<論説>戦後日本の海外戦没者慰霊 : 一九五〇年代遺骨収集団の派遣経緯と「戦没日本人之碑」の建立 (特集 : モニュメント)

Abstract

一九五〇年代において日本政府は、海外における日本人戦没者処理のための措置として、アジア太平洋戦争で玉砕地となった南方諸地域へ遺骨収集団を派遣した。本稿では、最初の派遣先である米国管理下の太平洋諸島に引き続いて実施された東部ニューギニア・ソロモン諸島、ビルマ・インド、西部ニューギニア・北ボルネオ、フィリピンへの遺骨収集団の派遣経緯について、相手国との交渉過程を明らかにするとともに、収集団によって建立された「戦没日本人之碑」の性格や維持管理をめぐる問題について検討する。本収集団の派遣は確かに一定の成果を挙げたが、他方で、限定的な「象徴遺骨」の収集をもってこれら玉砕地の遺骨収集を「一応の終了」であるとみなし、また「戦没日本人之碑」の維持管理を現地に一任するという方針を採ったことにより、結果として遺骨処理問題の全面的な解決を先送りするとともに、碑の風化を招くなど、今日に至る課題を残すこととなった。

In 1950s the Japanese Government sent parties to collect the remains of the Japanese war dead in the Southern Regions that had become fierce battlegrounds during the Asian Pacific War. This article examines the process of negotiation concerning the dispatch of each of the parties to East New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Burma, India, West New Guinea, North Borneo, and the Philippines, which followed the first dispatch to the Pacific Ocean islands under control of the United States. The United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, Burma, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines became adversaries in these negotiations. During the negotiations with the government of each country, especially British and Australian government, demands were made for Japan to give the careful consideration so as not to affect local resident's feelings negatively, and Japan agreed to this. The reparation problem with Japan also influenced the negotiations. The missions to Burma and the Philippines, where the reparation problems had already been settled, were carried out, but the dispatch of a party to Indonesia, where the reparation problem was unsettled, was not achieved. Another problem examined in this article concerns the character and the maintenance of memorial monuments for the Japanese war dead (Senbotsu Nihonjin no hi) erected by the parties. Although the Japanese government regarded these monuments as memorials for the repose of the souls of Japanese war dead, the Australian government demanded in the negotiations that the inscription carved in English on the reverse side of the monument be changed to "This stone marks the place from which Japanese War Dead were removed by the Japanese Government in 1955." In the end the Japanese government accepted this demand because collecting remains was to be the first consideration. This type of monument was not erected in "Asian nations, " such as Burma and the Philippines, out of consideration for local feelings. Indeed the dispatch of these parties in the 1950s achieved a certain degree of success as a means to solve the problem of the disposition of the remains of Japanese war dead overseas. Through the efforts of these parties the number of remains collected reached 11, 844, and 21 monuments were erected. Nevertheless, the remains collected at this time were only 1％ of the total, and by considering this token collection of symbolic remains in these regions as the completion of their mission, a comprehensive solution to the problems associated with the overseas Japanese war dead was put off into the future. Moreover, the adoption of the policy of leaving the maintenance of memorial monuments for the Japanese war dead to local governments resulted in the premature weathering and deterioration of the monuments. Thus, the approach of the Japanese Government in dispatching parties to collect remains in the 1950s has created a legacy of problems yet to be solved.