Son Byong-hi (; 8 April 1861 – 19 May 1922) was a Korean religious leader and independence activist. His religious name was Uiam. He was the third leader of Donghak, an indigenous religious movement founded from 1860 to 1864.
The founder of Donghak, Choe Je-u (religious name Su-un), and the second leader, Choe Sihyeong (religious name Haewol), had both been executed. Haewol, Son's mentor and predecessor, was involved in a peasant revolt in 1894 (referred to as the Donghak Peasant Revolution) and he was executed in connection with that in 1898. Thereafter, Son assumed leadership of Donghak but was forced to flee to Japan in March 1901. He was accompanied by his brother and chief lieutenant Yi Yong-gu.
In Japan, Son studied modern western ways which had been adopted by the Japanese after the Meiji Restoration. Up to that point Donghak was highly traditional, opposed to modernization and foreign intervention in Korea. Son pivoted from that world view by embracing modernization and accepting help from Japan to achieve that goal.
In 1902, Yi returned to Korea. At Son's direction, Yi founded political organizations which promoted modernization and aid to Japan during the Russo-Japanese War. Yi eventually went so far as to call for Japan to take over Korea's affairs.
In any event, after Japan forced Korea to become its protectorate, Son began to distance Donghak from Japanese affiliation. Son renamed Donghak as Cheondogyo (Ch'ŏndogyo, Religion of the Heavenly Way) on 1 December 1905. In September1906, he excommunicated Yi, who went on to form another branch of Donghak.
In 1910 Japan annexed Korea. As Japanese rule became more harsh, Koreans became restive. Finally on March 1, 1919, a mass demonstration calling for Korean independence was held. Cheondogyo, Christian and Buddhist religious leaders were at the forefront. Son read the Declaration of Independence, which he had been the first to sign. The demonstrations were brutally suppressed by the Japanese. Son was arrested, became ill in prison, was released, and died at home in 1922.
Biography
Early life Son was born on 8 April 1861 in Cheongju, Chungcheong Province, Joseon. He was of the . Son was the son of the concubine of a minor official, and as such he was ineligible for government office. However, he was able to attain an education. He was introduced to Donghak by his nephew who was a preacher and he joined in 1881 or 1882. He devoted himself to the new religion and was said to engage in long recitations of the Donghak incantation, the 21-character Jumun. He met Haewol and accompanied him on a 49-day retreat. His ties to Haewol were strengthened when Haewol married Son's sister after his first wife died.
The Cheondogyo website includes a history with this description of Son's dedication: "After joining Donghak, ESon Sungsa . . . trained [extensively] reading [reciting] the Twenty-One [Character] Incantation thirty thousand times a day. In addition to reading the incantation in this way he made . . . straw sandals every day in his spare time. He went to the five-day periodic market in Cheongju and sold these sandals. He continued this life for three years." After this period, Son became the student of Haewol and entered a life of devoted study.
Petition and 1894 rebellion Donghak's founder Su-un had been executed in 1864Weems, Benjamin. Reform, Rebellion And the Heavenly Way, The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1964. 12. for his teachings which were heretical from a Neo-Confucian perspective and his assumed association with Catholicism. However, by the early 1890s, Donghak had regained popularity particularly in Chungcheong and Jeolla provinces. Haewol was pressed to petition the government to exonerate Su-un and he complied. While the petition movement was initially peaceful it turned violent, despite Haewol's effort to prevent that from happening. This eventually led to a full scale revolt known as the Donghak Peasant Revolution. The Korean government requested aid from China to suppress the revolt which prompted Japan to deploy its army as well. Initially, only Donghak followers from the southern assembly, led by General Jeon Bongjun, participated while followers from the northern assembly held back. In the end, Haewol allowed his followers to join the rebels. but their joint force was defeated by the Japanese and Korean armies which had modern weapons. Jeon dispersed his rebel army on 28 November 1894, and was subsequently captured and executed. Donghak followers, particularly in the southern assembly were decimated. The northern assembly was less affected and Haewol managed to escape.
Cheondogyo sources indicate that Son participated in the petition movement and was a leader of northern assembly forces in the rebellion. Histories from Sijeongyo and outside sources make no mention of participation by Son. In any event, Son was in Haewol's inner circle following the rebellion.
Aftermath of the rebellion Following the rebel defeat, Haewol and the top leadership of Donghak remained on the run from government authorities. However, in 1895/96, Haewol began to rebuild the Donghak organization. He established a three person leadership group including Son called the Samam (the three "am", referring to the last character of their religious names). It was at this time Son was given his honorific religious name. The Samam were charged with administering Donghak (under Haewol's direction) with "one heart and mind".
Son and other leaders travel to the northern provinces of Hwanghae and Pyeongan provinces to proselytize. Yi Yong-gu, an associate of Son was a particularly successful missionary and Haewol rejoiced at the success there. From that time the northwest became the main center of Donghak. The expansion there continued up until the time of Haewol's death.
After living as a fugitive for 36 years, Haewol was becoming old and frail. He was captured by pursuing government troops in 1898 and executed. Cheondogyo sources claimed that Son was chosen by Haewol to become the next leader. Sijeongyo sources claimed that Kim Yon-guk (another member of the Samam) was destined to be the leader. The third member of the Samam had been arrested and executed. In any event, after Kim was arrested Son emerged as the recognized leader of Donghak.
Refuge in Japan
In March 1901, Son, his brother and Yi Yong-gu, fled to Japan. Son used an assumed name to avoid arrest. He had considered going to the United States but decided on Japan as the best place to learn of modern western culture while remaining close enough to Korea to monitor developments there and to maintain control of Donghak. His primary aim was to learn modern ways which seemed to give western nations and Japan their power. He hoped to modernize Donghak and in so doing Donghak could help to modernize and strengthen the Korean nation. He went back to Korea briefly and returned to Japan with 24 students who studied Japanese language and trained in modern ways. Many additional students came later.
While in Japan, he mingled with former leaders of the Gabo Reformist cabinet who must have helped him develop his reformist ideas. This was a dramatic reversal from the sentiments of General Jeon Bongjun, who had cursed Gabo reformists as pro-Japanese "traitors" before he was executed. Son was even able to convert some of these Gabo reformists to Donghak.
Yi was sent back to Korea in 1902 and became the chief liaison between Son and Donghak followers in Korea. At Son's direction he founded Jungniphoe (Chungniphoe "neutrality society"), a political organization which was later reorganized as the Jinbohoe (Chinbohoe "progressive society"). This coordinated series of activities was known as the . A captured letter written by Yi described eight founding principles for Jinbohoe:
The name of the organization is to be the Jinbohoe. The organization is to be started from this date (fifth day of the eighth month, 1904). Protect [national] independence. Give opinions on government reform. Help improve people's livelihood and productivity. Bring [public] finances into order. Assist the allied country's military (i.e., Japan). Members must cut their hair.
Mass hair cutting ceremonies were one of the most notable signs of the organization of the Jinbohoe. The first official Cheondogyo history, Pongyo Yoksa, written in 1912, states that the cutting of hair was seen by Son as a sign that Korea and Donghak were becoming part of the contemporary world. Around 160,000 people participated in one of these events. Many Jinbohoe members wore black, Western-style clothes, in apparent emulation of Japanese practice. The hair cutting was a significant departure from Neo-Confucian ideals because: "one's body, including the hair and skin, came from one's parents, and therefore should not be hurt or damaged. Hurting one's body meant hurting one's parents' bones and flesh; therefore, it was regarded as disrespect towards parents." In Joseon Korean, men tied their hair in a topknot when they married, and it became a symbol of manhood. Furthermore, earlier forced haircutting of Koreans, including the King Gojong, by the Japanese was considered a major humiliation.
As noted above one of the founding principles of Jinbohoe was to aid Japan. In 1903, a plan was devised for driving the pro-Russian faction from the Korean government. Donghak members would lead Japanese soldiers who would enter Korea disguised as merchants. Donghak and Japanese elements would then make a coordinated attack on Seoul. Son's brother met with a Japanese general, the deputy chief of staff, and received enthusiastic support for the idea. However, the plan was abandoned before it could be carried out when the brother and general died unexpectedly. Carl Young made the following comment about this episode:
In 1903, Son synthesized his new reform ideas in two essays called Samjonnon (The theory of the three wars), and Myongnijon (The essay for explaining the doctrine). These were incorporated into the Donghak/Cheondogyo canon. Myongnijon includes the concept that Donghak "should fight on two frontiers, the political and the moral. This struggle should begin with moral enlightenment of the people in Donghak doctrine. He also stressed the importance of a national religion: "Each country in the world safeguards religious enlightenment, protects its people and teaches them an occupation, making their countries as safe as the Tai Mountains [in China]"
Samjonnon proposed three means for attaining a stronger nation: religion, the military and industrialization. As summarized by Yumi Moon: "Even if the people could not immediately overcome the military strength of the West, they could compete with the West by pursuing moral superiority and by accumulating economic power by industrialization." Son viewed this struggle as a pan-Asian effort that was expressed through the use of terms such as "We Asians" and "Our Asian Land". When the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) broke out, Son contributed 10,000 won to the Japanese government to aid its war efforts. A Cheondogyo history notes: "that this money was a token of "his support for the yellow race fighting to expel the white race."