『朝鮮新報』主筆青山好恵の東学農民戦争報道 --1890年代の朝鮮情報流通と居留地メディア--

Abstract

本稿は, 朝鮮の仁川居留地で発行された日本語紙『朝鮮新報』主筆であった青山好恵の報道活動に注目することで, 1890年代の日本社会にもたらされた東学農民戦争の姿(特に「東学党」像)を復元し, それが当該期の朝鮮観形成において果たした役割を分析する。愛媛県宇和島の没落士族出身の青山好恵は, 「田舎青年」という自己認識を発条として朝鮮仁川へ渡航し, 『朝鮮新報』に拠って在朝鮮日本人社会の輿論を日本内地へ伝達した。青山の来歴と活動からは, 自由民権期後の政治青年を捉えたナショナリズムと, 日清戦争前後を画期に昂進する日本社会のアジア進出意欲とが接続する一つの典型をみてとることができる。青山は, 1880年代末以降「国粋主義」や「大なる日本」といったかたちで主張されたナショナリズムを底辺から支えた無数の「明治ノ青年」の一人であった。一方, 朝鮮情報を日本国内へと媒介した『朝鮮新報』に代表される居留地メディアは, 「朝鮮浪人」をはじめとする朝鮮在留日本人が抱くアジア地域への投企的欲望を, 日本国内のメディアへと接続するハブ・メディアとしての役割を担っていた。「東学党」は当初, 朝鮮在留日本人からは日本主導による朝鮮改革の受け手として期待され, 「革命党」や「義人」と評価されていたが, 日本軍占領下の朝鮮で実際に甲午改革が開始されると, その評価は秩序を乱す「匪類」「暴徒」へと暗転する。「東学党」像は, 居留地メディアを介した日朝間の情報流路のなかで形成された朝鮮像の顕著な一例であり, 東学農民戦争に対する当初の一見好意的な評価は, 近代日本が大陸国家への道程を踏み出す際の政治的・経済的関心の所在を極めて率直に映しだすものであった。すなわち「東学党」は, 近代日本が何らかのかたちで朝鮮に関与し, その「独立」や「文明化」「改良」を企図するにあたり, その行為を正当化する存在として注目されてきたのである。

This paper focuses on the reporting activities of Aoyama Yoshie, the primary writer for the Japanese-language newspaper Chōsen shinpō (Korea News), which was published in the Japanese settlement in Incheon, Korea. In doing so, it reconstructs the image of the Donghak Peasant Revolution (particularly the Donghak Party) presented to Japanese society in the 1890s, as well as analyzes the role this image played in the formation of Japanʼs view of Korea at the time. Aoyama, who was from a fallen Uwajima (Ehime Prefecture) warrior family, perceived himself as a "countryside youth, " and this prompted him to go to Incheon. There, he presented the voices of Japanese people in Korea to the main islands of Japan through Chōsen shinpō. In Aoyamaʼs life history and experience, we can see a certain type that connected the nationalism that captured politically-oriented young people after the Freedomand Peopleʼs RightsMovement (jiyū minken undō) with the desire of Japanese society to advance into other Asian countries that was growing around the time of the Sino-Japanese war. Aoyama was one of the innumerable "Meiji youth" that from the end of the 1880s onwards supported from the bottom rungs of society a nationalism expressed in phrases such as kokusuishugi and dai naru nippon. On the other hand, the settlement media outlets such as Chōsen shinpō that carried information on Korea to Japanʼs main islands played the role of media hubs that connected the expansionist desire held towards Asia by Japanese people in Korea--including the so-called Chōsen rōnin (masterless samurai)--with the domestic Japanese media. At first Japanese people residing in Korea hoped that the "Donghak Party" would partake in a Japan-led Korean revolution, and were praised as a "revolutionary party" and "righteous people." However, when the Gabo Reform actually began in Japan-occupied Korea, this assessment turned negative : they were described as the "wicked sort" and a "mob" that disturbs order. This image of the party is a striking example of one of the images of Korea formed in the settlement media-mediated information channels between Japan and Korea. The initial apparently favorable view of the Donghak Peasant Revolution was a very straightforward reflection of where the political and economic interests lay of a modern Japan that was embarking upon its path to be a continental state. In other words, when Japan planned to involve itself in Korea in some way for its "independence, " "civilizing, " or "improvement, " the Donghak Party was highlighted to justify such acts.