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The Images of Boys and Girls in Modern Japan and Korea

Erika Imada（Kyoto University）

1. Introduction

This report is intended to compare the images of “boys” and “girls” in modern-era

(prewar) Japan and Korea. In this report, I will use the Japanese terms “shonen” and “shojo”

to refer to the images of boys and girls, as they have a specific meaning as distinct from

simple “boy” and “girl.”

In pre-modern Japan, there was no such thing as “shonen” or “shojo.” As soon as

children were able to feed themselves and use the toilet themselves, they entered the world

of adults. This meant that there was no period between babyhood and adulthood. It was the

modern school educational system that created a period between the two. “The Educational

System Order” (「学制」) was promulgated in 1872, when primary schools were formed for

public education, and education was made compulsory. In other words, everyone in the

country started primary education at a set age. This system then created a “youth age,” a

special period during one’s life when one was excused from labour. Furthermore, with the

1879 “Education Order” (「教育令」), standard middle schools educated males and females

separately. Boys were, as a rule, meant to go on to middle schools (中学校), and girls to

girls' high schools (高等女学校). The children in their “shonen” or “shojo” youth years, or in

other words, the children going to primary and middle schools, were fitted into the categories

of “shonen” and “shojo” and given different images, by the magazines aimed at girls and

boys. In 1888 the first boys’ magazine in Japan, “Shonen-en” (『少年園』少年園) (Boys’

Garden, pub. Shonen-en) was published, and it was followed in 1902 by the first girls’

magazine, “Shojo-kai” (『少女界』金港堂書籍) (Girls’ World, pub. Kinkodo Shoseki). These

magazines spread the images of “shonen” and “shojo” (Imada, 2007).

So then, how were shonen and shojo periods formed in Korea, and how were the

images of boys and girls formed? In Korea, the office of the Resident General of Korea built

“basic elementary schools” (「普通学校」) in 1906. And in 1911 the Resident General

Headquarter of Chosun created the “First Chosun Educational Oridinance” (「第一次朝鮮教

育令」) and the “Basic Elementary Schools Regulations” (「普通学校規則」), which meant that

“basic elementary schools” were seen as primary education schools for public education.

However, “basic elementary schools” were not compulsory education. So that meant that

while the school education system was brought over by Japan, it was not the same as it was

in Japan. The first boys’ magazine in Korea, “Sonyeon” (『少年』新文館) (Boys, pub.

Sinmunkwan), was published in 1908, and in 1927 the first girls’ magazine, “Jangmi” (『薔薇』

薔薇社) (Rose, pub. Jangmisa) was published. “Sonyeon” was founded by a Korean who

had studied in Japan, Choe Nam-seon (崔南善), and printed using a press he had bought in

Japan. With this background, “Sonyeon” has been likened to the Japanese “Shonen Sekai”

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(『少年世界』博文館) (Boys’ World, pub. Hakubunkan) (Otake, 2008). However, when

compared with Japan, there were fewer magazines for girls and boys published in Korea. In

this way, while we can say that there were a lot of similar points in the Korean school

education system and the girls’ and boys’ magazines, there were also differences. Therefore

we can imagine that there were major similarities between the images of “shonen” and

“shojo” in Japan and Korea, but there were also differences. This report is designed to shed

some light on the similarities and differences in the images of “shonen” and “shojo” in Japan

and Korea.

The period covered by this report is from 1924 to 1931. In Japan, the urban structure of

Tokyo changed after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. And magazines for boys and girls

also changed a great deal. Furthermore, in Japan, boys’ magazines changed a great deal

again after the Manchurian Incident in 1931, with a lot of articles on the war. So that is why I

have selected the period from 1924 to 1931 to look at.

In addition, the boys’ and girls’ magazines that this report looks at are the following.

From Japan, I looked at 99 magazines for boys: “Shonen Sekai,” “Nihon Shonen” (『日本少

年』実業之日本社) (published by Jitsugyo-no-Nihonsha), “Shonen Kurabu” (『少年倶楽部』

大日本雄弁会) (published by Dai-Nippon Yuben-kai Kodansha). For girls, I looked at 242

magazines: “Shojo Sekai” ( 『 少 女 世界 』博 文 館 ) (published by Hakubunkan),

“Shojo-no-Tomo” (『少女の友』実業之日本社) (published by Jitsugyo-no-Nihonsha), “Shojo

Gaho” (『少女画報』東京社) (published by Tokyosha),and “Shojo Kurabu” (『少女倶楽部』

大日本雄弁会講談社 ) (published by Dai-Nippon Yuben-kai Kodansha). For Korean

magazines, since there were few girls’ and boys' magazines that were continually published

over a given number of years, I was only able to research “Shin-Sonyeon” (『新少年』新少

年社) (published by Shin-Sonyeonsa).

