祈りの言葉2014年／川本 愛一郎

水俣病患者・遺族代表　「祈りの言葉」
Minamata Disease Patient and Bereaved Family Representative’s “Words of Prayer”

「俺が鬼か…。親父は…６９で死んだぞ…。精神病院の…、畳もなか部屋で…、牢屋のごたる檻の中で…誰にも看取られず…一人で死んだぞ…。やせ細った親父の身体を抱いて俺は、情けなくて…一人泣いたぞ…。ひと匙なりと米の粥ば、口に入れてやろうごたった…。その米を買う銭もなかった…。わかるかな…社長…。」自主交渉派のリーダーとして、チッソ本社に座り込んだ父川本輝夫は、行き詰った交渉の席で、島田社長に対して水俣病で狂い死にした祖父のことを、涙にむせびながら独り言のように語りかけました。

“You are saying I’m a demon? My father died when he was sixty-nine, in a mental hospital. In a room without even a tatami mat on which he could have laid himself. He was left in a cage like a prison. He died alone, with no one to care for him. I held my father’s scrawny body in my arms. I was so miserable and cried alone. I wanted to put just a spoonful of rice porridge in my father’s mouth. But I didn’t even have money to buy rice. Do you understand what I’m saying?” My father, Teruo Kawamoto, was the head of the independent negotiators. He staged a sit-in demonstration in front of Chisso headquarters. At a stalemate in the negotiation with President Shimada, my father talked to the president about his father, who died in madness from Minamata disease, as if he had been talking to himself, sobbing in tears. 

父の闘いは、不条理に奪われた人間としての尊厳と生活を、名前を持った一人ひとりのその手に取り戻すことにありました。昭和４６年１２月６日、父は「一週間くらいで帰ってくるばい。」と私たち家族に言い残して、チッソとの自主交渉のために東京に向かいました。しかし、父が家に帰ってきたのは１年９ケ月後でした。私は中学２年生から3年生、そして高校生へ、妹は小学５年生から６年生、そして中学生になっていました。多感な思春期の真只中のことです。東京で激しい交渉が続き、父たちがニュースにでると、その夜中には決まって家に嫌がらせ電話がありました。夜中の２時３時です。父は、チッソとの自主交渉で東京にいましたので、母と私と妹の3人暮らしでした。恐る恐る電話に出ると「バカ」と言って切れます。葉書は、住所も熊本県川本輝夫で届きました。葉書の裏には、「死ね」と大きく書いてありました。また、朝起きたら玄関に消火器が置いてあったことも覚えています。これ以上水俣病事件でチッソを責めると火をつけるぞと言う脅しです。このような状況だったので、母は私たちに、懐中電灯を一つずつ抱かせて寝かせていました。夜、暴漢が家に入ってきた時は、懐中電灯を頼りに裏口から隣の家に逃げ込むようにと言い聞かせていました。

He fought to restore human dignity and life, which had been unreasonably taken away, into the hands of each and every person with a name. On December 6, 1971, my father told our family, “I’ll be back in a week or so,” and left for Tokyo for his independent negotiations with Chisso. However, he did not return home until one year and nine months later. I was in the second to third year of junior high school and then high school, and my younger sister was in the fifth to sixth year of elementary school and then junior high school. My sister and I were in the midst of our sensitive adolescence. Whenever my father was on TV news due to the intense negotiations going on in Tokyo, we would receive harassing phone calls at home in the middle of the night. It was at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Since My father was in Tokyo for the negotiations with Chisso, there were only three of us living in the house: my mother, my sister, and myself. When I fearfully answered the phone, the nameless person said “idiot” and hung up. And they didn’t need to write our correct address on postcards. They were delivered to us if only it said Teruo Kawamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture on the surface. On the back of a postcard, it said “Die” in large letters. I also remember that after I woke up in the morning, I found a fire extinguisher on my doorstep. This fire extinguisher was a threatening that meant our house would be set on fire if my father should blame Chisso any more for Minamata disease. Because of the situation like this, my mother used to have my sister and me hold a  flashlight in our arms when we go to sleep at night. She told us to run to the house next door through the back door with the flashlight on if thugs should come into the house.

父は、過酷な闘いの中で３回も逮捕されました。しかし、全て無罪です。また、自宅の家宅捜索は２回受けました。子ども心にも大変悔しく悲しかったことを覚えています。このような過酷な環境でしたが、私たち兄弟は、いつも胸をはって生きてきました。母が私たちに「父ちゃんはえらかっぞ。いつも人のために闘っている。」と教え続けたからです。父は、「水俣病は底の深かぞ。どこらあたりが底か。洗い出してくれる。」と口癖のように言っていました。祖父は、昭和４０年４月に狂騒状態で亡くなりました。しかし、未だ未認定です。父は、認定されましたが、自身の認定後も患者救済に生涯をささげ平成１１年２月に亡くなりました。父は「熱意とは、ことある毎に意志を表明することに他ならない。」という言葉を残してくれました。私は、信念に生きた父と支えきった母を誇りに思います。

My father was arrested three times during his grueling struggle. However, he was acquitted of all charges. In addition, our house was raided twice. I remember how frustrated and sad I was even as a child. In spite of this harsh environment, my sister and I have always held our heads high. My mother kept telling us, “Your father is a good man. He is always fighting for others.”  My father often said, “Minamata disease has a deep bottom. It flushes out and shows you where the bottom of our society is.” My grandfather died in madness in April 1965. However, he is still not certified as a patient of Minamata disease. My father was certified, but even after his own certification, he devoted his life to helping other patients and passed away in February 1999. He left me with the words, “Zeal is nothing more than expressing your will at every opportunity.” I am proud of my father for living his faith and my mother for supporting him.

