NHK 대하드라마 ｢西郷どん｣을 통한 일본의 역사인식 고찰

A Study on the History Education in Japan through the Analysis of the NHK Historical Drama ｢Saigo-don｣

2018年日本のNHK大河ドラマ｢西郷どん｣は、林真理子の小説を原作として、西郷隆盛のモットーで有名な‘敬天愛人’を主題として、西郷隆盛という謎の人物を包容力高く、愛が溢れるリーダーの姿で描き出している。このドラマが放映された2018年は、明治維新の150周年を迎えた時で、當時日本の政府は右傾化が深刻化されていた安部政権だった。安部政権の間、NHK大河ドラマの歴史的背景として最も多く扱われた時代が、幕府末期と明治維新期であった。しかし、｢西郷どん｣がこれまでの他のドラマと違った点は、今まで歴史的に評価された西郷隆盛という人物を違う見解で描き出しているということだ。 このドラマは今まで征韓論者として評価されてきた西郷隆盛像ではなく、日本の最大、最後の内乱である西南戦争に関わって明治維新の英雄でありながら、明治維新の最大の被害者であり、賊徒になった西郷という一人の男の波乱の人生に注目して描いている。

The 2018 NHK historical drama in Japan, ｢Saigo-don｣ is based on a novel by Mariko Hayashi, and it portrays Takamori Saigo, a mysterious figure in the history, as a leader full of love for mankind by focussing on his famous motto “respecting the heaven and admiring the human.” The year of 2018, when this historical drama was aired, marked the 150th year anniversary of Meiji Restoration. At the time, the prime minister of Japan was Shinzo Abe, and the government was seriously right-wing. During the Abe administration, the two eras that were most featured in NHK historical drama series are the late Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji Restoration period. However, the NHK drama, Saigo-don, is unique in that it represents Takamori Saigo, who is usually considered a prominent figure in the history, from a different perspective. The drama featured the following points with regard to Takamori Saigo, which had not been described in the preceding historical dramas: he advocated an expedition to Korea, he is viewed as a hero who brought about Satsuma rebellion (the most serious and the last civil war in Japan), he was the ultimate victim of Meiji Restoration, and he ended up being a revel.