Korean Tigers Taken to Japan
There was a time when hunting tigers was considered an act of military bravery in Japan, epitomized by the famous story of Katō Kiyomasa’s “conquering of the tiger.”
One hundred years ago, Isabella Bird travelled to Korea and wrote in her book, “The Korean hunts the tiger one half of the year, and the tiger hunts the Korean the other half” (Korea and Her Neighbours).
Tigers were familiar to all Koreans. This statement must be made in the past tense because the “Korean tiger” is mostly extinct today.
One factor that accelerated the extinction process was the colonial pastime of “tiger hunting.” Records abound of how “tiger hunting” tours were organized by Japanese colonists, with lavish tiger meat tasting parties held throughout the peninsula.
The tiger on display was captured and killed around 1940 in the northernmost region of Korea and put on display in Kyoto’s Ōtani High School. In 2005, designated the “Year of Japanese-South Korean Friendship,” the stuffed tiger was donated to our museum through the efforts of In-gil Kim of Kyoto.