母は、父の死後、平成１４年１月から、私は、平成２０年５月から水俣病資料館の語り部をしています。ある時私の語り部の後、小学５年生の男の子が「川本輝夫さんは長い闘いをしてこられたのですね。」という感想を述べました。長い闘い…、何という言葉でしょう。未来を託す子どもたちに「長い闘い」と思わせることに、大人として言葉にできない悔しさと責任を痛感します。父が自主交渉の闘いを始めた年と同じ昭和４６年７月に、現在の環境省の前身となる環境庁が発足しました。今年で発足４３年目を迎えますが、歴代の長官・大臣を通算すると、本日ご出席してくださいました石原伸晃環境大臣は５８代目となられます。加害責任が確定した国や県、チッソもそれぞれの立場で、これからも、また長い闘いをしていかれるのでしょうか。公式確認から５８年経った今も課題が残されたままです。国は、６万５千人もの申請者が出た特措法を、まだ申請者が出る可能性があるのにあえて締め切りました。その結果、公健法認定申請をする患者が増えている現実があります。また、継続中の裁判や新たに提訴する患者がいます。原田先生は、一貫して住民の水俣病検診を国に提言してこられましたが、今まで一度も実施されていません。

My mother has been a storyteller at the Minamata Disease Museum since January 2002, after my father’s death, and I have been a storyteller as well since May 2008. One day, after my storytelling, a fifth-grade boy commented, “I was impressed with the fact that Mr. Teruo Kawamoto was fighting through a long struggle.”  What a word, “long struggle”! As an adult, I keenly feel frustration and responsibility that I cannot express in words to make children, who are entrusted with our future, think it “a long struggle”. In July 1971, the same year that my father began his fight for independent negotiations, the Environment Agency, the predecessor of the current Ministry of the Environment, was established. This year marks the 43rd year since its establishment, and if we count the successive Secretaries and Ministers, the Minister of the Environment, Nobuteru Ishihara, who is here today, is the 58th Minister. Will the government, prefectures, and Chisso, whose responsibility as perpetrators of the crime has been confirmed, continue to fight a long battle in their respective positions? Fifty-eight years after the official confirmation, issues remain to be addressed. The government closed the Special Measures Law, which had 65,000 applicants, even though there was still a possibility that more would apply. As a result, the reality is that more and more patients are applying for certification under the Public Health Law. In addition, there are patients who have ongoing lawsuits and new lawsuits to file. Dr. Harada has consistently proposed to the government that residents be screened for Minamata disease, but to date, this has never been done.

私たちが今立っているこの場所は、かつて魚湧く豊穣の海でした。２５ｐｐｍ以上という高濃度の有機水銀を含んだヘドロと、３０００本のドラム缶に詰め込まれた水銀に汚染された魚たちが足元に眠っています。ヘドロを封じ込めたしきりの鉄板の耐久性は、約５０年と言われており既に半分の２６年が経過しました。何かに似ていないでしょうか。事故を起こした福島第一原発でも、同じようなことが計画され、原発の廃炉工程は、これから数十年先まで続くと言われています。福島でも、「己の尊厳と生活をその手に取り戻す」長い長い闘いを第二世代、第三世代、第四世代と世代を超えて続けることになるのでしょうか。これからも被害者は、被害者であるがゆえに人生をかけて「長い闘い」をしていかなければならないのでしょうか。

We are standing on what was once a fertile sea of fish. Now, there are 3,000 drums of mercury-contaminated fish and the sludge containing over 25ppm of organic mercury lying underneath our feet. The durability of the steel plates used to contain the sludge is said to be about 50 years, and 26 years, half of that, have already passed. Doesn’t it look like something? The similar thing is being planned for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, where the accident occurred, and the decommissioning process of the plant is said to continue for several decades to come. Will the long, long struggle to “take back our dignity and life into our own hands” continue in Fukushima, generation after generation, second, third, fourth? Will the victims, because they are victims, have to continue their “long struggle” with their lives?

水俣病事件の教訓とは何でしょうか。私は、未来を担う子どもたちに、「長い闘いがあったが、当事者が真実に生きることで過ちは謝罪され、罪は償われ、責任は果たされた。そして皆が幸せに暮らせるようになった。」と胸を張って言えるような水俣をそして日本を受け渡したいと切に願います。本日は、水俣病事件の犠牲になられました御霊の前で、私なりの祈りを捧げました。父・川本輝夫もこの地に奉納されています。犠牲になられました全ての患者さんと生命に対し心よりご冥福をお祈りいたします。また、ご参列くださいました皆様方、本日の慰霊式にご尽力くださいました皆様方に心より感謝申し上げます。ありがとうございました。

What are the lessons of the Minamata disease case? I would like to hold my head high and say to the children, who will play leading roles in the future, “There was a long struggle, but by the victims living the truth, the mistakes were apologized for, the sins were atoned for, and the responsibility was fulfilled. And everyone can now live happily ever after.” I sincerely hope that Minamata and also Japan will be the place where such things can come true so that we can pass on our place to the next generation. Today, I offered my own prayer in front of the souls of the victims of the Minamata disease incident. My father, Teruo Kawamoto, is also dedicated to this place. I pray from the bottom of my heart for the souls of all the patients and lives that were lost. I would also like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who attended and contributed to today’s memorial service. Thank you very much. 

平成２６年５月１日

May 1, 2014

患者遺族代表　川本愛一郎

Aiichiro Kawamoto,

Representative of Minamata Disease Patients and Bereaved Families

水俣病資料館ウェブサイトより
Reference Minamata City Minamata Disease Museum Website
翻訳 水俣インパクト  translated by minamata impact