<論説>戦争・国家・スポーツ : 岡部平太の「転向」を通して (特集 : 戦争)

Abstract

アジア太平洋戦争時期は日本のスポーツ界にとって受難の時代と記憶されている。しかしこれを中国大陸からながめると、全く違った様相が浮かび上がる。純粋スポーツの信奉者で、満洲にスポーツ王国を築いた岡部平太は、満州事変にいちはやく国家主義スポーツを提唱した。この「転向」は、日中両国の激しい抗争の場であった満洲の現実が醸成したもので、国策への便乗として片付けることはできない。その後岡部は天津で、軍特務としてスポーツを通じた文化工作を試みる。日中戦争勃発後、国家主義スポーツは日本の青年たちを戦場へと駆り立てた。一方、華北の占領地でスポーツは文化工作の一環として実施された。かくてスポーツは戦争の加害者となった。これは軍の強制によるというよりは、スポーツ界が戦争という状況に主体的に対応した結果であった。軍自身は武道・体操を重視し、スポーツを敵視する態度を取っており、そのため一方でスポーツ受難のイメージが形成され、他方で加害者としてのスポーツのイメージが隠蔽されたのである。

For Japanese sportsdom, the Asian Pacific War has been remembered as a severe ordeal. Sports, especially western sports, have been thought of as victims of the war. When seen from the Chinese perspective, however, there appears a completely different image. This paper aims to examine the relation between war, the state and sports by tracing the life of Okabe Heita. Okabe believed in the purity of sports and pursued "sport for sport's sake." For Okabe, sports were sacred and inviolable. He realized his ideal by establishing the Kingdom of Sports in Manchuria. His attitude changed gradually as he deepened his relations with the Chinese. It was nearly impossible to maintain political neutrality in Manchuria over which Japan and China contended fiercely, and sports were not immune from this political reality. Soon after the Manchurian Incident, Okabe started to advocate state-oriented, nationalistic sports. Shortly thereafter, Okabe was appointed to a secret military agency and he tried to use sports to ease anti-Japanese sentiments among the Chinese students in Tianjin. After the Sino-Japanese War broke out, Okabe set up a sports organization in Tianjin, and then moved to Beijing to take up a post at the National Normal University. In the area of North China occupied by Japan, quasi-official sports organizations held various sporting events as part of the occupation policies. Okabe felt that these events were too political and that sports were being exploited by the military authorities. In the end the military paid little attention to cultural projects. Okabe was disappointed at the gap between the ideal and the real, and faded away from sporting circles in Beijing. In Japan, especially after the Japan Olympic Committee relinquished the right to host the 1940 Olympic games, state-oriented, nationalistic sports came to the fore, and many Japanese youths were compelled to join in the struggle on the battlefield. Thus, sports served the war effort both inside and outside of Japan. This was not, however, the result of oppression of the Japanese military, but that of a willing, active response to the war by Japanese sportsdom. Nevertheless, the relation between war and sports was complex because the Japanese military promoted martial arts and gymnastics but rejected other sports. This military's attitude toward sports produced an image of sports as a victim and concealed that of victimizer.