A General Overview on Mathematics Textbooks Written by Korean Authors and Translators Which Were Used in the Japanese Colonial Period

This study provides an overview of mathematics textbooks by Korean authors and translators used during the Japanese colonial period (1910–1945). The historical records confirm at least 31 mathematics textbooks, most of which were arithmetic and algebra textbooks, as being in circulation. This study focuses primarily on the authorized (eight textbooks), approved (19), unapproved (four), or invalidated (four) status of these textbooks while also briefly covering the work of 19 Korean authors and three translators in textbook creations. Some unapproved textbooks were used temporarily, and three of the four invalidated textbooks were originally used as approved textbooks before being withdrawn. Aside from those published during the Korean Empire (1897–1910), 10 textbooks were published during the early Japanese colonial period. These 31 Korean-authored/translated textbooks were used exclusively during the early and mid-Japanese colonial period; no new publications of textbooks authored or translated by Koreans can be found after October 1931. The publication of mathematics textbooks by Korean authors and translators thus appears to have been completely suppressed by the latter half of the Japanese colonial period, when the Governor-General of Korea’s List of Approved Textbooks became the curricular standard.