小杉未醒の日露戦争体験と「帰れ弟」論

Abstract

「Kaere ototo」 is the work of Kosugi Misei where the sense of anti-war internalized in himself while experiencing Russian-Japanese war burst out in a clear and fierce tone for the first time to be a representative work of 「Jinchushihen」. The work has also been known as one of the major anti-war poems during the Russina-Japanese war period along with 「Kimi sini tamau koto nakare」 by Yosano Akiko. However, still it is rare to find academic research on the work from detailed and general perspective. In this sense, the present study explored the background of 「Kaere ototo」 based on the analysis of journals, illustrations and psalters exhibiting Kosugi Misei’s Russina-Japanese war experience. Next, 「Kaere ototo」 was examined for its characteristics and implications as an anti-war poem with the focus on the sense of anti-war, artistic figuration, attitude of a poetic narrator, etc. appearing in the poem. Subsequently, the work was analyzed from the comparison analysis perspective with Yosano Akiko’s 「Kimi sini tamau koto nakare」 and Nakazato Kaizan’s 「Rantyogekiin」 to highlight the stance of 「Kaere ototo」 as an anti-war poem. Major study findings are as follows; First, Misei, during the initial Russian-Japanese war period, internalized critical reflection on war by witnessing the reality of war while following the army up to Pyeongyang. In addition, in the process of gaining a deep understanding of how the soldiers in the battle fields felt and identifying his own fate with those of young soldiers in similar ages to him, Misei accumulated opposition and criticism against the violence and brutality of war and these were burst into poetic dictions in 「Kaere ototo」. Second, the sense of anti-war in 「Kaere ototo」 is expressed in clear and firm patterns as shown in strong commands such as ‘Throw away the sword at your side quick.’, and ‘come back’ to your hometown. Third, 「Kaere ototo」, while displaying a strong sense of anti-war, also shows the outstanding image of ‘evening bird’ symbolizing peace and compares young soldiers to jade bowls to be deemed successful in artistic figuration rarely as an anti-war poem. Forth, 「Kaere ototo」 is viewed as one of the major anti-war poems during the Russian-Japanese war period in consideration of the following aspects; the work was created from Kosugi Misei’s firsthand experience of Russian-Japanese war, has the remarkable depth of critical reflection and internalization on war based on the poetic narrator’s firm sense of anti-war, and is successful in artistic figuration of the strong anti-war sense implied in itself.