 그리고 미신이었다. 더욱이 일본의 문명론자들이 미신타파를 주장할 때 사용하는 논리인 합리주의라는 사고방식에 의해 문명에 반하는 풍속은 ‘개량’이나 ‘교정’으로 귀결될 수밖에 없었다. 이것이 바로 문명개화이자 문명화의 사명이었기 때문이다. 결국 이마무라의 『조선풍속집』은 문명화의 사명으로 무장한 식민지 조선의 일본인 경찰 관료이자 일본 지식인의 시선에 포착된 ‘조선의 풍속’이었고, 이마무라의 지식에 의해 재구성된 ‘조선의 풍속’이었던 것이다.

My aim in this article is to show how the Korean family customs in the early-modern era were reconstructed in Imamura Tomo‘s A Collection of the Korean Customs(『朝鮮風俗集』), who was Japanese police official and researcher of the Korean manners and customs. As a Japanese intellectual and police official, his social status had influenced himself decisively on how to recognize the Korean manners and customs. More importantly, the image of the Korean customs reconstructed by Imamura Tomo was the results of his westernized gaze, which assumed modern western civilization as universal. In his eye, the Korean manners and customs showed that Korea had been retrogressive to the modern age. The Korean customs looked violent, superstitious, and not polished. Therefore, persisting the abolition of superstition, the 'rational' idea of Japanese colonialist on the Korean customs was to reform and revise the customs in order to 'civilize.' Finally, I argue, the Korean customs represented in A Collection of the Korean Customs was what Imamura Tomo, as a Japanese colonialist and an intellectual, had tried to reconstruct for civilization project.

My aim in this article is to show how the Korean family customs in the early-modern era were reconstructed in Imamura Tomo‘s A Collection of the Korean Customs(『朝鮮風俗集』), who was Japanese police official and researcher of the Korean manners and customs. As a Japanese intellectual and police official, his social status had influenced himself decisively on how to recognize the Korean manners and customs. More importantly, the image of the Korean customs reconstructed by Imamura Tomo was the results of his westernized gaze, which assumed modern western civilization as universal. In his eye, the Korean manners and customs showed that Korea had been retrogressive to the modern age. The Korean customs looked violent, superstitious, and not polished. Therefore, persisting the abolition of superstition, the 'rational' idea of Japanese colonialist on the Korean customs was to reform and revise the customs in order to 'civilize.' Finally, I argue, the Korean customs represented in A Collection of the Korean Customs was what Imamura Tomo, as a Japanese colonialist and an intellectual, had tried to reconstruct for civilization project.

Imamura Tomo, Collection of the Korean Customs, Korean manners and customs, family, civilization