Finally, I would like to talk about how I analyzed the magazines. In this report, I analyze

the covers of the magazines for girls and boys. The reason for that is the most dramatic

representation of the imagery of boys and girls is shown on the cover.

2. Comparison of “Shonen” – Modern Japan and Korea

First, I will compare “shonen,” or boys, in modern Japan and Korea. Figures 1 and 2

show the frequency of depictions of “Western clothing” and “traditional clothing” on the

covers of the magazines. When we examine these graphs, we can see that boys’

magazines in Japan and boys’ magazines in Korea both showed boys in Western clothing

much more so than in traditional clothing. And when we compare boys’ magazines from both

countries, we can say that girls’ magazines in Japan show girls in traditional outfits more

than boys’ magazines in Japan and Korea. Figure 3 shows the frequency of boys and girls

showing their teeth in smiles. According to this graph, Japanese girls’ magazines often

showed girls showing their teeth in smiles on the covers. However, when we compare them,

we see that both Japanese and Korean boys’ magazines seldom depicted boys showing

their teeth in smiles on the covers. In other words, according to the results of figures 1, 2,

and 3, the “shonen” on the covers of Japanese and Korean boys’ magazines were similar.

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However, there are differences in the “shonen” imagery presented in both countries.

Figures 4, 5, and 6 show the frequency of actions taken by boys and girls. When we look at

these graphs, we can see that overall, there were more occasions when girls were shown in

“inactive play / still” poses. However, the boys’ magazines from Japan and Korea were not

using “inactive play / still” poses, but “study / art activities” and “active play / sports” poses.

These results show that it was considered more desirable to have “shonen” (boys), more

than “shojo” (girls), shown doing things like studying, art, or sports. However, there are

differences in the depictions of boys in Japan and Korea. Japanese boys were often drawn

in “war / home-front defence” poses, but Korean boys were never shown in these poses.

Moreover, Korean boys were shown in “labour” poses, but Japanese boys were almost

never shown in similar poses. When we examine these results, we can see that Japanese

boys were expected to work for “war,” and Korean boys for “labour.” In addition, Figure 7

shows the frequency of “national symbols.” National symbols are things like national flags or

crests. According to this graph, boys’ magazines in Japan frequently brought in national

symbols in their cover illustrations. However, the cover illustrations for girls’ magazines in

Japan had almost no depictions of national symbols. And boys’ magazines from Korea did

not have even a single depiction of a national symbol. In Japan, by being depicted with

national symbols, boys were seen as people who would eventually grow up to shoulder the

national destiny. And in order for them to become these people, we can see how they were

required to study hard, master high levels of artistic ability, improve their abilities through

sports, and contribute to the war. However, in Korea, depicting boys associated with national

symbols, and in particular associating them with war, was avoided.

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3. Comparison of “Shojo” – Modern Japan and Korea

Second, I will compare “shojo,” or girls, in modern Japan and Korea. However, in this

report I have not been able to analyse girls’ magazines in Korea. The reason for that is

because while in Japan multiple publishers produced a wide variety of girls’ magazines, this

was not the case in Korea. In Korea, the only girls’ magazine we know of published during

this time period was “Jangmi,” or “Rose.” So what sort of magazines were girls reading? In

fact, we can know that both girls and boys were reading boys’ magazines. The reason for

this was that “boys’” magazines in Korea also depicted girls along with boys, and, along with

serialized novels for boys, also contained novels for girls. Figures 8 and 9 show the

frequency of girls or boys being paired with the same sex and age on the covers and how

often they were paired with the opposite sex. According to these, in Japanese magazines for

boys and girls, even if people the same age of the same sex were shown, it was very rare to

show two the same age but opposite sexes. Yet in Korea this was quite common indeed. In

other words, girls were depicted along with boys. This is worth noting as the largest

difference between children’s magazines in the two countries. That is, in Korea, we can say

that girls were included in the “shonen” category. In Japan, too, until the category of “shojo”

spread through boys’ and girls’ magazines, both boys and girls were included in the

category of “shonen” (Imafa, 2007). For example, in Shimazaki Toson’s “The Broken

Commandment” (島崎藤村、『破戒』) (“Hakai,” 1906), there is the phrase “shonen (young

boys and girls) were now hurrying towards school,” with the word “shonen” applied to both

sexes.

