• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.71
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• pp.71-98
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• 2018

This study is aimed to figure out the way Yoon Hee-sun perceived the real situations of the society under the Japanese ruling and responded to overcome difficulties in the process of anti-Japanese independence movement. Yoon Hee-sun played an important role as a female activist of the righteous army movement in Kangweon-do and Manchuria. She was a daughter-in-law of Yu Hong-seok, wife of Yu Jae-won, and mother of Yu Don-sang. Three generations of her family had taken the lead in anti-Japanese independence movement. The Yus belonged to a school of 'Hwaseo' and devoted their lives to the independent movement based on the thought of 'wijung chuksa sasang', which means 'defending orthodoxy and rejecting heterodoxy'. They desired to go back to the past and recover as it was rather than building a new society. Therefore, their fights against Japan's invasion were not for establishing a modern nation-state but for recovering the royal authority of the existing order. Both her maiden home and her in-laws belonged to a school of 'Hwaseo' and Yoon Hee-sun couldn't go out of the boundary of her family background. Also, the motivation of her participation in the righteous army movement was based on the confucian values such as loyalty to the king, filial piety and fidelity. In particular, she possessed a high level of self-awareness not only as a wife but also as a woman. On the basis of this, she faced up to reality. For the more effective way of revolt against Japan's invasion, she determined to change the perception of women identified only as a wife of somebody. She thought her duty was to enlighten women through 'education'. As a result, manifestoes and songs supporting the righteous army movement were used as a powerful method.