By Andrei Lankov
Tsushima (Daemado) Island, lying halfway between Korea and Japan, is increasingly popular with Korean tourists these days. Visitors go for a few days, and one of the sites they are always shown is a stone monument in a tiny park, near the ruins of the castle once occupied by the semi-independent rulers of the island.
This monument was erected in 1932 to commemorate the then recent marriage of Princess Deokhye, the daughter of the Korean King Gojong, and So Takeyuki, the heir to the So clan whose ancestors had ruled Tsushima Island for almost seven centuries.
When the monument was built, the marriage of Princess Deokhye and So Takeyuki was officially heralded as an embodiment of the ``alliance” and ``unity” between Korea and Japan. However, there was something the Japanese side was not very willing to admit: like the union between Korean and Japan, the union of this young man and woman was involuntary in nature.
Recently, the sad fate of Princess Tokhye has been the topic of a popular theater play and also a TV drama, but otherwise surprisingly few publications deal with the life of the last princess of the Yi dynasty.
King Gojong was the last king of the Yi dynasty to truly rule the country (his son was an unwilling puppet). Gojong had nine sons and four daughters, born by nine of his numerous wives and concubines. However, in those days of high infant mortality only three sons and two daughters survived to adulthood.
Princess Deokhye was the youngest child of aging king; she was born in 1912 to Concubine Jong (Gojong had more children later, but none of them survived into adulthood). By that time, Korea had become a Japanese colony, and the powerless Gojong led a secluded life in his palace. He devoted his energies to his family, and the daughter born when he was in his 60s, was much beloved by him.
In 1925 the Japanese authorities demanded that Princess Deokhye, then 13 years old, be sent to Japan. This was a part of their approach to the former Korean dynasty. The colonial authorities were afraid that the Yi dynasty could become a locus for the anti-colonial movement, and the Japanese kept the ex-royalty under close supervision while also providing for them quite well.
The obligatory study in Japan was an important part of their policy: it was assumed that the Korean princes and princesses would become Japanized. The forced intermarriages with the Japanese aristocracy was another application of the same strategy. Yi Eun, Princess Deokhye’s half brother and potential heir to the throne (better known under his title of Yeongchinwang), was married to a Japanese princess as well _ happily, as it turned out.
The arrival in Japan was a shock to the young princess _ all of a sudden, the teenage girl found herself in a strange country, without anyone to rely on. This was probably when her mental health was seriously shaken for the first time. Soon afterwards, she was told to prepare for marriage. Her husband was chosen by the bureaucrats of the Japanese imperial households.
Their choice, as we know, was So Takeyuki. He was not a member of the imperial household, but merely a descendant of a daimyo family. Before the Meiji government abolished feudalism in a series of reforms in the early 1870s, about 250 hereditary lords, known as daimyo, reigned in their autonomous fiefs. The So clan of Tsushima was one of the most ancient _ but by no means the most powerful or influential _ of these families. From around 1300 this clan had ruled Tsushima Island, midway between Japan and Korea.
There was a particular reason why the colonial strategists decided that So Takeyuki, the descendant of the So family, would make a suitable marriage partner for the princess. For centuries, relations with Korea were handled largely by the Tsushima daimyos who acted as representatives of the Japanese central authorities.
Thus, a Korean princess seemed to be a logical choice. Furthermore, this marriage also could demonstrate to Korean royalty their proper place: not quite the same as the Imperial household, but rather on the same level as the local Japanese aristocracy, as former rulers of a semi-independent fiefdom, now under the control of Tokyo.
In the few Korean publications to mention the story, So Takeyuki, the husband of Princess Deokhye, is sometimes presented in rather unfavorable light, as the person largely responsible for the eventual breakdown of the marriage. It is an open question whether this was indeed the case.
So Takeyuki is remembered as a good painter, author of numerous poems (some of which were dedicated to his Korean wife and their daughter) and, last but not least, as a gifted and popular teacher. However, their marriage was under severe strain. Neither side really wanted it, and it would have been difficult to make it work, even under better conditions.
From the beginning, the couple faced serious financial troubles. The ancient title did not mean that So Takeyuki was rich. Most great feudal families did not survive the reforms in good shape, and the compensation they received from the government was not sufficient to live in style.
Early in their marriage, Princess Deokhye began to develop mental problems. The final blow was the loss of her only child, a daughter who died in her 20s. In 1955, the princess and So Takeyuki divorced. In those days, both in Korea and Japan, divorce was a rare exception, at least among the elite, so the news came as a shock. In 1962 Princess Deokhye left Japan where she had spent the post-war decades. The new Korean government was finally ready to accept ex-royalty in Seoul.
Princess Deokhye died, childless and torn by her sickness, in 1989. She outlived all her brothers and sisters. The fate of her brother, Yi Eun, was similar in many regards _ forced marriage, long years of sickness before death. There were important differences as well.
Prof. Andrei Lankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and now teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul.