Item number: M516

Year: AD 1937

Material: Bronze

Size: 36.6 x 33.3 x 3.2 mm

Weight: 16.55 g

Provenance: Quan Jian Zhai 2026

This is a commemorative medal from the 13th Chōsen Shrine Athletic Meeting.

The obverse depicts a shirtless man clad in a Greek-style robe, seated diagonally on stairs, resting his right hand on a shield and leaning his left elbow on his left thigh. In the distance, a gate tower is visible, with the faint outline of a shrine torii further beyond, likely representing Chōsen Shrine and Sungnyemun (the Great South Gate), which was nearest to it. On the left side, there is an intaglio square mark containing the Kanji character “畑” (Hata), which presumably refers to the sculptor Hata Masakichi.

The centre of the reverse features an abstract torch-like motif, inscribed vertically with “Chōsen Shrine Athletic Meeting” and horizontally with “Sponsored”. Flanking the torch horizontally are the characters “2597”, representing Imperial Year 2597 (AD 1937). Along the upper outer rim of the medal, the inscription reads “The 13th”.

Hata Masakichi hailed from Toyama Prefecture and served as a professor at both the Tokyo Fine Arts School (now the Tokyo University of the Arts) and the Tokyo Higher School of Arts and Crafts (now Chiba University). From AD 1907 to 1910, he travelled to France as an overseas commercial trainee under the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, becoming the first Japanese sculptor admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In the fourth year of the Taishō era (AD 1915), he was appointed as a technical consultant (shokutaku) to the Mint Bureau; in the second year of the Shōwa era (AD 1927), he assumed the post of director of the Sculpture Research Institute. Although the institute was abolished in the fifth year of the Shōwa era, he continued to serve as a consultant until the twenty-third year of the Shōwa era. During this period, he concurrently served as a consultant to the Decoration Bureau. Hata Masakichi is famed for creating the Order of Culture; the extant bust of Director Hasegawa currently housed in the Osaka Head Mint Bureau was completed under his direction.

Following the outbreak of the March First Movement in AD 1919, the Japanese colonial authorities shifted their governance strategy from the harshly repressive “military rule” to a “cultural policy” focused on assimilation and conciliation. Against this backdrop, Keijō Prefecture (present-day Seoul) embarked on large-scale urban redevelopment, leading to the consecutive completions of Chōsen Shrine—a grand shrine of the first rank (Kanpei-taisha)—and the modern Keijō Stadium. The Korea Sports Association subsequently founded the Chōsen Shrine Athletic Meeting in AD 1925. The event aimed to integrate colonial subjects into the imperial system through an official-led public sporting gala, championing the policy ideology of “harmony between Japan and Korea” while serving as a pathway to select athletes to represent Korea at the Meiji Shrine Games in mainland Japan and in international competitions.

Since its inauguration in AD 1925, the scale and scope of the meeting continuously expanded. During the 1920s, the events primarily comprised modern Western sports such as track and field and ball games. From AD 1927, mass gymnastics involving thousands of male and female secondary school students were introduced, significantly enhancing the meeting’s festive flair and mobilising impact. Entering the 1930s, the meeting progressively incorporated traditional Japanese martial arts, including sumo, judo, and kendo, while briefly adopting indigenous traditional sports such as Korean archery and Korean wrestling (ssireum) in AD 1941. Regarding the participant structure, although event officials and organisational power remained dominated by the Japanese, the proportion of Japanese and Korean athletes was remarkably balanced, albeit showing distinct event preferences—for instance, baseball and archery were predominantly Japanese, whereas football and soft tennis were mostly Korean. Korean society likewise transformed this stage into a space for demonstrating national capability and fostering national consciousness by reporting on the outstanding achievements of Korean athletes, such as record-breaking performances.

In July AD 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out, and Japan began its comprehensive transition towards a total war system, making the 13th meeting the first held under wartime conditions. From this edition onwards, the meeting ceased to be merely a venue for peacetime athletic competition or a showcase for assimilation; instead, it formally introduced collective performances featuring strong physical discipline and state ideology, such as “Imperial Subject Gymnastics” and “National Founding Gymnastics,” serving as a conduit for indoctrinating wartime spirit and social edification. Furthermore, amidst the tense atmosphere following the “Japanese Flag Erasure Incident” triggered by Sohn Kee-chung’s marathon gold medal at the Berlin Olympics the previous year and the subsequent suppression of the nationalist press, the 13th meeting marked the colonial authorities’ accelerated transformation of sporting activities in Korea into tools for home-front mobilisation and military capability reinforcement.

As the situation in the Second World War continued to deteriorate, the meeting ultimately underwent complete militarisation and came to an end. From AD 1939 onwards, events began incorporating grenade throwing and weighted running, followed by the establishment of an independent “National Defence Competition” that required participants to uphold the Bushido spirit of treating the athletic field as a battlefield. In AD 1942, management of the meeting was transferred to the Korea Sports Promotion Association, an entity established under the direction of the Government-General, which mandated that all participants pass physical fitness badge examinations. By the 19th meeting in AD 1943, in response to the implementation of conscription in Korea, the Government-General of Korea assumed direct sponsorship, abolishing all ball sports in favour of military combat drills, including armed marches, bayonet fencing, marksmanship, and maritime and land armoured unit training. Following Japan’s defeat and surrender in AD 1945, Chōsen Shrine was demolished, bringing a definitive end to this grand athletic event that had served imperial militarist ideology.

