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  Multi Lingual Internet Mail Magazine

  jp-Swiss-journal   Vol. 59 – August 22, 2004 (Swiss Time)

   http://www.swissjapanwatcher.ch/


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目次 / INDEX / INHALTSVERZEICHNIS

J

建国記念日と再建国記念日

 

明子 ヒューリマン

E】

National Foundation Day and National Reconstruction Day

by Akiko Hürlimann

 

D

Nationaler Gruendungstag und

nationaler Wiederaufbautag  

- Deutsche folgt -

 

von Akiko Hürlimann

 

 

 

□━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 日本語 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━□

 

 

建国記念日と再建国記念日

 

明子 ヒューリマン

 

 

毎年夏になると、スイスでも日本でも国を挙げての1大イヴェントで国中一色になる。とは言え国民の意識と雰囲気は両国では著しく異なる。スイスは81日に建国記念日を国中で祝う。多民族・多言語国家が改めて心を一つにするかのように。一方日本では2月11日の建国記念日を祝う気持ちは一般の国民には皆無と言ってよく、専ら政治的な色彩だけの儀式がひっそりとどこかで行われているに過ぎないようだ。そのかわり8月15日は終戦記念日とお盆が重なるので、死者への鎮魂の行事が全国各地で催される。この時期1週間程は祖先のお墓参りをする為にお盆休みを利用して里帰りする民族の大移動が見られる。国民が心を一つにする拠り所となる行事が、季節は同じ花火の似合う夏でありながら、こうも趣が異なる事に感慨を覚える。

 

スイスの建国記念日は連邦政府をはじめ地方自治体もそれぞれ記念行事を主催して住民と共に賑々しく祝う。この日は政治家が格調高い建国の志と未来に向かっての団結を国民に語る機会になっている。学校が夏休みに入っていることもあって、大人も子供も夜通し楽しむ夏の最大のイベントにもなっていて、スイス中が赤字に白十字の国旗で埋め尽くされる。小旗、提灯、Tシャツは勿論の事、パンにまで!およそありとあらゆる物に国旗モチーフが登場する。誇らしげに国旗を愛して止まないスイス人魂ここに在りと言えよう。この日の式典や花火大会は国家斉唱から始まる。但しブラスバンドが厳かに演奏する中、唱和する人々の声はかき消される程度。実は歌詞を良く知らない人が多いと聞く。つまりかつてはメロディーが英国と同じ“God save the queen“で現在のメロディーに代わってさほど年月が経っていないという事情があるようだ。“God shave the queen(神が女王の髭を剃る)と英国を揶揄した冗談もある位で、何故か国旗の愛され方とは差があるようだ。独立心旺盛で愛国心一辺倒にはならないスイス人の複雑な懐の深さを物語っているのかもしれない。ともあれこの日は建国の伝説的な英雄ウィリアム・テルを象徴に、スイス国民が世界にも稀な国家スイスを守ろうとの気持ちが一つになるようだ。

 

一方大方の日本人の建国記念日に対する思いは戦後の長い年月を経ても複雑か無関心。この日を戦前は紀元節(きげんせつ)と言い、伝説上の神武天皇が即位した日だと言われている。国民がお祭りのようにこの日を祝う習慣は久しくない。年配の人々にとっては大っぴらに祝うのは憚られる雰囲気が今でもあるようだし、何故外国のようにお祭り気分で祝えないのか若い世代は不思議にすら思うようだが、大抵の人が理由を知らない位事情は風化してしまっている。今では日本の国旗を見かけるのは、オリンピックかサッカーの国際試合の時位しかお目にかからないようだ。筆者が子供の頃は旗日と言って、新年や祝日には家々の門に国旗が飾られ、学校の行事では国歌も折に触れて歌った記憶があるが、こうした光景はついぞ見かけなくなった。今では一般の家で国旗を掲げたら右翼と間違えられかねないご時世となった。国歌斉唱は大相撲の時かオリンピックで優勝した時に限るようだ。国歌の意味を国語の授業で習った記憶があるが、教師は「天皇の御世が何千年も続くように」という意味だと苦々しくも批判的に解説した事を今でも覚えている。

 

