「はだしのゲン」 教育上の配慮をどう考えるか

The Yomiuri Shimbun August 26, 2013
Should ‘Barefoot Gen’ be stricted from educational point of view?
「はだしのゲン」　教育上の配慮をどう考えるか（8月25日付・読売社説）

The ripples are spreading after the Matsue Municipal Board of Education requested that the city’s public primary and middle schools restrict student access to “Hadashi no Gen” (Barefoot Gen), the signature work by late manga author Keiji Nakazawa that depicts the horror of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
　原爆の悲惨さを描いた漫画家・中沢啓治さんの代表作「はだしのゲン」について、松江市教育委員会が市立小中学校に閲覧の制限を要請したことが波紋を広げている。

Students in the capital of Shimane Prefecture are now unable to read freely this 10-volume manga series at most school libraries unless they get special permission from their teachers.
　現在、松江市内の大半の学校図書館では、教師の許可がないと子供が自由にこの作品を読むことができない状態が続いている。

The education board judged that the manga’s graphic depictions of the Hiroshima bombing and its aftermath were not a problem. However, it decided that some descriptions of actions involving Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in other Asian nations were extreme and inappropriate.
　市教委は生々しい原爆被害の場面ではなく、旧日本軍にかかわる描写の一部を、過激で不適切と判断した。

The problematic scenes in “Barefoot Gen” included beheadings of non-Japanese Asians just for fun, slicing open the abdomen of a pregnant woman to pull out her baby, and the brutal killing of other women.
アジアの人の首を面白半分に切り落とす。妊婦の腹を切り裂いて、中の赤ん坊を引っ張り出す。女性を惨殺する、といった描写についてだ。

The municipal board of education apparently limited access to the manga in consideration of the nature of libraries at primary and middle schools, where children become familiar with books as they grow up.
　成長過程の子供が本に親しむ小中学校図書館の性格を考えて、市教委がとった措置と言えよう。

The Constitution guarantees the freedom of expression, and states, “No censorship shall be maintained.”
　憲法は、表現の自由を保障し、検閲を禁じている。市民が広く利用する一般の公立図書館で蔵書の閲覧を制限することは、こうした観点から許されない。

Restricting access to books available at an ordinary public library open to citizens can never be permissible in light of the spirit of the Constitution.
　ただ、小中学校図書館を一般図書館と同列に論じることは適切ではあるまい。

However, it may not be fair to treat libraries at primary and middle schools in the same way as ordinary libraries. The possible impact books can have on children must be taken into account. There may be cases in which meticulous care must be taken in accordance with the stages of children’s physical and mental development.
作品が子供に与える影響を考える必要がある。心身の発達段階に応じた細かな対応が求められるケースもあるだろう。

Doubtful claims

Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Hakubun Shimomura said the board’s decision “should be considered as representing one way of thinking.” He added that “due consideration should be paid from an educational point of view” on the matter. We think his view is reasonable.
　下村文部科学相が「市教委の判断は一つの考え方。教育上の配慮はするべきだと思う」と述べたことはもっともである。

“Barefoot Gen” is based on Nakazawa’s own experience of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The story’s protagonist, Gen, is a boy who bravely overcomes a number of hardships in spite of losing relatives in the bombing.
　「はだしのゲン」は、広島での中沢さん自身の被爆体験が基になっている。肉親を失った主人公の少年が困難に直面しながらも、たくましく生き抜く物語だ。

The manga series started in 1973 in the Shukan Shonen Jump comic weekly and was carried in several magazines during a run that lasted more than 10 years. When published as an independent book, “Barefoot Gen” became a best seller. The story has been translated into about 20 languages and published in many countries.
　１９７３年に週刊少年ジャンプで連載がスタート、掲載誌を替えながら、１０年以上続いた。単行本はベストセラーとなった。約２０か国語に翻訳・出版されている。

Initially, some of the scenes depicting Hiroshima just after the atomic bombing were criticized as being excessively graphic, but there can be no doubt such descriptions conveyed the appalling reality of the bombing.
　連載当初は、広島の被爆シーンがリアルすぎるとの批判もあったが、そうした描写こそが原爆の惨禍の実相を伝えてきた。

Given that survivors of the nuclear bombing are aging and passing on memories of the war has become a pressing task, “Barefoot Gen” is definitely a valuable work of literature.
　被爆者の高齢化が進み、戦争体験の継承が大きな課題になっている中、「はだしのゲン」が貴重な作品であるのは間違いない。

On the other hand, the closing stages also make assertions apparently designed to favor a particular political standpoint, making flimsy claims including that the former Imperial Japanese Army “brutally killed more than 30 million people in other Asian countries such as China and Korea in the name of the Emperor.”
　その一方で、作品の終盤では、「天皇陛下のためだという名目で日本軍は中国、朝鮮、アジアの各国で約３０００万人以上の人を残酷に殺してきた」といった根拠に乏しい、特定の政治的立場にも通じる主張が出てくる。

While it is, of course, essential to respect freedom of expression, due attention should be paid at the same time to the manga’s impact on children’s education.
　表現の自由を尊重しつつ、同時に教育上の影響にも目配りする。

The decision by the Matsue board of education has brought to the fore the question of where schools should draw the line in exposing children to items of literature as part of their education.
学びの場で児童生徒が様々な作品に接する際、学校側がどこまで配慮すべきかという問題を、松江市のケースは投げかけている。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug. 25, 2013)
（2013年8月25日01時25分  読売新聞）