Yi Bangja

Biography

How this marriage was arranged is known from her mother's diary. Masako, the daughter of Prince Nashimoto Morimasa and Princess Itsuko, read about her own engagement in a newspaper in August 1916, while the family was on holiday at Ōiso on the coast. She was told that it was the emperor's will. Later, in the diary that was eventually published, Itsuko admitted that things had been otherwise: the match had been arranged in secret through the governor-general of Korea, and the emperor's will was named only for appearances.

Masako was born on 4 November 1901 in Tokyo. In the list of possible brides for the future Emperor Hirohito she was one of the first names, but in the end his wife was her first cousin Princess Nagako of Kuni, the future Empress Kōjun. Two reasons for the rejection are given: the weak political influence of her family and a fear that she would be unable to have children. The Nashimoto house had only two daughters, and the family itself wanted an advantageous alliance.

The groom, Yi Un, was a son of the Korean emperor Gojong. From 1917 the Japanese government kept him in Japan under the pretext of study, and after the annexation of Korea his title had been reduced to that of heir of the “King Yi”. Because of Gojong’s death in January 1919 the wedding was postponed. It took place on 28 April 1920 at the Korean residence in Tokyo, when the bride was still a student in the girls’ department of the Gakushūin school.

In August 1921 a son, Jin, was born. In 1922 his parents took him to Korea, and there, shortly before their return, the child died. The cause is given in different ways: some speak of poisoning, others of acute indigestion. A second son, Yi Gu, was born in December 1931. In 1927–1928 the couple travelled in Europe for almost a year, were received by King George V of the United Kingdom and visited several countries.

After Japan’s defeat in 1945 the royal titles were abolished. In 1947 the family lost its status, and in 1952, when the peace treaty came into force, Yi Un and his wife lost Japanese citizenship and became stateless. The president of the Republic of Korea, Syngman Rhee, who feared a return of the monarchy, would not let them go home. They had to sell their property and lived modestly. Their son Yi Gu graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1957. In 1959 Yi Un suffered a cerebral thrombosis. To be able to travel abroad, the couple took Japanese citizenship for a time.

They could return only after Syngman Rhee’s fall. In 1962 Korean citizenship was recognised for them, and on 21 November 1963, at the invitation of Park Chung Hee, they arrived in Seoul. They settled in Changdeok Palace. By then Yi Un was bedridden, and he died in 1970.

The schools came later.

After that Yi Bangja took up what she had discussed with her husband: the education of children with intellectual and physical disabilities, which in Korea at that time was barely developed. She raised the money herself. She worked in cloisonné enamel, was fond of calligraphy and painting, opened an enamel workshop in Seoul and sold her work. She also took shows of the court costumes of the Yi dynasty around the world. These funds paid for Myeonghwi-won, a home for children with hearing and mobility impairments, and for the Jahye School for children with intellectual disabilities, and later for the Myeonghye School as well. The names come from artistic pen names: “Myeonghwi” belonged to Yi Un, “Jahye” to Yi Bangja herself. She was the first honorary president of Buyōkai, a society of Japanese women who had remained in Korea. In 1981 she was awarded the Order of the Peony, and after her death the Order of Mugunghwa was conferred on her posthumously. She published several volumes of memoirs, among them, in English, “The World Is One”.

Yi Bangja died on 30 April 1989 at Nakseon Hall in Changdeok Palace. The funeral was held with semi-state honours, and Prince and Princess Mikasa came from Japan. She was buried beside her husband in the Hongyureung tomb complex near Namyangju.