A Study on the Bibliography of Records of Gisaeng and Changgi and the Beginning of Licensed Prostitution System by Japanese Resident-General: Focusing on the Prostitute-Related Documents Prepared From April to October, 1909

This study targeted “Documents on Foundation Process of Hanseong Prostitute Association and Organizational Composition (April to October, 1909)” from (3) “Beginning of Licensed Prostitution System,” which takes up the biggest proportion among four types of documents consisting the [Records of Gisaeng and Prostitute] and interpreted and analyzed the documents related to prostitutes to identify the “foundation process of Hanseong Prostitute Association and organizational composition” as the beginning of the first legal prostitution system (licensed prostitution system) in the Korean Peninsula by the Japanese Resident-General. First, the “Hanseong Prostitute Association” was founded on August 20, 1909. The Hanseong Prostitute Association was the Korean Peninsula’s first legal prostitution organization made by the Japanese Resident-General during the late Korean Empire. The attempt to establish the Hanseong Prostitute Association started in1909, and it was finally established on August 20, 1909, after five months of a thorough preparation process. Second, the regulations of the Hanseong Prostitute Association were approved on August 30, 1909. The Hanseong Prostitute Association Regulations (Rules, Code) were finally approved by the chief commissioner, Raizo Wakabayashi, with a total of 6 chapters and 41 articles in the [Metropolitan Police Department Command No.57] on August 30, 1909, during the late Korean Empire. Third, the executive appointment and organizational composition of the Hanseong Prostitute Association was approved on August 30, 1909. The chief commissioner, Raizo Wakabayashi, approved the petition for organizational composition and appointment of executives elected by 365 people and a prostitute, Yeonsim Han of the Hanseong Prostitute Association, on August 30, 1909. This was the completion of the “Hanseong Prostitute Association system” as the licensed prostitution system of the Korean Peninsula. Fourth, “Hanseong Prostitute Association Regulations” wereprepared in advance in April 1909, which is four months before the approval date (August 30, 1909), by the police force of the Japanese Resident-General. In other words, the Japanese Resident-General did not order the Korean prostitute to found the association, establish the regulations of a prostitute association, and receive approval from the Metropolitan Police Department. Instead, the Japanese Resident-General established the [Hanseong Prostitute Association Regulations] in Japanese ahead of time and implemented the regulations as they are. Fifth, the titles, “the first licensed prostitution group of the Korean Peninsula” and “main agent of prostitute association” were given involuntarily under the name of the “Hanseong Prostitute Association” by the Japanese Resident General.