Paper short abstract:

Kim Si-Jong(金時鐘1929-)is a Zainichi poet who was born in Korean Peninsula, and settled down in Japan in 1949. The purpose of this study is to explore the meaning of living as a Zainichi, which is the most important ideology for Kim Si-Jong, through the analysis of the word "horizon" in his poems.

Paper long abstract:

Kim Si-Jong(金時鐘1929-)is a Zainichi poet who was born in Busan and spent his childhood in Jeju. In 1948, his involvement in the Jeju 4.3 led him to settle down in Japan in 1949. And he found out the way of living as a Zainichi and writing his poem in Japanese.

The purpose of this study is to explore the meaning of living as a Zainichi, which is the most important ideology for Kim Si-Jong, through the analysis of the word "horizon" in his poems. The word of "horizon" in his poem represents his ideological position and physical position.

In his first poetry "Horizon(地平線)" (1955), he wrote "There is no horizon where you cannot go. / That place where you stand is the horizon" in "Preface". This is the repulsion against the Association of Zainichi which had the propaganda about writing in Korean language. The word of "horizon" shows his will of writing in Japanese language as a Zainichi.

In 2010, Kim Si-Jong published his 7th poetry "Lost season(失くした季節)". "Trip" In this poetry, he wrote about "horizon" again. "Horizon" in this poet is described more ideally and it represents the position of his abstract notion. For example, he wrote "In The horizon of my mind/ The distance is like murmur/ The years is like leaves in the wind/ The space-time is just on the dial", which is his position to see Korean peninsula included in his experience of colonization, Jeju 4.3 and his hope about the unity of Korean Peninsula.

In 2011, the 3.11 earthquake occurred in Japan. It had a big effect on Kim Si-Jong, so he published his 8th book of poems, “The map of back(背中の地図)” (2018) whose main subject about the 3.11. In this poetry, he wrote about “border” and mentioned “inside” and “outside”.

From the above, he expressed the will of live as a Zainichi through the "horizon" and later he defined and wrote again about "horizon". In this study try to illustrate the process of building Kim Si-Jong's thought as a Zainichi with confirming the meaning of "horizon".