{"id":4285,"date":"2026-02-01T13:15:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T13:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/gyodongdo-1943-imperial-ink-and-the-reality-behind-the-wallpaper\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T04:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T04:16:09","slug":"gyodongdo-1943-imperial-ink-and-the-reality-behind-the-wallpaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/en\/gyodongdo-1943-imperial-ink-and-the-reality-behind-the-wallpaper\/","title":{"rendered":"Gyodongdo, 1943: Imperial Ink and the Reality Behind the Wallpaper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Original scan of wallpaper ‘Jaeho’<\/strong>(Source: Collection of Gosate)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

1. An Island on the Border, and the Memory of the Yen Bloc<\/h3>\n\n

Gyodongdo draws a fair number of visitors on weekends, but crossing the Gyodong Bridge from Ganghwa Island is still accompanied by a peculiar tension. The first thing that greets you is a red flag and a Marine Corps checkpoint. In the brief silence of handing over your visitor pass, a forgotten reality reasserts itself: this is a contact zone where North and South Korea still point rifles at each other. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Fig. 1. The present state of the ruins of Gyodong Eupseong Fortress. <\/strong>Now a silent border zone \u2014 but in the 1940s, this was a key logistics node on the Yellow Sea coast where goods from the Yen Bloc economy converged.(Photo by Gosate 2023)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

But turn the clock back to 1943 and the scene was entirely different from today’s severity.<\/p>\n\n

Gyodongdo had long been a strategic junction where the waterways of Gyeonggi, Hwanghae, and Chungcheong provinces converged. In the early 1940s, under the banner of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, the island functioned as a vital artery of the vast economic community \u2014 the so-called Yen Bloc \u2014 linking Japan, Joseon, Manchuria, and China. The abundant produce of the Hwanghae Yeonbaek Plain and the latest goods from China passed through Namsanpo Port at Gyodong Eupseong, while the enormous capital unleashed by wartime inflation flowed into the island. <\/p>\n\n

The wallpaper introduced today was discovered in a hanok near Gyodong Eupseong, in precisely that era \u2014 a time still buzzing with wartime economic activity.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Fig. 2. The abandoned house within Gyodong Eupseong where the wallpaper was discovered.<\/strong>(Photo by Gosate 2023)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

2. The Solidity of the Floor, the Splendor of the Wall: The Aesthetics of a Hybrid Tile<\/h3>\n\n

1) Victorian Nostalgia: Neo-Gothic and the Encaustic Tile<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

To understand the design of this wallpaper, we must first turn briefly to mid-19th century Britain. In an era when factory chimneys and iron-frame structures were overtaking the cities, British society paradoxically began to long for the spiritual beauty of medieval cathedrals and monasteries. This was the Neo-Gothic movement. Architects of the time wanted not only building exteriors but floors and textiles to follow the geometric order of the Middle Ages \u2014 and from that desire was born the encaustic tile. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Fig. 6. A.W.N. Pugin, “A Catholic Town in 1440 and the Same Town in 1840,” from Contrasts (1841).<\/strong> A medieval city of soaring spires (above) is dramatically contrasted with an industrial city choked with factory smoke (below). This iconic plate criticized the degradation of the urban landscape through industrialization and championed the revival of medieval Gothic. Such romantic revivalism permeated interior decoration \u2014 wallpaper and tile \u2014 as well as architecture. (Source : A.W.N. Pugin, Contrasts (London: Charles Dolman, 1841), plate \u2018Catholic Town in 1440; the same town in 1840\u2019)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

The encaustic tile was not simply a surface-painted material but a fired floor covering in which differently colored clays were directly inlaid into the body. These durable tiles \u2014 whose color could not be worn away by thousands of footsteps \u2014 were used primarily in church, school, and government building corridors, symbolizing the authority and permanence of the institution. <\/p>\n\n

