著者

福岡 安則 黒坂 愛衣

出版者

埼玉大学大学院人文社会科学研究科

雑誌

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

巻号頁・発行日

vol.13, pp.137-168, 2016

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国立ハンセン病療養所「菊池恵楓園」に暮らす80代男性のライフストーリー。長州次郎さん(筆名)は,1927(昭和2)年,山口県生まれ。旧制の商業学校4 年のときにハンセン病を発症。1943年8月13日,父方・母方のオジ2人に付き添われて,菊池恵楓園に入所。――聞き取りは,語り手の寮舎にて,2011年7月9日の午前と夕方,計4時間半の長時間に及んだ。聞き手は福岡安則と黒坂愛衣。聞き取り時点で長州次郎さんは84歳。長州さんの語りは,大きく3つの物語からなる。1つは,母親とふるさとへの想いの発露。長州さんは,幼くして父親と死別しているせいか,母親への想いが人一倍強い。その彼が,小郡駅に見送りに来た母親との別れの場面で,もはや使わない通学定期券を母に渡したとき,母は「ハンカチで」受け取ったという。その悲しみを語るとき,長州さんは涙声になっていた。そして,家の跡を継ぐ妹の結婚に際しては,妹の婿に彼がハンセン病患者であることを隠すために,「父親が芸者に産ませた子」との作り話がなされたという。九大病院で「らい病」の診断を下された途端,オジたちに生家へ帰ることを禁じられた体験からか,長州さんはたった一度,1947年にしか「一時帰省」をしていない。それも,人目につかないように夜の闇に紛れての帰省であった。1996(平成8)年の「らい予防法」廃止により,県の事業としての「里帰り」が始まるが,その最初の「里帰り」でも,長州さんが母親と再会したのは,とある公園においてであって,実家の敷居を跨いではいない。翌1997年2月に母親は100歳で死亡。その訃報は初七日が過ぎてからであったという。その後も,毎年「里帰り」には参加しているものの,100 メートル先のタクシーのなかから実家を望むだけである。2つは,恵楓園の治療の至らなさへの批判の物語。戦時中の1943年に入所した彼は,敗戦までのまる2 年間,陸軍から治験薬として委託された「虹波」の実験台にされ,月に1 回は「七転八倒」するほどの胃痙攣に悩まされたという。また,戦後,特効薬として多くの病者に歓喜をもって迎えられたプロミン治療で,「だるい神経痛」症状を来たし,手の下垂などの後遺障害をもつに至った。さらに,恵楓園に眼科医不在の時代にハンセン病特有の虹彩炎を患い,まともな治療を受けられなかった。そのため,白内障を患い,いまでは恵楓園の「白内障友の会」の会長をつとめているという。それと,1948年に園内で結婚したあと,妻が妊娠。当然のこととして,妻は堕胎,そして彼は断種手術を受けさせられた。この体験を語るとき,長州さんは,ふたたび涙声になっていた。3つは,いまだに革新の旗を下ろさない,「最古参」の,社会党の老闘士の相貌である。長州さんの語りによれば,1926(大正15)年に発足した菊池恵園(当時は「九州癩療養所」)の自治会は,当初,園の御用をつとめる側面と入所者の相互扶助に貢献する側面の両面をもっていたが,戦後,軍人軍属の体験をもつ入所者が傷痍軍人としての恩給を給付されるようになると,かれらを中心に保守的な勢力が自治会役員を占めるようになる。それに対して,増重文(ます・しげふみ)らの指導のもと,長州さんたち若手が「革新」の旗を掲げて,園内に社会党支部を結成,多いときには100 人以上の党員・党友を結集していたという。自用費獲得闘争,「医者よこせ,看護婦よこせ」闘争などでは,まだ飛行場も新幹線もない時代に,長時間汽車に揺られて東京まで陳情に出かけた話が思い出ぶかく語られる。長州さんは,聞き取りの時点で,入所者自治会の執行部の成立が危うくなっていて,自身1961年から途切れることなくなんらかの役員として尽力してきた自治会が「休会」に追い込まれはしないかと心配されていたが,その後も,会長職を工藤雅敏さん,そして志村康さんが引き継いで,恵楓園自治会は,満身創痍の役員たちの頑張りによって,2015 年2月1日に恵楓園を訪問した時点では存続している。2015年2月1日,2日に,読み上げによる原稿確認と補充の聞き取りをおこなった。This is the life story of a man in his 80s who is living in Kikuchi-Keifūen, a Hansen's disease facility.Mr. Jiro Choshu (his pen name in the Hansen's disease facility) was born in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1927. His Hansen's disease symptom began when he was 4th grade of a commercial school. On August 13, 1943, his two uncles (one was the father side and the other was mother side) brought him to Kikuchi-Keifūen in Kumamoto Prefecture.The interview was held in the interviewee's dormitory room on July 9, 2011. It was a long interview which took 4 and a half hours. Interviewers were Yasunori Fukuoka and Ai Kurosaka. The interviewee was 84 years old at the moment of the interview.His life story can be categorized by 3 big themes. The first one is the memory with his mother and hometown. Since Mr. Choshu lost his father when he was young, he has had a strong bond with his mother. In the moment of farewell at Ogori station, Mr. Choshu handed his student commuter pass that he would not use any longer to his mother, and she carefully received it with her handkerchief. He reminded that sad moment with tearful voice. His relatives made up the story of Mr. Choshu's birth that he was the child born outside of marriage, the affair between his father and a show girl, because his sister was about to