著者

福岡 安則 黒坂 愛衣

出版者

埼玉大学大学院文化科学研究科

雑誌

日本アジア研究 : 埼玉大学大学院文化科学研究科博士後期課程紀要 = Journal of Japanese & Asian Studies (ISSN:13490028)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.12, pp.127-146, 2015

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ハンセン病療養所「菊池恵楓園」に暮らす80 歳代男性のライフストーリー。 杉野芳武(すぎの・よしたけ)さんは,1931 年3 月,熊本県生まれ。1942 年9月27 日,菊池恵楓園に入所。この11 歳で母に連れられて恵楓園にやって来たとき,彼は子どもながらに入所を拒否して"脱走"している。ところが,再度母親に連れられて「門をくぐった」彼は「もう外に出るのが怖くなった」と語る。彼が生家の敷居を再び跨いだのは,母危篤の連絡を受けた1979 年のことであった。37 年間も彼の生家への帰省を阻む目に見えない力が,「癩/らい予防法」下のハンセン病療養所には作動していたということであろう。 2001 年のハンセン病違憲国賠訴訟の熊本地裁での原告勝訴のあと,2003 年になって,熊本県内の黒川温泉で恵楓園入所者への宿泊拒否事件が発生。その町は杉野さんの生まれ故郷であった。自治会役員としてこの問題に対処した当事者の視点から,事件の顛末を詳しく語っていただけた。――恵楓園にやって来たホテルの総支配人の"謝罪文"の受取りを入所者自治会が拒否する場面が全国放送で流され,その後,入所者たちに対する誹謗中傷の手紙や電話が殺到した。杉野さんの語りによれば,ホテルに総支配人を訪ねたときは,宿泊拒否は「本社の社長の判断だ」と言い張っていたのが,恵楓園に来たときは「お断りしたのはすべて自分の判断」で押し通したのだという。心からの反省,謝罪を微塵も感じ取れなかったがゆえの,入所者たちの反応だったのだ。 聞き取りは,2011 年3 月15 日,菊池恵楓園の自治会室にて。聞き手は,福岡安則,黒坂愛衣,足立香織。聞き取り時点で,杉野芳武さんは,80 歳。2010年,杉野かほるの筆名でおつれあいの杉野桂子さんと『エッセー集 連理の枝』を上梓。囲碁はアマ6 段の腕前で,赤旗主催の棋戦では熊本県代表となって全国大会に出場したこともある。短歌を詠み,随筆も書き,アマチュア無線も楽しむという多才のひとである。 2012 年12 月8 日,原稿確認。2014 年7 月に恵楓園を再訪したとき,白板の7 月の予定表には,入所者自治会の志村康会長,稲葉正彦副会長とならんで,恵楓園を訪ねてくる小中学生相手の説明役として杉野芳武さんの名前も書かれていた。ハンセン病に対する偏見差別をなんとしてでもなくしたいという強靱な意志が,かれらの活動を支えているのであろう。 なお,〔 〕は聞き手による補筆である。 This is the life story of a man in his 80s living in Kikuchi-Keifūen, a Hansen's disease facility. Mr. Yoshitake Sugino was born in March 1931 in Kumamoto prefecture and sent to Kikuchi-Keifūen on 27th September 1942. He was 11 years old and refused to enter the facility when his mother brought him to Kikuchi-Keifūen. He ran away but came to the facility with his mother again to 'enter the gate.' He said that he was scared to go out. He revisited home after hearing the news that his mother was in a critical condition in 1979. It was the first time for him to return home since entering the facility. There was invisible power to disturb him to visit home for 37 years. It must be the Segregation Policy which affected Hansen's disease patients' lives in the leprosy facilities. Even after the unconstitutionality lawsuit against the Segregation Policy was decided in favor of the plaintiffs by the Kumamoto district court in 2001, there was an incident at a hotel in Kurokawa hot springs in which people from Kikuchi-Keifūen were refused entry, in 2003. The town was Mr. Sugino's home. We were able to hear the details because he was involved in the arbitration for this event as an executive member of the resident association of Kikuchi-Keifūen. The general manager of the hotel visited Kikuchi-Keifūen to submit the 'apology statement' but the resident association refused to accept it. This scene was aired by the national broadcasting network. Subsequently, masses of letters and phone calls criticizing the people in Kikuchi-Keifūen rushed in. According to Mr. Sugino, the general manager had claimed that rejecting the Kikuchi-Keifūen people was the hotel president's decision when Mr. Sugino and his colleague visited the general manager at the hotel. However, the manager changed her word when she came to the facility, saying that the manager herself decided to reject the people. All members in Kikuchi-Keifūen could not see even a tiny piece of sincerity from the 'apology.' This interview was conducted at the resident association office of Kikuchi-Keifūen on 15th March 2011. Interviewers were Yasunori Fukuoka, Ai Kurosaka and Kaori Adachi. Mr. Yoshitake Sugino was 80 years old at the time of the interview. Mr. Sugino published the essay book Renri no Eda with his wife Keiko Sugino. He is a skillful 'Go' player with a rank of amateur six-dan, and joined the national Go tournament hosted by Akahata as the representative of Kumamoto prefecture. He is also a man of other talents who enjoys composing thirty-one syllabled verses, writing essays, and operating a ham radio. The interview script was approved by him on 8th December 2012. When we revisited Kikuchi-Keifūen in July 2014, the schedule board in the resident association office displayed that Mr. Sugino worked as the speaker of the explanation of Hansen's disease for young students as Mr. Masahiko Inaba, the vice president of the resident association. The strong determination to abolish the discrimination on Hansen's disease motivates their activities.