札幌から稚内は遠い。わたしは人生時間で札幌から小１時間ほどの空知郡栗沢町から札幌に３歳で移転し、一時期８年の東京在住を経て、その後ずっと札幌暮らし。仕事生活では地域住宅雑誌を刊行し続けてきたけれど、稚内の取材機会はなかった。稚内は札幌から316km。その半分距離の旭川までは通常的なビジネス圏だったけれど、そこから北方にはほとんど縁がなかった。
　住宅関連ビジネスということでどうしても人口集中地域が中心にならざるを得ない。仕事の志向性も東北や関東、関西といった地域への「高断熱高気密」住宅技術の波及に合わせたビジネス展開という流れ。
　今回、仕事生活からやや離れての夫婦旅。約10年ぶりに稚内を訪れ、はじめて地域史など博物館施設を探訪出来た。こうした歴史中心行脚は本州以南地域を中心にながく行ってきたけれど、まことに灯台元暗し。はじめてこの「北方の街」を旅した次第。そして知れば知るほど対ロシア・ソ連との「国境の街」であることに深く打たれる。
　同じ北海道人でありながらこうした地域史の重大部分にボーッとしていたことに無念と恥ずかしさを覚えた。
　写真は、稚内の街を見晴らす高台に位置する「氷雪の門」銅像。卒業した高校の大先輩の彫刻家・本郷新氏の力作で樺太での戦前期・戦後直後の動乱期についての記録表現。以下に碑文要約。
　〜「氷雪の門」　人びとはこの地から樺太に渡り樺太からここに帰った。戦後はその門もかたく鎖された。それから18年、望郷の念止みがたく樺太で亡くなった多くの同胞の霊を慰めるべく、肉眼で樺太の見える所縁の地の丘に（中略）祈念碑を造る。氷と雪のなかできびしく生き抜いた人びとを象徴する女人像（中略）が彫刻家・本郷新先生の力作で出来上がった。この祈念碑を「氷雪の門」と命名した。　昭和三十八年八月十五日　稚内市長　浜中辰雄　〜
　そして次の写真は、戦争終結５日後ソ連軍によって侵略攻撃された樺太・真岡の町で、電話交換はもっとも大事な仕事と当時の「緊急疎開」にも応じず職務に当たっていて無惨に「自決」した、９人の女性たちの北方記念館での展示写真。
　こういう生々しい「歴史記録」にこころが立ち止まってしまっていた。・・・

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[Praying for the record of Sakhalin compatriots in the border city of Wakkanai “Ice and Snow Gate”]
I was exposed to the local history of Wakkanai-Karafuto, which I had never learned in my life time. I was made to feel a deep sense of lamentation. Regret and shame. …

　Wakkanai is a long way from Sapporo. I moved to Sapporo at the age of three from Kurisawa-cho, Sorachi-gun, about an hour from Sapporo in my life time, and after living in Tokyo for eight years, I have lived in Sapporo ever since. In my professional life, I have been publishing a local housing magazine, but I have never had the opportunity to cover Wakkanai. Wakkanai is 316 km from Sapporo, and although it is within the normal business zone up to Asahikawa, which is half that distance, I have had little contact with the northern part of the country.
　As a housing-related business, we had no choice but to focus on populated areas. The business orientation of the company is to develop business in line with the spread of “highly insulated and airtight” housing technology to the Tohoku, Kanto, and Kansai regions.
　This time, the couple took a trip to Wakkanai for the first time in about 10 years. We visited Wakkanai for the first time in about 10 years, and were able to explore the local history and other museum facilities for the first time. I have been making such history-centered trips for a long time, mainly to the south of Honshu, but it is truly dark at the lighthouse. This was my first trip to this “northern city. The more I learned about it, the more I was struck by the fact that it is a “border town” with Russia and the Soviet Union.
　I felt regret and embarrassment that I had been unaware of such an important part of the region’s history, even though I am a Hokkaido native.
　The photo shows the “Ice and Snow Gate” bronze statue located on a hill overlooking the city of Wakkanai. It is the work of sculptor Arata Hongo, a senior at the high school from which I graduated, and is a record of the upheaval in Karafuto before and immediately after the war. The following is a summary of the inscription.
　〜People came from this place to Karafuto and returned from Karafuto to this place. After the war, the gate was closed. Eighteen years have passed since then, and in order to comfort the spirits of many of our compatriots who died in Karafuto, we have built a monument on a hill where we can see Karafuto with the naked eye. The sculptor, Mr. Arata Hongo, has created a statue of a woman symbolizing those who survived in the ice and snow. The monument was named “Hyosetsu no Mon (Gate of Ice and Snow).　August 15, 1963 Wakkanai Mayor Tatsuo Hamanaka –
The following photos are of nine women who did not accept the “emergency evacuation” at the time and committed suicide while performing their duties as telephone operators, the most important job in the town of Moka, Sakhalin, which was invaded by the Soviet Army five days after the war ended.
　I was stopped in my tracks by these graphic “historical records”. I was stopped in my tracks by these vivid “historical records”.

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Posted on 7月 21st, 2025 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 日本社会・文化研究, 歴史探訪