- 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 (ISSN:13490028)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.12, pp.107-125, 2015
ハンセン病療養所「菊池恵楓園」に暮らす70 歳代男性のライフストーリー。 稲葉正彦さん(園名)は,1934 年,熊本県生まれ。中学を卒業して,神戸製鋼に勤める。26 歳で結婚。ハンセン病の症状が出始め,大阪大学で通院治療を受けるが,「1 日おきの通院」を求められ,勤めを辞めざるをえなくなり,1965 年5 月26 日,菊池恵楓園に収容。結婚して5 年目,31 歳になったばかりの働き盛りであった。兵庫県の車で熊本まで移送されるものの,彼にはこのとき一晩で恵楓園まで着いたのか二晩かかったのかの定かな記憶が再現できない。――このときの悔しさゆえ,1998 年提訴の「らい予防法違憲国賠訴訟」では,原告の一員に加わったのだという。ハンセン病に罹ったこと自体を不遇の根拠と考えてしまうハンセン病罹患者が多いなかで,彼は「らい予防法」ゆえに社会生活を送りながらの通院加療の体制が整えられていなかったのだと,明晰な認識を構築しえているのが印象的であった。 聞き取りは,2011 年7 月8 日,菊池恵楓園の自治会室にて。聞き手は福岡安則と黒坂愛衣。聞き取り時点で77 歳。なお,2012 年12 月7 日,ご本人と読み上げによる原稿確認をした。稲葉さんには隔離収容体験の苛烈さゆえか,"自分が置かれた立場の自己対象化の明晰さ"と同時に,一面"シニカルさ"をも併せ持っているように感じられるが,それも彼を取り巻く社会的関係性の函数であることを伺わせる語りが,この補充の聞き取りで聞くことができた。つまり,2011 年の聞き取りでは,身内からは"供養事は呼ばれても祝い事は呼ばれない"と諦めに似た感慨とともに語っていたのが,2012 年のときには,この1 年のあいだに"姪の子の結婚式に招かれた"ことを喜びとともに語り,ハンセン病問題にかんする"啓発が行き届き始めているのではないか"と,これからに希望を見いだしつつある。 語りのなかで,稲葉さんは「ガンの治療」をしたとサラッと語っているが,どうやら予後はあまり芳しくないようである。2014 年7 月にわたしたちが再度,恵楓園を訪ねたとき,彼の顔色はよくなかった。しかし,その体で彼は,恵楓園自治会の副会長をつとめ,他の自治会役員とともに,月に複数回,恵楓園を訪ねてくる小中学生たちを相手の説明役をこなしている。 なお,〔 〕は聞き手による補筆である。 【追記】稲葉正彦さんは,2015 年1 月3 日永眠された。享年80 歳。合掌。 This is the life story of a man in his 70s living in Kikuchi-Keifūen, a Hansen's disease facility. Mr. Masahiko Inaba (his alias in the Hansen's disease facility) was born in Kumamoto prefecture in 1934. After graduating junior high school, he worked for Kobe Steel. He got married at 26. When Mr. Inaba got Hansen's disease he went to the Osaka University Hospital to seek a cure. He had to quit his job because his doctor told him that he needed to attend every other day for medicine. He was sent to Kikuchi-Keifūen on 26th May 1965. He was only 31 years old when he entered the Hansen's disease facility. It was the 5th year of his marriage and the prime time of his life. He was transferred from Hyogo prefecture to Kumamoto by a car but he did not remember if it took one night or a couple of nights to arrive at Kikuchi-Keifūen. The fury that he felt at that time never disappeared and propelled him to join the lawsuit suing the Segregation Policy for unconstitutionality as a member of plaintiffs 33 years later. In general, many Hansen's disease ex-patients have a tendency to regard having symptoms as individual adversity. However, Mr. Inaba seemed to have a clear opinion that the Segregation Policy and lack of social systems to support Hansen's disease patients in their attempts to carry on a normal life style while making regular hospital visits were real problems. This interview was conducted at the resident association office of Kikuchi-Keifūen on 8th July 2011. Interviewers were Yasunori Fukuoka and Ai Kurosaka. Mr. Inaba was 77 years old at the time of the interview. The interview script was revised with a follow-up interview and then approved by him on 7th December 2012. His stories show his objective and somewhat cynical attitudes toward his own experiences of segregated life in the Hansen's disease facility. Through the follow-up interview we learned that such attitudes were the product of the relationship between him and intimate people around him. When we interviewed him in 2011 he lamented that his relatives invited him for sad events but never sought him for celebrations. However, when we visited him again in 2012, he happily told us that he was invited for the wedding ceremony of his niece's children. Mr. Inaba also added that this event showed a hopeful development of the people's understanding of Hansen's disease. During the interview, he told us he has cancer, and it seemed that he was not in good condition. In July 2014, when we met him again at Kikuchi-Keifūen, in spite of his bad condition, he was serving as vice president of the resident association and giving speeches to young students to explain about Hansen's disease.