Yun Dong-ju or Yoon Dong-ju (Korean: 윤동주; Hanja: 尹東柱, Korean pronunciation: [jundoŋdʑu]; December 30, 1917 – February 16, 1945) was a Korean poet born in Longing, Jilin, China,[1] who was known for his lyric poetries as well as the resistance poetries against the Japanese colonialism during Japan's occupation of Korea, longing for Korea's liberation.
![]() | This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Korean. (June 2016) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
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Yun Dong-ju 윤동주 尹東柱 | |
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![]() Yun in 1942 | |
Born | December 30, 1917 Longjing, Jilin, Republic of China |
Died | February 16, 1945(1945-02-16) (aged 27) Fukuoka Prison, Fukuoka, Empire of Japan |
Resting place | Longjing, Jilin, China |
Occupation | Poet |
Language | Korean |
Education | Yonhi College |
Alma mater | Rikkyo University (dropped out) Doshisha University (expelled) |
Genre | Poem |
Notable works | 《하늘과 바람과 별과 詩》(Sky, Wind, Star and Poem) |
Korean name | |
Hangul | |
Revised Romanization | Yun Dong-ju |
McCune–Reischauer | Yun Tong-ju |
Pen name | |
Hangul | |
Hanja | |
Revised Romanization | Hae Hwan |
McCune–Reischauer | Hae Hwan |
Website | |
yoondongju |
After studying at the Myeongdong School, he moved to Pyongyang and graduated from Soongsil Middle School (now Soongsil High School in Seoul). He later moved to Seoul and attended Yonhi College. During his second year at Yonhi College, he published a poem in the boy magazine, and officially appeared in the paragraph. After crossing over to Japan, he entered Kyoto Doshisha University in 1942 but was arrested by the Japanese police for alleged anti-Japanese movements in 1943. While imprisoned in a Fukuoka, he died at the age of 27, leaving over 100 poems. His cause of death in Fukuoka prison is uncertain, but theories have been raised based on accounts of saltwater injections and medical experiments performed at that prison. His book, The Sky, the Wind, the Stars, and the Poem (하늘과 바람과 별과 詩), was published posthumously.
He was recognized as one of the conscientious intellectuals in the latter half of the Japanese colonial period, and his poems were based on criticism and self-reflection of the Japanese colonial government and the Joseon Governor-General. His friend and cousin, Song Mong-Gyu, was also arrested while trying to join the independence movement and was classified as a subject of Japanese experimentation in Japan. While in Japan, he adopted the Japanese name, Hiranuma (平沼). In addition to his Korean name, the nicknames Dongju and Yunju were also used.
Yun Dong-Ju was born as the eldest son among the four children of his father Yun Yeong-Seok and his mother Kim Yong at Mingdong village in Longjing, where many Korean settlers in China lived during the Japanese occupation of Korea. As a child, he was called "Haehwan" (해환, 海煥 [hɛːhwan]). He entered Eunjin Middle School in Longjing in 1932 and moved to Pyeongyang to attend Soongsil Middle School in 1936. When the school was closed down in the same year he moved back to Longjing.[1] On December 27, 1941, aged 23, he graduated from Yonhi College, in Seoul which later became Yonsei University.
He had been writing poetry from time to time and chose 19 poems to publish in a collection he intended to call "Sky, Wind, Star, and Poem" (하늘과 바람과 별과 시),[2][unreliable source?] but he was unable to get it published.
After crossing over to Japan, entering Kyoto Doshisha University in 1942, arrested by the Japanese police for an independence movement in 1943, imprisoned in a Fukuoka prison, leaving over 100 poems and died in prison at the age of 27. The view that the signing of the Japanese saltwater Vivo and after his death the Japanese by Maruta is uncertain, but raising theories, biological experiments.
In 1948 three collections of his handwritten manuscripts were published posthumously as "The Heavens and the Wind and the Stars and Poetry" (Haneulgwa Baramgwa Byeolgwa Si). With the appearance of this volume Yun came into the spotlight as a Resistance poet of the late occupation period.[1]
In November 1968, Yonsei University and others established an endowment for the Yun Tong-Ju Poetry Prize. In 2007, he was listed by the Korean Poets' Association among the ten most important modern Korean poets.[3]
The Literature Translation Institute of Korea summarizes Yun's contributions to Korean literature:
etc...
In January 1948, 31 of his poems were published by Jeongeumsa (정음사, 正音社), together with an introduction by the fellow poet Chong Ji-yong; this work was also titled Sky, Wind, Star, and Poem (하늘과 바람과 별과 시). His poetry had a huge impact. In 1976, Yun's relatives collected his other poems and added them to a third edition of the book. The poems that are in this edition (116 in total) are considered to be most of Yun's works.
In a 1986 survey, he was selected as 'the most popular poet amongst the youth'[4] and his popularity continues to this day.
The following are two English translations of the foreword to his collection, dated November 20, 1941:
서시(序詩): |
"Foreword" |
—Translated by Kyungnyun K. Richards & Steffen F. Richards[5] |
서시(序詩): |
Prelude |
In 2020, Korean-American Byun Man-sik translated Yoon Dong-ju's representative poems as Yoon Dong-ju: Selected Poems into English.[7]
In Lee Jung-myung's novel The Investigation (the title of the English translation of original Korean novel) is, inter alia, "an imaginative paean to" Yun.[8]
In 2007, Yun Dongju is recited by "Sam", on South Korean television series "I Am Sam (TV series)", in episode 13.[9]
In 2011, Yun Dong-Ju Shoots the Moon, a musical based on his life, was performed by the Seoul Performing Arts Company.[10]
The movie DongJu: The Portrait of a Poet was released in February 2016. It depicts the lives of Yun Dong-Ju and Song Mong-kyu in the setting of the Japanese colonial era.[11] Yun is portrayed by actor Kang Ha-Neul. Several theaters screened the movie with English subtitles.[12]
On December 31 episode of Infinite Challenge featured the climax of the history and hip-hop, Kwanghee and Gaeko featuring Oh Hyuk from Hyukoh performed song title "Your Night" inspired from Yun Dong-ju life and poet.[13]
2007 Independence Fighters of the Month [ko] | |
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