Why Ahn Jung-geun Received Unusual Treatment in a Japanese Prison
Creatrip Team
25 days ago
Recent return of a handwritten piece by Korean independence activist Ahn Jung-geun revealed he wrote many works while imprisoned in the Russian-turned-Japanese Lushun (旅順) prison after his 1909 assassination of Ito Hirobumi. Although imprisoned 144 days before his execution in March 1910, about 60 surviving calligraphic works and writings (including an autobiography and a peace treatise) show he could write, smoke, and receive comforts. Historian research explains this exceptional treatment: many officials in the Kwantung (관동주) administration were from the Tosa domain (도사번), which historically resented Ito’s Choshu (조슈번) faction. These Tosa-origin officials sympathized with Ahn as someone who killed Ito—viewing him less as a criminal and more like a heroic figure akin to Sakamoto Ryoma—so they treated him kindly. The article cautions this was an unusual case and not representative of general harsh Japanese prison conditions under colonial rule, where many detainees suffered brutality and death.
