<論説>一九三〇年代における「日本精神」流行とその政治利用 --思想対策協議委員を起点として--

Abstract

本稿は、これまで本格的に検討されてこなかった戦前期日本における標語の歴史的意義について、一九三〇年代を中心に流行した「日本精神」を題材に、その政治的局面における利用の実態から検討した。一九三三（昭和八）年に各省高等官僚が参集する内閣直属機関として設置された思想対策協議委員において、「日本精神」の闡明および普及徹底を骨子とする思想善導方策が定められた。一九二〇年代末ごろから社会一般において認知され始め、既に政府各省内でも流布していた「日本精神」という語が、学問的究明を俟つ未だ空虚な概念のまま、思想対策上の国家的指導原理を象徴させられたのである。具体的な内容を規定されないまま国家的正当性を獲得した「日本精神」は〝正当性を保証する媒介〟となり、各省独自の政治的課題に資する形で多様な解釈を与えられ、各省横断的な国民動員政策を統合する標語としても利用された。

This paper examines the historical significance of slogans in prewar Japan, a topic that has not been examined in earnest. It focuses on the “Spirit of Japan” (Nippon Seishin 日本精神), which was popular mainly in the 1930s, in terms of its actual use in the political arena. In 1933, the Council on Ideological Measures 思想対策協議委員, an organ established directly under the Cabinet with the participation of high-ranking bureaucrats from various ministries, formulated an ideological policy to promote the “Spirit of Japan” by expounding and thoroughly disseminating the concept. The term “Spirit of Japan, ” which began to be generally recognized in society in the late 1920s, had previously spread within government ministries. It was made to symbolize a national guiding principle as an ideological strategy, although it was still an empty concept that awaited academic investigation. The “Spirit of Japan, ” which had acquired national legitimacy without being defined in concrete terms, was interpreted in a variety of ways to serve the unique political agendas of each ministry. In the Home Ministry's Police Affairs Bureau 内務省警保局, it was interpreted by innovators as a guiding principle for reforming social and administrative structures, beyond its original purpose as an ideological strategy. In the Ministry of Education's Ideology Bureau 文部省思想局, political use of the “Spirit of Japan” was considered after its official recognition by the Council on Ideological Measures, and it was used as a method of persuasion in the reform of education and academics. In the Army Ministry's Research Section 陸軍省調査班, it was incorporated into its unique system to defend the logic of intuitive empiricism of the military, eventually, to justify the war itself, the Army's most important reason for existence. The “Spirit of Japan, ” which became a “medium to guarantee legitimacy, ” was also used as a slogan to unify the policies of the various ministries in the comprehensive national mobilization policy as seen in the Report of the Council for the Reform of Education and Academics 教学刷新評議会 (1936) and the Guidelines for the National Spiritual Mobilization Campaign 国民精神総動員運動の実施要項 (1937).