A Study on the Meaning of Resistance Poet Lee Sang-hwa's Boxing-related Activities

Lee Sang-hwa, renowned as a poet of resistance, worked as a teacher at Daegu Gyonam School from 1933. Beyond his regular teaching job, he established a boxing team and was deeply involved in. It is difficult to easily imagine a poet of such a refined demeanor establishing a boxing team and training students, because poetry is considered the purest form of literature, while boxing is one of the most violent sports. This study aims to reveal that Lee Sang-hwa's literature consistently pursued the notion of power and to understand his engagement with boxing. His poetry was passionate, and paradoxically sought death, subverted symbolic structures, and showed a strong will that could overcome the legal constraints imposed by Japanese rule. At the same time, Lee's boxing instruction proved successful. He trained the athlete Shin Gu-sil, who won the medal of All-Japan Championships, demonstrating that Koreans could at least defeat the Japanese in competition. Lee Sang-hwa once stated, “People who under oppression must at least have large fists,” a remark that holds significance beyond physical strength. Through the experience of the boxing ring — an exceptional space where all laws are suspended — his students were likely able to cultivate a commanding and resolute will.