樺太庁師範学校における樺太史教育

This paper will identify the expected role of schools in Karafuto, a minor colony located on the border of Imperial Japan, during the Pacific War, by exploring the content of history education and its dissemination activities at Karafuto Normal School. One early resource on education in Karafuto is Karafuto Chihou [Karafuto Region] (1957, Hokkaido School Board), included in Hokkaido Kyouikushi [History of Hokkaido Education] edited by the Hokkaido Education Research Institute. This book is primarily a broad outline of Karafuto history education with little detailed information on curriculum and, due to the book's attempt to understand education in Karafuto as "an extension of Hokkaido," Karafuto's original character is obscure. More recent studies of Karafuto's history are oriented to investigate its original character as a colony, as well as shared characteristics with Hokkaido. It would be extremely useful to explore the orientation of Karafuto's prefectural and educational leaders-particularly during the latter half of the 1930s when Japan was about to plunge into the Pacific War-and what kind of identity those educational leaders attempted to cultivate in the citizenry. Advancing these research interests, this paper focuses on changes in the perception of history in Karafuto during the era, and reasons for this change. This paper specifically traces the achievements of Sadayoshi Nishizuru, who became interested in Karafuto's history, moved there after acquiring a teaching certificate, and eventually became a teacher at Karafuto Normal School. This study investigates how his work and study was reflected in history education offered at the school. Shortly after Nishizuru began his research into Karafuto's history, there emerged an urgent demand for a written history of Karafuto with a "patriotic" emphasis. As an educator in charge of training prospective teachers in Karafuto schools, Nishizuru felt a strong "sense of duty" and engaged in writing a "patriotic" history of Karafuto to show the "historical facts" based on his unique interpretation that "Karafuto has been Japan's territory since ancient times," a claim that received criticism even then. His primary publications, including Karafuto no Shiori [Guidebook of Karafuto], received great acclaim in Karafuto. Underlying this push for a patriotic local history was an increasing number of islanders leaving due to wartime hardships, as well as the Karafuto government's increased concern regarding Soviet incursions. Given the situation, the teaching of Karafuto's history, as presented by Nishizuru, came to emphasize the legitimacy of Japan's possession of the island and added to the original idea of promoting "patriotic spirit toward the island." As a school that was expected to teach these ideas, Karafuto Normal School pursued "its originally assigned duty to serve the Japanese empire" in order to help promote settlement and unification of the people, to which the Karafuto government was committed. In response to this expectation, Nishizuru continued writing "history" inspired by his convictions. The fundamental issues here are "history description" and "education" that were under pressure from the political situation of the time. These concerns are not merely regional issues that occurred in Karafuto, but they also raise universal questions that can be applied to situations at other times and locations.