満鉄調査部に関する一考察 - 満鉄調査部の成立と背景を中心として

A Study on the Examination Department of the South Manchuria Railway

After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan advanced into Manchuria and established the South Manchuria Railway Company, where Shinpei Goto was appointed as its first president. Goto not only managed the railway company but also focused on several ventures such as newspapers, printing, education, and cultural enterprises. What intrigued him most was the examining functions of Mantetsu (the South Manchuria Railway Company), and this led to the establishment of the Examination Department of Mantetsu. The types of their activities included the collection and management of materials, investigation and research, information dissemination and publicity, and, depending on the period, even intelligence gathering. In particular, while it is an undeniable fact that the majority of their work was devoted to field surveys and academic research, the 1917 Russian Revolution led them to expand their activities beyond their original purely academic investigations and initiate, for instance, the surveys of the regions along the Russian border to restrain Russia’s southward advance. Their investigative activities aimed to expand Japan’s influence in Manchuria, and they can be seen as laying the groundwork for Japan’s later plans to establish Manchukuo.

日本は日露戦争後、満州に進出し、南満州鉄道会社を設立、その初代総裁に後藤新平が就任した。後藤新平は、鉄道経営のほか新聞、印刷、教育、文化事業などに着目していたが、特に、満鉄(南満州鉄道株式会社)の調査機能には高い関心を示しており、それが満鉄調査部であった。彼等の調査活動の種類としては、資料収集·管理、調査·研究、情報·弘報、さらに時期によっては諜報活動も行っていた。特に、現地調査や学術研究が多かったことは否定できないが、1917年ロシア革命を契機に彼等の事業は、既存の純粋な学術目的に限らず、ロシア南下と牽制のためのロシア接境地域調査などを始めていた。こうした彼等の調査活動は、満州における日本の影響力の拡大にあり、さらに日本の満州国構想に対する事前布石の一環としての活動であったと言える。