So why were both girls and boys included in the category of "shonen” in Korea? In Korea

during this period there was only a tiny percentage girls going to primary and middle schools,

or in other words, girls in that period of their lives when they were excused from labour.

Therefore there were few readers for girls’ magazines. In other words, there were not many

girls to fit into the category of “shojo.” The “basic elementary school” attendance rates for

boys in Korea was around 5% in the 1910s, and over 25% in the late 1920s. However, the

attendance rates for girls were less than 1% in the 1910s and even the late 1920s were

stagnant at a bit over 5% (Kim, 2005). In Japan, the primary school attendance rates for

boys in 1911 was 98.8% and 97.5% for girls (Imada, 2007).

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4. Anti-School Culture

In addition, after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, girls’ magazines in Japan started to

carry idealized imagery of artists rather than the previous “good wife and wise mother” (「良

妻賢母」) that the girls’ higher schools promoted as an ideal. That is to say, the “shojo” in

Japan were an “anti-school” culture. For example, the editors of “Shojo no Tomo“ were

aware that girls who contributed material to that magazine’s readers' column were called

“bad girls” (「不良少女」) by their schools and criticised by those around them (Imada, 2007).

Looking at Figure 6, we can see that from 1924, depictions of “inactive play / still” poses on

magazine covers decreased and depictions of “study / art activities” and “active play /

sports” poses increased. In other words, the image of “shojo” was changing to doing study,

art, and sports. And these images of girls were connected with the image of women as

artists. That is, “shojo” in Japanese girls’ magazines changed from the image of girls

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connected with the “good wife and wise mother” image of women to one connected with the

artist image of women. However, the “shojo” on the cover of “Shin-Sonyeon” were not

images of girls studying, playing sports, or being artists. The ideal image of women in “basic

elementary schools” was, in Korea, that of the “good wife and wise mother” (「賢母良妻」).

The Korean “good wife and wise mother” image of women emphasized the roles of the

“wife” and the “mother,” which was the same as in Japan. In particular, from 1925, criticism

of images of women as “new women” (「新女性」), designed to help liberate them, arose in

female education theory, and the image of the “good wife and wise mother” started to be

glorified (Kim, 2005). In other words, the “shojo” in Korea’s “Shin-Sonyeon” were not in

contrast to the image of “good wife and wise mother” of the “basic elementary schools.”

5. Conclusion

In this report, I have looked what sort of images of “shonen” were depicted on the

covers of boys’ magazines in Japan, what images of “shojo" were depicted on the covers of

girls’ magazines in Japan, and what images of “shonen” and “shojo” were depicted on the

covers of boys’ magazines in Korea.

First, we have seen that there were some common areas in “shonen“ in both Japan and

Korea. The “shonen” of both countries were dressed in Western clothing rather than

traditional clothing, and were depicted studying, playing sports, and creating art. However,

Japanese “shonen” were also additionally depicted as taking part in wars. The Japanese

boys’ magazines also desired boys who would grow up to be good nations.

Second, the depictions of “shonen” and “shojo” in Japan were done separately, but in

Korea, girls and boys were both included under “shonen.” In other words, “shojo” in Korea

did not yet have a clear image. And in Japan, “shojo” were, from 1924, depicted in

associations with the image of women as artists rather than the “good wife and wise mother”

ideal that the girls’ higher schools promoted. That is to say, the “shojo” in Japan were an

“anti-school” culture. However, the “shojo” in Korea were depicted associated with the

“good wife and wise mother” that the Korean “basic elementary schools” promoted.

Therefore, the Korean “shojo” was not an “anti-school” culture.

Works cited

IMADA Erika, A Social History of the “Shojo” (Shojo no shakai-shi), Keiso Shobo, 2007

KIM Puja, Education and Gender in Colonial Korea: Authority relationships dealing with

school attendance or non-attendance (Shokuminchi-ki Chosen no kyouiku to jendaa:

Shuugaku wo meguru kenryoku kankei) Seori-shobo, 2005

OTAKE Kiyomi, Colonial Korea and Children’s Culture: A study of children’s culture in

modern Japan and Korea and literary relationship history (Shokuminchi Chosen to jidou

bunka: Kindai Nikkan jidou bunka / bungaku kankei-shi) Shakai Hyoron-sha, 2008.