On an “institution” so venerated and time-honored, and so bound up with Korean nationality (for the Korean, though remarkably destitute of true patriotism, has a strongly national instinct), the decree of the 30th of December, 1895, practically abolishing the Top Knot, fell like a thunderbolt. The measure had been advocated before, chiefly by Koreans who had been in America, and was known to have Japanese support, and had been discussed by the Cabinet, but the change was regarded with such disgust by the nation at large that the Government was afraid to enforce it. Only a short time before the decree was issued, three chief officers of the Kun-ren-tai entered the Council Chamber with drawn swords, demanding the instantaneous issue of an edict making it compulsory on every man in Government employment to have his hair cropped, and the Ministers, terrified for their lives, all yielded but one, and he succeeded for the time in getting the issue of it delayed till after the Queen’s funeral. Very shortly afterwards, however, the King, practically a prisoner, was compelled to endorse it, and he, the Crown Prince, the Tai-Won-Kun, and the Cabinet were divested of their Top Knots, the soldiers and police following suit.
The following day the Official Gazette promulgated a decree, endorsed by the King, announcing that he had cut his hair short, and calling on all his subjects, officials and common people alike, to follow his example and identify themselves with the spirit of progress which had induced His Majesty to take this step, and thus place his country on a footing of equality with the other nations of the world!
The Home Office notifications were as follows:—
Translation
The present cropping of the hair being a measure both advantageous to the preservation of health and convenient for the transaction of business, our sacred Lord the King, having in view both administrative reform and national aggrandizement, has, by taking the lead in his own person, set us an example. All the subjects of Great Korea should respectfully conform to His Majesty’s purpose, and the fashion of their clothing should be as set forth below:—
1. During national mourning the hat and clothing should, until the expiration of the term of mourning, be white in color as before.
2. The fillet (mang-kun) should be abandoned.
3. There is no objection to the adoption of foreign clothing.
(Signed) Yu-kil Chun,
Acting Home Minister.
11th moon, 15th day.