This study examines how the term Munhwa (culture) was imported and used in Korea in the 1920s. The concept of Munhwa began to widely spread in Korea in the 1920s. Munhwa is a translation of the German word Kultur which meant the products of heightened mental activities. The concept of Kultur was philosophically studied by the Noe-kantian philosophers such as Wilhelm Windelband and Heinrich Rickert and developed as the Culturalism by the Japanese philosophers such as Kuwaki Gen'yoku and S?da Kiichir?. The Culturalism was imported to Korea in the 1920s and played a role as a principle by which the Koreans ideally understood the world and would determine their behaviors. While the Culturalism was the theory of culture, the Cultural Movement was a way of practice for realization of “culture.” Although the Cultural Movement focused on the activities for enlightenment and promoting industries, this movement in fact was for total modernization of the nation in every aspect. “Culture” gained new meanings in Korea in the 1920s. While this term originally meant heightened mental activities, it came to include industrial aspects. Also, even though it did not cry political motives, nationalism was its background in fact. In the 1920s, “culture” was considered as the essential condition for the survival of the nation by the Koreans.