The interlocking cross pattern was the most representative grammar of the encaustic tile. The mesh of crosses locking endlessly in all four directions simultaneously delivered visual rhythm without disorder and structural stability. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Fig. 6. Late 19th-century geometric floor tile patterns.<\/strong> Showing the geometric order that decorated floors in Victorian-era architecture. The interlocking crosses with floral medallions between them closely resemble the pattern of wallpaper ‘Jaeho’ found on Gyodongdo. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\"\"
Fig. 9. Structural analysis of the ‘Jaeho’ wallpaper pattern <\/strong>\u2014 a reproduction of the encaustic grid. The interlocking cross structure locked in all four directions corresponds precisely to the typical formal grammar of the encaustic tile.(Source: Collection of Gosate)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

2) The Floor Grammar Lifted to the Wall: An Imagined Hybrid<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

This wallpaper, discovered on Gyodongdo in 1943, remarkably transposes a 19th-century British floor pattern onto a 20th-century Joseon wallpaper. The geometric structure filling the wallpaper is unmistakably the interlocking cross of the encaustic tile. A heavy pattern originally designed to bear the weight of human footsteps has been boldly translated into a finishing material for a vertical wall. <\/p>\n\n

What is fascinating is that while the structure follows the floor (encaustic), the detail imitates the splendor of wall tiles. The fine dots printed along the borders of the cross are not simple halftone printing dots. They reproduce on a flat surface the beading \u2014 the relief technique used in Majolica tiles, where raised ridges prevent liquid glazes from bleeding into each other during firing. This wallpaper is, in essence, a tile in which the solid skeleton of the encaustic and the decorative flesh of the Majolica have been fused on paper. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Fig. 7. Majolica tile found in a 1960s hanok in Gwangju. <\/strong>The raised beading on the surface functions simultaneously as decoration and as a physical material separation line preventing liquid glaze from mixing during firing.(Photo by Gosate 2025)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\"\"
Fig. 8. Printed simulation of beading. <\/strong>The fine dots along the border of the cross pattern resemble the three-dimensional relief of Majolica tile \u2014 interpreted not as mere ornament but as a visual reproduction of the tile manufacturing process (the glaze-separation ridge) on a flat surface. (Source: Collection of Gosate)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

3. Craquelure and the Thunder Pattern: A Code Running Across East and West<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

The fine textures and decorative motifs filling the pattern are equally significant. The ground between the crosses and grid is printed with a texture evoking craquelure \u2014 the network of fine cracks on the surface of aged ceramics \u2014 or marble veining, or the minute grain of leather. This faithfully follows the 19th-century Western wallpaper technique of faux-finish: the attempt to simulate, on flat paper, the surface quality of costly aged materials. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Fig. 3. Surface detail showing faux-finish technique.<\/strong> The ground is printed with fine crack patterns evoking ceramic craquelure or marble veining \u2014 a visual intention to overcome the flatness of paper and reproduce the texture of premium materials accumulated over time. (Source: Collection of Gosate)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

More interesting still is the geometric band decorating the border. In Western art history this is called the Greek Key or Meander \u2014 a symbol of ancient Greek eternity. Yet in the East, the identical form has been called the thunder pattern(noemun, \u96f7\u7d0b) or wan-ja pattern (wanjamun, \u534d\u5b57\u7d0b) \u2014 symbolizing auspiciousness and infinite blessing for millennia. The use of this angular, winding linear pattern is no coincidence. In introducing a Western tile pattern, the designer cleverly deployed a dual code \u2014 one that reads as tradition and authority in both Eastern and Western contexts \u2014 to ensure the design would not feel foreign to East Asian consumers. <\/p>\n\n

