山田維史の遊卵画廊

参考：​ 映画「人間の条件　第１部」 ​

　原作は五味川純平の同名小説。著者は自身の体験（戦争、入隊、軍隊生活、捕虜）を基に本作を書いた。

    On December 8, Japan, which had been
devoted to war violence under the Meiji Emperor
Constitution, rushed forward to the Pacific War,
the final final act of violence. Today marks the
82nd anniversary of start of the war.

     After Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea,
Japan never went to war against other countries.
During that time, Japan was not necessarily at
peace for all people. It was not as if good govern-
ment was in place. However, from the perspective
of world history, it was a truly rare country that
never engaged in war with other countries.

     Although the Meiji Restoration completely 
mean Japan was born. The Constitution, which
was a enacted to be on par with the world’s best,
placed sovereignty in the Emperor ( constitutional
monarchy), that is, the legislative power rested
with the Emperor, and the people were defined as
the Emperor’s subjects and were restrained under
the guise of freedom.

     From then on, Japan pushed forward into a
century of war and violence with the goal of
enhancing its national prestige. This process
continued until August 15, 1945, with propaganda,
deception, conspiracies, threats, acceptance of
death, and the use of all means to turn the people
into (replaceable) cogs of the machine of violence.

     From December 8, 1941 to August 15, 1945,
approximately 3 million Japanese people died in
battle and sacrificed. Even before that, the number
of war dead had already fallen.

     The first half of the 20th century in Japan was a
season of violence. In fact, there is no end to those
who are bent on revising history as if the season
never happened. Revision is essentially about
cultivating things correctly, but “historical revision-
ism” is not academic, but a kind of self-centered
madness. It is a very psychological claim, so it is
not wrong to call it madness.

     Those who are historical revisionists attack
people who directly face the above-mentioned facts,
calling them “masochistic.” It is both interesting and
humorous that the words uttered by a madman are
precisely the psychopathological word “masochism.”
However, the attitude and thinking of determining the
facts is different from self-deprecation (masochistic).
Historical revisionists’ methodologies that do not
assess the facts, and arguments that do not aim at a
paradigm theory that views self and others from an
impartial perspective and are fair in their interests, will
only cause trouble for both parties. Because the root
cause of this misfortune is long-term and transcends
generations, the result is “masochism.” Simply put,
historical revisionism is a self-deprecating view of
history.

     Currently, there is talk of amending the Japanese
Constitution. Article 9, which declares the renunciation
of war, seems to be the focus of the revision, but that is
not what revisionists are aiming for. The establishment
of an independent constitution, they say, is a restoration
of the Meiji Constitution* under the monarchy system. In
fact, they are aiming to restore the “Meiji Constitution.”
This may seem surprising to some, but it is true. I won’t
mention the actual name of the groups, related organi-
zations, and people involved here, but they are using
very clever means to spread their influence across the
country through the so-called grassroots movement
method. The Abe administration’s policy research sought
to realize the “Meiji Constitution.” All of the ministers were
members of, and supported by, organizations aiming to
make this happen. Actually, even now.

     I don’t belong to anything. Although I am not neces-
sarily neutral in all matters. I am opposed to the prog-
ress of society that threatens to restrict freedom and to
suspicious thoughts that are war-oriented. 

     I firmly reject the restoration of the Meiji Constitution,
which functioned as a violent device. What about
“subjects”? Rude!

【* note】

The basic ideas of the Meiji Eperor Constitution are roughly as follows:

1) Emperor's sovereignty covered by divine country ideology (constitutional　 absolute monarchy)

2) Militarism (The idea that the people are a shield to protect the emperor,     which ignores the dignity of the people as individuals, emerges.

3) National emergency clause (the military seizes all authority, deeply
    intervenes in the daily lives of the people, and regulates their speech and
    behavior to make them conform)

4) Male-centered patriarchal family system (disdain for women; the idea that    women are tools for men to give birth to children)

5) Imperial Rescript on Education (subject education that thoroughly
    implements 1, 2, 3and 4 above)

　◉ It should be noted that if the current constitution
amendment includes a state of emergency clause, there will be
no need to discuss Article 9, which renounces war.