marry a man who would succeed Mr. Choshu's household. They fabricated this story to hide family history of Hansen's disease and banned Mr. Choshu to visit hometown. In fact, Mr. Choshu had visited hometown only one time in 1947 even in the nighttime not to be seen by other people. After the Segregation Policy was abolished in 1996, the Yamaguchi Prefecture helped the Hansen's disease ex-patients come back home and Mr. Choshu had a chance to visit his mother. However it was at a public park, not his family house. Next year, his mother passed away at the age of 100, but Mr. Choshu received the notice 7 days later. Every year, he visits the hometown and always looks over his family house from 100 meters away in a taxi.The second theme of his life story is his criticism on the poor treatment at Kikuchi-Keifūen. He entered the facility in 1943 when the war was going on. Until Japan was defeated 2 years later, he became the subject of the clinical test for the medicine Koha that the Japanese imperial army requested to the facility. This medicine caused a deadly gastro spasm once a month. Promin, developed as the wonder-drug for Hansen's disease after the war, also gave him several aftereffects. He got heavy neuralgia and hand descensus. Even more, he did not have proper treatment for iris inflammation, one of the characteristic complications of Hansen's disease, because Kikuchi-Keifūen did not have an ophthalmologist. Consequently, his iris inflammation was developed to cataract. Currently he is serving as the representative of the Cataract Patients Group in Kikuchi-Keifūen. In 1948, he got married to a woman whom he met in the facility. His wife got pregnant and was forced to have an abortion. Mr. Choshu also had a sterilization surgery. He told these experiences in tearful voice.The last theme is his face as the oldest champion of Social Democratic Party of Japan, still raising the flag of anti-conservatism. According to his mention, the residents' association of Kikuchi-Keifūen had two characters: a company union and a mutual aid for the residents. However, it became conservative as the residents with military service experience and benefits for disabled soldiers increased. Against this tendency, Mr. Choshu and other young people raised the flag of anti-conservatism under the leadership of Shigefumi Masu, and built the Kikuchi-Keifūen branch of the Social Democratic Party of Japan. At the maximum, this branch once had over 100 members. They participated in fighting for necessity allowance and also in the 'Sending Doctors and Nurses to Us' movement, visiting Tokyo to appeal to the Government. At that time there was no airport or Shinkansen, so they had to endure long distance train trips. At the time of this interview, Mr. Choshu worried about the future of the administration of the residents' association. He had kept his service as the board member and devoted himself to the administration since 1961. Fortunately, the association is still functioning properly thanks to the effort of senior board members.On February 1 and 2, 2015, the interviewers read the interview script in front of Mr. Choshu to get his affirmation. We practiced the follow-up interview as well.