<論説>「戦争体験」という教養 : 「わだつみ」の戦後史 (特集 : 戦争)

Abstract

本稿では、戦没学徒の遺稿集『きけわだつみのこえ』の受容状況を検証しながら、戦争体験をめぐる社会意識の変容について考察する。『きけわだつみのこえ』は、一九四九年に東大組合出版部より発刊され、ベストセラーとなった。その後も長く読み継がれ、現在では「戦争体験」に関する一種の正典ともみなされている。だが、大学生というエリート層の手記は、なぜ、全国民的に受け入れられたのか。また、同書の「正典」としての社会的位置づけも、決して古いものではない。『きけわだつみのこえ』は一九五九年に再刊されたが、それは、大衆的な新書のシリーズである光文社カッパ・ブックスの一書としてであった。今日、広く流通している岩波文庫版の刊行は、一九八二年である。そこには、「わだつみ」をめぐる社会的な認知の変容が浮かび上がっているし、さらに言えば、戦後における戦争の記憶と「教養」の関わりも見出すことができよう。本稿は、こうした問題意識に立ちながら、『きけわだつみのこえ』およびその刊行を契機に設立された日本戦没学生記念会の戦後史について、考えていきたい。

This paper analyzes the transformation of public opinion on war experiences by examining how Kike Wadatsumi no koe (Listen to the Voice of the Sea God), a collection of essays left by the Japanese college-student soldiers who were killed in the war, has been received in postwar Japan. The Press Department of Tokyo University Cooperative (Toudai Kumiai Shuppanbu) published Kike Wadatsumi no koe in December 1949. It became a best seller in the following year. Moreover, it continued to be widely read, and regarded as a classic of writings on the Pacific-War experience. But, why were Japanese in general deeply impressed by the essays of an elite such as these college students? This collection of essays attained the status of "classic" in the 1980's, not at the beginning of post-war era. A new edition was republished in 1959 as one of the Kappa Books, a series of popular paperbacks published by Koubunsha. Then in 1982 an Iwanami Pocketbooks (Iwanami Bunko) edition of the book was published. A transformation in public opinion regarding Kike Wadatsumi no koe emerged, and the connection between narratives about war and intellectual culture (kyouyou) could be visible. Iwanami Pocketbooks is a series of international classics. The works were the key media of "liberal artsism" (kyouyou shugi) of prewar and postwar Japan. The series includes many classics written by great philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, Descartes, Kant, and Kitarou Nishida. Why then were the writings of college students who had not even completed their studies included in such a series? On the one hand, when Kike Wadatsumi no koe was first published in 1949, some people criticized the writings of the fallen students from the viewpoint of "liberal artsism." Older intellectuals, who had experienced the liberalism or Marxism of the Taishou era in their youth, felt that-the writings of students were lacking in terms of intellectual culture of the liberal arts (kyouyou). The essays of the college-student soldiers, who had received a higher education during the period when the militarists suppressed "liberal artsism", were seen as not sufficiently intellectual. We must also examine the case of the destruction of the statue of Wadatsumi in 1969. The statue was put up on the campus of Ritsumeikan University in 1953 in commemoration of the publishing Kike Wadatsumi no koe. A general assembly for the Fusen no Chikai (Anti-war Oath) was held in front of the statue every year. Not only the student body but also the professors and the president of the university took part in the meeting. But, in May 1969, the students who belonged to Zenkyoutou (All Student Struggle Committee) destroyed the statue of Wadatsumi, which had served as an 'anti-war' symbol. They destroyed the statue not only out of hatred of the narrative of the war created by an older generation of fallen students but also due to their hostility to the liberal arts, which was also symbolized by the statue of Wadatsumi. This was the beginning of the steep decline of "liberal artsism" and the period during which the norm of it faded away among college students. Arguing from this standpoint and based on these observations, this paper considers postwar story in terms of the reception of Kike Wadatsumi no koe and the Wadatsumikai, a society founded at the time of the publication of the book.