戦後生まれの団塊世代の1人として、日本で受けた学校教育を思い返してみると、歴史の授業は古代史、中世史は鈍行列車並のスピードでじっくりと、その後は徐々にスピードを加速して、近代史は新幹線並に超特急になり、現代史は見出しだけ触れるか時間切れで概ね省略されたものだ。戦前戦後の歴史観が整理されないまま、教育現場では冷戦の延長線上でイデオロギー論争が華やかに展開され、日教組と文部省との歴史観の綱引きの果てに教育現場で国旗と国歌は消えていた、というように理解している。世界中どこの国にも戦争の歴史はあると言ってよいと思うのだが、日本ほど戦後も忸怩たる思いを引きずって反省している国も珍しいかもしれない。侵略した国々に対して、「ご免なさい、ご迷惑をお掛けしました。」の一言を、国を代表する政治家が戦後速やかに言わなかったからのようだ。戦後国中殆どが焦土と化した日本が巨額の賠償金の請求を恐れた為なのか。だが、国の復興が進むに連れて賠償金もそれなりに支払って来たようだが、それをいつ頃からなのか富める国の応分の援助という名目にしてしまった為、諸外国からはいつまでも戦後処理を終えていない日本、という烙印を押され定着してしまったようだ。

 

雅楽奏者で作曲家の東儀秀樹氏が篳篥(ひちりき)の演奏を通して日本の古典音楽、雅楽を一般の人が楽しめるものにした。悠久の宇宙のロマンを思い起こさせるような氏の音楽には心惹かれるものを感じる。雅楽風の日本の国歌「君が代」は、かつては日本唱歌と呼ばれていたと聞くが厳かで美しい調べだ。国の外に出て久しい筆者にとって、硬直的な日本の国歌論争を続けているのは日本人にとって不幸に思える。「白地に紅く日の丸寄せてああ美しや日本の旗は。」とレトロな日本唱歌に戦争の罪を着せるのは大人気ないような気がするのだが。こんな事で日本人が又戦争をする気になるわけではあるまいに。本当かどうか定かではないが、戦後日本の国旗をどこかの国が売って欲しいと申し出たと聞いた事がある程、日の丸は単純明快で美しいロゴマークである事は異論を待たない筈だ。日本の外務省のホームページには世界の国旗が紹介されているが、日本の国歌は探してもついに見つからなかった!検索してやっと見つけたのは民間のスポーツ関連のウェブサイトスイス政府のホームページにはスイス国歌が美しい混声合唱で1番から4番までしかも4ヶ国語で完全紹介されている。この差は日本の国歌が未だ日陰者扱いのままである証と言えよう。

 

迷惑を掛けた国々に謝罪しなかった日本が、国民が揃って建国を祝う事も、国旗や国歌を誇りに思う事もおおっぴらに出来ずに長い年月をやり過ごしてしまった。だが考えようによっては、日本人が戦争を悔いる思いを長く引きずる結果になった事は、結果的に平和志向を長く維持出来た要因になっているのかもしれない。だが今ではこういう日本国民の意識を「平和ボケ」と揶揄するタカ派の論客が出て来ている。今年の広島、長崎の原爆の日はいつもの年にも増して国内のメディアの取上げ方は通り一遍だった気がする。加害国米国は未だに米国内で原爆被害の展示を拒んでいると言う。被害地域だけが「原爆は二度と使って欲しくない」と訴え続けても、若い世代や世界には伝わりにくいし、次の被害を抑止するきっかけにもなりにくい。与党実力者の使命は大きい筈だが、靖国神社参拝は真剣に考えるのに、原爆の日には左程熱心に向き合っているようには見えないのは気掛かりな現状だ。それに引き換え海外派兵には熱心に取組むようになっている事を思うと、建国を日本国民が揃って心から祝える日は益々遠くなるように思える。ならば終戦記念日を再建国記念日とした方が、建国記念日よりも広く国民に受け入れられるかもしれない。

 

【参考URL

* スイス国歌/Swiss National Anthem:

http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/schweiz/psalm/index.html (D/F/I/R)

* 外務省の世界の国旗/World flags: http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/world/kokki/ (J/E)

* 君が代の由来/Origin of Kimigayo: http://www.tanken.com/kimigayo.html

http://www.elrosa.com/tisen/70/70988.html

*  広島平和記念資料館公式サイト/ The Official Homepage of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum: http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/index2.html