But the decisive evidence that clinches this cultural fusion lies elsewhere: in the peony (moran, \u7261\u4e39) that fills the geometric border. The peony, universally symbolizing wealth and prosperity across Korea, China, and Japan, was the most beloved auspicious motif among homeowners of the time. What demands attention is the mode of representation. The designer took the most Eastern of subjects \u2014 the peony \u2014 and translated it thoroughly through the grammar of Western design: symmetry, repetition, and schematization. Eastern flavor poured into a Western vessel. This stylized peony, more clearly than even the Greek Key, proves that this wallpaper was no mere Western imitation \u2014 it is a hybrid, reborn as the modern aesthetic sensibility of Northeast Asia. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Fig. 4. The Greek Key border pattern and the peony. <\/strong>The Western classical meander motif is used, yet its form closely resembles the Eastern traditional thunder pattern. Within it, the prosperity-symbolizing peony has been formalized like a Western rosette. This is the most decisive instance of hybridization \u2014 the geometric vocabulary of the West employed to carry the auspicious aspirations of East Asia. (Source: Collection of Gosate)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

3. The Shanghai Brushstroke, or the Continental Color Japan Desired<\/h3>\n\n

Where did this exotic object come from? It is tempting to assume, given its colonial-era origins, that it was a domestic Japanese product \u2014 but examine the pattern’s rendering and color palette closely and a strong scent of the continent \u2014 Shanghai, Manchuria \u2014 becomes apparent. <\/p>\n\n

The acanthus leaf ornament at the tips of the crosses lacks the sharpness of the Western original. Instead it is rounded, blunt, and somewhat oily in feel \u2014 sharing an aesthetic sensibility with the yuefenpai (\u6708\u4efd\u724c) advertising posters of 1930s\u201340s Shanghai: the so-called Shanghai Modern style, which rounded and domesticated Western Art Deco through the brushstroke of Chinese painting. The smooth yet tough paper stock and the deep teal (cheongrok) ink also exhibit characteristics typical of lithographic print materials fashionable in the concession districts of Shanghai and Dalian at the time. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
\"\"
Figs. 5\u20136. Carpet detail from a 1930s Shanghai yuefenpai. <\/strong>The crisp Western acanthus design has been reinterpreted through the Chinese painter’s brushstroke into rounded, blunt Eastern motifs resembling cloud patterns (unmun) or arabesque scrolls (dangchomun).(Source: Pinterest)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\"\"
Fig. 7. Cross pattern detail of the ‘Jaeho’ wallpaper.<\/strong>The Western acanthus leaf appears to have been simplified into a geometric cross form \u2014 sharing visual context with the carpet motifs in the yuefenpai examined above, and interpreted as an example of the process by which Western ornament was domesticated into an East Asian design vocabulary. (Source: Collection of Gosate)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

This does not necessarily mean the wallpaper was produced in China. The Shanghai style was itself fashionable within Japan as a symbol of modernity. <\/p>\n\n

The possibility therefore cannot be excluded that a Japanese paper manufacturer planned and produced this as a continental-style (daeryukpung, \u5927\u9678\u98a8) design for the Shanghai, Manchurian, and Joseon markets. Either way, what is certain is that this wallpaper is the projected embodiment of the desire for a Western modernity that ran through all three East Asian nations of the time. <\/p>\n\n

4. The Reality Behind the Wallpaper: “The Passion of the Continent” and the Morning Bow<\/h3>\n\n

Yet the fantasy of this beautiful wallpaper turns cold the instant one looks beneath it. When the backing papers supporting the wallpaper were peeled away, the pages of a Maeil Sinbo (\u6bcf\u65e5\u7533\u5831) newspaper from around 1943 were revealed. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Fig. 8. Pages of the 1943 Maeil Sinbo (backing paper).<\/strong> A newspaper carrying wartime reporting and Manchuria-related articles from the final period of the Japanese occupation was used as backing paper.(Source: Collection of Gosate)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

