Yoon Dong-ju Awarded Honorary Doctorate by Doshisha University... 80th Anniversary Memorial in Japan

Doshisha University Awards Honorary Doctorate to Yun Dong-ju
Memorial Events Held in Japan on the 80th Anniversary of His Death

On the 16th, Doshisha University (同志社), the alma mater of poet Yun Dong-ju (1917?1945), who left works such as "Seosi," "Self-Portrait," and "Counting the Stars at Night," awarded him an honorary doctorate.

At the honorary doctorate degree conferment ceremony held by Doshisha University on the 16th, Professor Emeritus Yoon In-seok of Sungkyunkwan University, nephew of poet Yoon Dong-ju (left), and President Katsuhiro Gohara are shaking hands.
[Photo by Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Osaka]

On this day, Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan, held a degree conferment ceremony at the campus chapel and awarded poet Yun Dong-ju an honorary doctorate. Founded in 1875, this is the first time the university has awarded an honorary doctorate posthumously. In December last year, under the presidency of President Katsuhiko Kohara, the university’s deans held a meeting and decided to confer an honorary Doctor of Cultural Studies degree on Yun. Professor Ryuta Itagaki of the Sociology Department at the university explained, "This special decision reflects the university’s regret for not being able to protect Yun Dong-ju, who was arrested and died while still a student."

A memorial ceremony was also held in front of the Yun Dong-ju statue on the Doshisha campus, organized by the 30th Anniversary Memorial Ceremony Executive Committee. Jin Chang-su, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Osaka, said in his commemorative speech, "This has been a precious time to reflect on the life and solemn attitude of Yun Dong-ju, who lived fiercely amid the tragic history between Korea and Japan," adding, "In this meaningful year marking the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan, we will remember the poet’s spirit and strive even harder for Korea-Japan friendship."

Yun Dong-ju graduated from Yonhi College (the predecessor of Yonsei University) and then entered Rikkyo University in Tokyo. In October 1942, he transferred to Doshisha University’s Faculty of Letters, majoring in English Language and Literature. While attending, he was arrested by Japanese police in 1943 on charges of participating in a student group discussing Korean independence. He was imprisoned in Fukuoka Prison and died in custody on February 16, 1945, at the age of 28, six months before Korea’s liberation. In Japan, his recognition increased after Noriko Ibaraki (1926?2006), a Japanese literary writer, quoted Yun Dong-ju’s poetry in an essay included in school textbooks.

Currently, in Kyoto, a statue stands at the site of Yun Dong-ju’s boarding house, which has been converted into the Kyoto University of the Arts campus. Near the Uji River in Kyoto, where the poet took a farewell picnic with friends and left his last photograph, there is a monument called the "Monument of Memory and Reconciliation," built in 2017 by the poet’s Japanese fans and local residents.

This year, marking the 80th anniversary of his death, memorial events honoring the poet are expected to continue in Japan. At Rikkyo University, which Yun attended before transferring to Doshisha University, a commemorative lecture and poetry reading will be held on the 23rd.