* 長崎原爆資料館/Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum Official Site:

http://www1.city.nagasaki.nagasaki.jp/na-bomb/museum/ (J/E)

*《原爆の図》を描いた反戦画家丸木位里・丸木俊夫妻 http://www.aya.or.jp/~marukimsn/

 

 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ English ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

 

National Foundation Day and National Reconstruction Day

 

Akiko Hürlimann

 

 

Every year, when the summer comes, the whole nation in Switzerland and in Japan celebrates a big event. However, People’s mind and atmosphere is quite different between the two nations. In Switzerland, on the first of August, the whole nation celebrates its National Day. It is as if they reunite their minds even though it is a multinational and multilingual country in one way. On the other hand in Japan, people seems to have almost no will to celebrate their National Day on the eleventh of February, only political ceremonies are celebrated in obscurity somewhere. Instead of that day, the fifteenth of August overlaps the anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender and the Buddhist festival period called <Obon> (inviting departed souls at home), then many events of the requiem of the victims or departed souls are organized throughout the whole country. For about a week during that Obon holiday period, there is big mass migration of people going back to their hometowns in order to visit the cemeteries of their ancestors. I realized as never before that this event can be a cornerstone for the heart of a nation, but it has such a difference of mood even though fireworks are followed in the same summer season.

 

The Federal Government and local government authorities organize commemoration ceremonies on the Swiss National Day and celebrate boisterously together with citizens. The day is an occasion for politicians to talk to the people about their visions of nation building and the solidarity for the future using magnificent words. As the event falls on the summer school vacation, the day is the biggest summer event on which adults and children enjoy themselves all night. Switzerland is covered and decorated throughout the country with national flags showing the white cross in the red field; items such as small flags, paper lanterns, T-shirts, up to even Swiss flag style breads are available. All sorts of things are designed by the motif of the national flag! One can find Swiss mind here and feel that people are proud of their flag and loves it. Ceremonies or fire works of the day begin by the singing of the Swiss national anthem. But while the brass band plays solemnly, the singing voices of the people are almost vanishing. Actually not many people know the text and the words of the anthem completely, I heard. Because, in the past the melody was same as the British song “God save the Queen”, and not so many years have passed since the present melody was introduced in stead. Like a joke “God shave the Queen”, somehow there is some distance of favor compared to the national flag. This might tell you the difference and give you a deep insight view into the Swiss mind; showing that they have a highly independent spirit and are not just simply patriotic. However Swiss people share the feeling of protecting their unique country in the world on that day with the symbol of the legendary national hero called <William Tell>.

 

On the other hand, the majority of Japanese thinks rather complex about their National Day or disregards it even after so many years after the end of war. The day was called <Kigensetsu> before the war, and it is said that Emperor Jinmu ascended on that day according to the legend. Japanese people have no habit to celebrate that day already for a long time. Elder people seem to hesitate to celebrate it publicly, and the younger generation seems to wonder why they do not joyfully celebrate it like in other countries. Anyway, the reasons have faded by the time and almost all the people do not know any longer why. Nowadays we can see Japanese flags only on the occasion of Olympic games or at International football matches. When I was child, on the day of New Year or on public holidays, the gates of houses were displayed with the national flag. I remember that we occasionally sang the national anthem at school events too. But I haven’t seen such sceneries already for a long time. Nowadays, if people see the national flag at normal houses, it can be a suspicious sign of being right wing. We can see and hear the singing of the national anthem on limited occasions such as <Ohzumoh> or at victories on Olympic games. I still remember that I learned the meaning of the national anthem at school. Our teacher explained it bitterly and critically, “The Era of our Emperor should last thousands years.”

