現代日本人は成長期での栄養状態が劇的に改善されたので、健康長寿社会が実現してきた。
　一般的にそのような理解があるし、わたし自身も自分のことをそのように認識してきたけれど、昨日もまた家系史探索のルーティンとして、次兄といっしょに一統の最長老、102歳の叔父を訪ねた。
　わたしの父の12歳年下の叔父。長年連れ添われた叔母を亡くされてからも、戸建て住宅でひとり暮らしで長寿を重ねられてこられていたが、さすがに身の回りのことが大変になって来たので、いまは高齢者施設に入居されている。先述の「日本人の健康要因」とはやや違って、大正13年生まれの叔父ですが、持って生まれた長寿体質としか思えない元気ぶり。
　次兄は、ときどき「お話を伺う」機会を設けて訪問して、叔父が好きな「喫茶店」にお連れして人生経験と、一統の生き様の「証言」を聞き続けてきている。そんなことで、次兄からバトンタッチ命令を受けているわたしも時折、いっしょに「取材」させていただいている。さすがに100歳を超えてきているのでクルマに乗せたり、いっしょに歩くときも慎重になる。
　しかし、日常生活では活発に自力で周辺を「自転車」や徒歩で逍遥されているとのこと。
　で、会話させていただくとやはり亡き父の相貌が立ち現れて仕方ない。うれしい瞬間。
　わたしと次兄の家系史探索に関して、最新の疑問点について意見を伺うのがテーマなのですが、昨日は「ひとりでいる時間の半分くらい」は、樺太での戦争体験がフラッシュバックすると語ってくれていた。それも日本軍の銃とソ連軍の最新式マシンガンとの違いによる「現場体感」。
　ひたすらうずくまって沈み込んでいた樺太の大地の体感的描写を聞いていた。顔を上げて立ち上がろうとすれば、マシンガンの銃弾が降り注いでくるので、じっとその大地に身を屈め続ける。寒冷地の土の実相をただ、みつめ、感じ続けていたという「証言」。
　平和な時代にしか生きてきていないわたしたち兄弟には、貴重な実体験の「伝承」。出征してからの２年間のことが、いま叔父の記憶のなかで常時、走馬灯になっているのだという。
　ときどきこうして伝承の機会に応えてくれていることに、深く感謝する時間でした。

●お知らせ
拙書「作家と住空間」幻冬舎から電子書籍で発刊
お求めはAmazonで。
https://amzn.asia/d/eUiv9yO

English version⬇

[Hearing a “Vivid” Account from the Eldest Member of the Itto Group, Aged 102]
For a generation that has known only peaceful times, this is an account of experiences on the battlefield in Sakhalin. A war story of a 1,000-man unit—of which only 200 survived. The sense of time and place comes through vividly…

　Thanks to dramatic improvements in nutritional status during childhood, modern Japan has become a society characterized by health and longevity.
　That’s the general understanding, and I myself have always viewed things that way—but yesterday, as part of my routine family history research, I visited my 102-year-old uncle—the eldest member of our family—along with my second-oldest brother.
　He is my father’s uncle, 12 years his junior. Even after losing my aunt, his longtime wife, he continued to live alone in his own house and enjoyed a long life; however, as daily tasks have inevitably become too difficult for him, he now resides in a senior care facility. Although he was born in Taisho 13—which is somewhat different from the “factors contributing to Japanese health” mentioned earlier—his vitality leads me to believe he simply possesses an innate constitution for longevity.
　My second-eldest brother has been visiting him from time to time to “chat,” taking him to his favorite “coffee shop” to listen to his life experiences and his “testimony” of a consistent way of life. As a result, having been given the baton by my second-eldest brother, I, too, occasionally join him for these “interviews.” Since he’s now over 100 years old, we have to be careful when helping him into the car or walking with him.
　However, I’m told that in his daily life, he actively explores the neighborhood on his own by “bicycle” or on foot.
　And when I talk with him, my late father’s features inevitably come to mind. It’s a joyful moment.
　The purpose of our visits is to ask for his opinion on the latest questions regarding my older brother’s and my research into our family history, but yesterday he told me that “about half the time he spends alone,” he experiences flashbacks of his wartime experiences in Sakhalin. These were “firsthand experiences” stemming from the difference between the Japanese Army’s rifles and the Soviet Army’s state-of-the-art machine guns.
I listened as he described the physical sensation of crouching and sinking into the earth of Sakhalin. Whenever he tried to lift his head and stand up, machine-gun bullets would rain down on him, so he had to remain crouched on the ground. His “testimony” described how he simply stared at and continued to feel the true nature of the soil in that frigid land.
　For us brothers, who have only ever lived in times of peace, this was a precious “passing down” of firsthand experience. He told me that the two years he spent after being deployed are now constantly flashing before his eyes like a slideshow in his memory.
It was a time to express my deep gratitude that he occasionally takes the time to share these stories with us like this.

● Announcement
My book, *Writers and Living Spaces*, has been published as an e-book by Gentosha.
Available on Amazon.

Posted on 11月 3rd, 2026 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 未分類