The articles within are jarringly at odds with the decorative splendor of the wallpaper above \u2014 they testify to the desperate urgency of the war’s final stages. At the center of the page, beneath the incendiary headline “Carrying the Passion of the Continent”, a photograph shows young men of the volunteer corps lined up to depart for Manchurian development. This was the period when Japan was driving Korean youth into mortal danger under the euphemism of “pioneering.” And in the lower right corner, an article announces a change in broadcast time for the morning bow toward the Imperial Palace (gunseong yobae, \u5bae\u57ce\u9059\u62dc) \u2014 a vivid reminder of the suffocating daily existence of colonial subjects, whose very hour of bowing east toward the Japanese emperor was state-controlled. <\/p>\n\n

5. Conclusion: Anxiety of an Era, Papered Over with Fantasy<\/h3>\n\n

In the end, this wallpaper is more than a decorative object \u2014 it is a historical document that condenses the strange contradictions of the Yen Bloc era of the early 1940s. At the front, the terror of conscription was real \u2014 young men were being driven into the line of fire. Yet paradoxically, within the vast economic bloc mobilized to wage that very war, military capital and materials were circulating more actively than ever. Gyodongdo, a trade hub on the Yellow Sea, stood at the very front line of that contradiction. <\/p>\n\n

Even as the pressure of conscription and forced confiscation tightened, someone here was able to paper their walls with a fashionable, luxurious import from the continent. The smooth, sumptuous pattern of capital laid so casually over the backing paper inscribed with “decisive battle” (gyeolcheon, \u6c7a\u6230) \u2014 this layering is a vivid record of the landscape of the late colonial period: war, exploitation, and the desire of capital, tangled together in all their complexity. <\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 Gosate Archive. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

All Rights Reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

    \n
  1. All text and scholarly analysis are the intellectual property of the author.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. All photographs marked “Gosate Collection” or “Photo by Gosate” are the copyright of GOSATE. Reproduction, copying, or distribution without prior consent is strictly prohibited. <\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Historical images cited from external sources are subject to their respective copyright holders or public domain provisions.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n

    Inquiries<\/strong>: contact@gosate.kr<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    1. An Island on the Border, and the Memory of the Yen Bloc Gyodongdo draws a fair number of visitors on weekends, but crossing the Gyodong Bridge from Ganghwa Island is still accompanied by a peculiar tension. The first thing that greets you is a red flag and a Marine Corps checkpoint. In the brief […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"era_badge":"","era_category":"","type":"","summary":"In 1943, on Gyodongdo \u2014 a key node in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere \u2014 the wallpaper 'Jaeho' was uncovered in an abandoned house. How did the interlocking-cross of 19th-century British encaustic floor tiles, born of the Victorian Neo-Gothic movement, travel thousands of kilometers to land on a Joseon wall? An investigation into the hybrid printing aesthetic of 1940s colonial Korea, where the rigid geometry of floor tiles meets the ornate beading of Majolica tiles on a single sheet of paper.","is_featured":true,"feature_authors":"Dongsu Kang","feature_period":"1943","feature_sources":"","feature_read_time":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive-research","category-1940s"],"thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/article_header-1024x512.webp","thumbnail_full":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/article_header.webp","en_title":null,"en_link":null,"en_summary":null,"meta_fields":{"era_badge":"Late Colonial","era_category":"\uc77c\uc81c\uac15\uc810\uae30 (\ub9d0\uae30)","type":"Pattern","summary":"In 1943, on Gyodongdo \u2014 a key node in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere \u2014 the wallpaper 'Jaeho' was uncovered in an abandoned house. How did the interlocking-cross of 19th-century British encaustic floor tiles, born of the Victorian Neo-Gothic movement, travel thousands of kilometers to land on a Joseon wall? An investigation into the hybrid printing aesthetic of 1940s colonial Korea, where the rigid geometry of floor tiles meets the ornate beading of Majolica tiles on a single sheet of paper.","is_featured":"1","feature_authors":"Dongsu Kang","feature_period":"1943","feature_sources":"","feature_read_time":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/article_header.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4285"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5561,"href":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4285\/revisions\/5561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gosate.kr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}