The inscribed documentary heritage from the 1920’s and 1930’s, consists of five records that demonstrate the solidarity between two organisations that collaborated in their efforts to advocate against discrimination in their respective countries, Japan and Korea. The Suiheisha was established in Japan in 1922 and the Hyeongpyengsa was established in Korea in 1923. The two organisations started to collaborate in 1924. At the time discrimination had been officially abolished in both countries but still persisted.



The inscribed documents include an agenda item from the Third National Congress of the Zenkoku Suiheisha recommending exchanges between the two organisations and support for the abolition of discrimination against Koreans living in Japan, and a pocket book from 1924 belonging to Tomi Yoneda, which includes records of exchanges and a Hyeongpyengsa prospectus from 1929 which provides further evidence of the exchanges. The items that demonstrate the collaboration between the two organisations were found when documents that had belonged to two of the founders

(Seiichiro Sakamoto and Tomi Yoneda) of the Zenkoku Suiheisha were being reviewed during the establishment of the Suiheisha Museum in Nara in 1993.



The records are evidence of a collaboration that took place at a time of national, regional and global change, including the period of Japanese colonial rule in Korea (1910-1945). They demonstrate the ability of people to collaborate across borders under difficult circumstances for common human rights objectives and to use peaceful methods to advocate for change.