 

As I am one of the post war baby boomer generation, I like to look back at the Japanese education that I experienced, regarding to the subject of Japanese history, ancient history and medieval history; it used to proceed slowly like the speed of a regional train, then afterwards the speed gradually accelerated, then it proceeded through modern history with high speed like that of a super express train, and contemporary history was touched just by headlines or often omitted due to lack of time. Drifting away without any correct sense of history before the war and after the war. My understanding is that the ideological arguments were widely created among teachers and educational authorities along with the extension of cold war, and at the end of tug of war, the view about the Japanese history of the Japan teacher’s union and the Education Ministry was taken over and the national anthem was diminished at school. I think that I may say that almost every country in the world experienced war, but a country like Japan that still has feelings of remorse after the war seems to be rare. It seems that the politicians who represented the country did not say simply a word of “Sorry for having caused trouble to your nation” to invaded the countries immediately after the war. Were they just afraid of huge war indemnities Japan that was burned down to the ground almost everywhere after the war? As the process of the land reconstruction continued, Japan seemed to have paid the indemnities accordingly, however in the meantime the compensation was called a support from rich countries to poor countries. Japan is therefore branded as the country that was never able to heal the wounds of war regarding to foreign countries and that idea seems to have been fixed.

 

Mr. Hideki Tohgi, Gagaku player and composer, made Japanese classic music Gagaku enjoyable to everybody through playing Hichiriki. I am fascinated by his music that reminds us a romance of the everlasting universe. Once I heard that the Gagaku style Japanese national anthem <Kimigayo (His Majesty's reign)> was called just a song of Japan in the past, anyway the melody is solemn and beautiful. As I have been out of Japan for many years, I think that the continued stiff arguments against the national anthem make Japanese unhappy. I think to blame that upon a retro song about war is childish such as “On the white base put a sun, Ah! Beautiful, Japanese flag.” Based on history, Japanese will have not the will to do war again, I think. True or not true, I heard that after the war a country wanted to buy the symbol of the Japanese flag. Anyway, there is no question about the Japanese flag; it is as simple, clear and beautiful. The Webpage of the Japanese Foreign Ministry (MOF) introduces the national flags of the world, but I couldn’t find the Japanese national anthem at all! After searching for a long time, I finally found it at a private website of sports. Swiss national anthems from number one till four with beautiful mixed chorus even in four languages are fully introduced at the website of the Federal Administration. This contrast proofs that the Japanese national anthem has still not yet received her a right status.

 

Japan that did not promptly apologize to certain countries for having caused trouble, therefore it missed the time to be able to celebrate the national day with the whole nation, or to be openly proud of their national flag and national anthem. But it might be a reason to maintain peace in mind as we Japanese have some remorse about the war for decades. But nowadays there are hawkish controversialists calling mockingly such Japanese as <peace-addicted>. I felt that the inland media reported the memorial day of the Atomic bomb attack of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this year even more perfunctory than before. The United States (USA) as the perpetrator of that attack has still refused to exhibit these Atomic bomb damages in USA. Only the victims and the authorities of that regions continue to call for „no more Hiroshima, no more Nagasaki“; it is not easy to appeal to the younger generation and the international society, so therefore it is not easy to prevent the next victims. The mission of politicians must be eager on that matter. My concern about the present circumstances is, that influential politicians in the ruling parties think seriously about visiting Yasukuni Shrine, but they seem not so eager to participate at the ceremony of the memorial day of the atomic bomb attack. On the other hand, considering their eagerness about the matter regarding to the overseas deployment of troops, the day of celebrating national day together with the whole nation seems even to recede in the distance. If that is so, it might be widely accepted by the Japanese to enact National Reconstruction Day on the day of the end of war instead of National Foundation Day.

 

Useful URL

* Swiss National Anthem:

http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/schweiz/psalm/index.html (D/F/I/R)

* World flags: http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/world/kokki/ (J/E)

* Origin of Kimigayo: http://www.tanken.com/kimigayo.html

http://www.elrosa.com/tisen/70/70988.html

*  The Official Homepage of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum:

http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/index2.html

* Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum Official Site:

http://www1.city.nagasaki.nagasaki.jp/na-bomb/museum/ (J/E)

* Maruki Museum of Atomic bomb picture: http://www.aya.or.jp/~marukimsn/

 

 

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Nationaler Gruendungstag und nationaler Wiederaufbautag  

 

 

Akiko Hürlimann

 

 

- Deutsche folgt -

 

 

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[
 Writer / 著者紹介 ]
Akiko Hürlimann: jp-Swiss-journal
http://mypage.bluewin.ch/japinch/jp-swiss-journal/ah.htm

 

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