物件編號: M516

年代: 公元 1937 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 36.6 x 33.3 x 3.2 mm

重量: 16.55 g

來源: 泉鑒齋 2026

這是一枚第十三屆朝鮮神宮奉贊體育大會的紀念章。

正面為穿著希臘式長袍，赤裸上身的男子，斜坐於階上，右手扶著盾牌，左手肘撐在左大腿上。遠方可見城樓，更遠方隱約可見神社鳥居，應為朝鮮神宮和距其最近的崇禮門（即南大門）。左側有一陰刻的方印，中有一漢字「畑」，應為雕刻家畑正吉。

背面中央為抽象化的火炬狀圖案，其中豎列「朝鮮神宮体育大會」，橫列「奉贊」。火炬左右橫列「弐五九七」，表示皇紀二五九七年，即公元1937年。上端沿章緣環列「第十三囬」。

畑正吉於富山縣出身，曾任東京美術學校（今東京藝術大學）和東京高等工藝學校（今千葉大學）教授。公元1907年至1910年，他作為農商省的海外商務實習生前往法國，成為第一位被巴黎美術學院錄取的日本雕塑家。大正四年（公元1915年）獲聘為造幣局的囑託（技術顧問）；昭和二年（公元1927年）出任雕刻研究所所長。儘管該研究所於昭和五年遭到廢除，他仍繼續以囑託身份留任至昭和二十三年。在此期間，他也曾兼任賞勳局的囑託。畑正吉以身為「文化勳章」的製作者而聞名；目前現存於大阪造幣本局內的長谷川局長胸像，便是在他的指導之下製作完成的。

公元1919年，三一獨立運動爆發後，日本殖民當局將統治方針由嚴厲壓制的「武斷政治」轉向注重同化與懷柔的「文化政治」。在此背景下，京城府（今首爾）推動大規模都市改造，官幣大社「朝鮮神宮」與現代化場館「京城運動場」相繼落成。朝鮮體育協會遂於1925年創辦朝鮮神宮競技大會，旨在藉由官方主導的公共體育盛會，將殖民地居民納入帝國運作體系，並標榜「內鮮融和」的政策理念，同時以此作為遴選選手前往日本本土參加明治神宮體育大會乃至國際賽事的管道。

大會自公元1925年首屆舉辦以來，賽事規模與內容持續擴張。公元1920年代賽事以田徑與球類等現代西方競技為主，公元1927年起更引入數千名男女中學生參與的大型集體操（Mass Games），顯著提升了大會的祝祭色彩與動員效果。進入公元1930年代，大會陸續將相撲、柔道、劍道等日本傳統武術納入競賽，並在公元1941年短暫引入朝鮮弓道與朝鮮相撲等本土傳統體育。在參賽結構上，儘管賽事幹部與組織權力長期由日人主導，但參賽選手中日人與朝鮮人的比例相當接近，並呈現出不同的項目偏好，如棒球與弓道多為日人，足球與軟式網球則以朝鮮人居多；朝鮮社會亦透過報導朝鮮選手打破紀錄等傑出表現，將此舞台轉化為展現民族能力與凝聚民族意識的空間。

公元1937年7月，中國爆發抗日戰爭，日本開始全面邁向總力戰體制，第十三屆賽事因而成為戰時體制下的第一屆大會。從本屆開始，賽事不再僅是平時的體育競技或宣揚同化的場合，而是首度正式導入「皇國臣民體操」與「建國體操」等具備強烈身體紀律與國家意識形態的集體展演，成為宣導戰時精神與社會教化的窗口。此外，在前一年發生孫基禎柏林奧運金牌引發的「日章旗抹銷事件」、民族報業遭到鎮壓的緊張氣氛下，第十三屆大會亦標誌著殖民當局開始加速將朝鮮體育活動轉型為「銃後動員」與戰力增強的工具。

隨著二次大戰局勢持續惡化，大會最終走向完全軍事化並告終結。公元1939年起的賽事開始加入手榴彈擲遠與負重跑步，隨後更獨立設置「國防競技」，要求參賽者秉持將競技場視同戰場的武士道精神。公元1942年，大會改由總督府主導成立的「朝鮮體育振興會」主管，要求參賽者必須通過體力章檢定；到了公元1943年第十九屆，因應徵兵制在朝鮮的實施，大會改由朝鮮總督府直接主辦，並取消所有球類運動，全面改為武裝行軍、槍劍道、射擊及海洋與陸上機甲訓練等軍事戰技演練。隨著日本在公元1945年戰敗投降，朝鮮神宮被拆除，這項服務於帝國軍國意識形態下的體育盛會也隨之終結。