나쓰메 소세키의 징병기피 연구

Abstract

It was for his draft evasion that Nastume Soseki had his name deleted from his family registry book and registered his name under his own registry book of Hokkaido on April 5th in 1892, the place where he had never been before. He, at that time, sensed high possibility of a war between Japan and China, and this eventually led to his sudden change of family register. Nastume Soseki’s draft evasion could be an obstacle for him to sharply criticize the imperialistic policy of Japan and to raise his voice against the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo–Japanese War. Besides, it was also supposed to be limit to his criticism over Japan’s imperialistic invasions and its colonial policy on other ethnic groups. It is, therefore, undeniable that there was a certain relation between his draft evasion and his silence on the harmful consequences by colonial policy of Japan. His not criticizing the imperialistic policy of Japan due to the draft evasion definitely hindered him from being considered as a symbol of intellectuals and writers of North East Asianowadays.