石森延男の小説「咲きだす少年群」における「五族協和」について

"Concord between five ethnic groups" was a founding ideal of Manchukuo(which is called the Puppet State of Manchukuo by Chinese), the puppet state established by the Japanese in China in 1932. The five ethnic groups refer to the Manchu, Japanese, Mongolian, Han, and Korean nationalities. The principle of concord between five ethnic groups aimed to build a world of peaceful coexistence and harmony among all ethnic groups. Under the banner of this founding value, the Japanese imperialist rulers enforced a policy of discrimination among different ethnic groups. The puppet state of Manchuria subjected the rulers and the ordinary people to an unequal and hypocritical regime under the dominion of the Japanese colonialists. However, this ideal, which was believed by many people, also became the background for several literary works. A representative work based on this ideal was by Nobuo Yishimori, who was one of the major authors of the Manchurian children's literature. In his fairy tale, The Wind of Mongolia, Nobuo Yishimori described the concept of concord between five ethnic groups as a personal ideal in his depiction of an ideal society of coexisting prosperity, mutual help, and no ethnic differences. However, in his description of the goodwill between the Japanese and the Manchu, he stressed an image of the Japanese as savior, which unconsciously glamorized the Japanese. Therefore, he was fundamentally unable to avoid the feeling of superiority of the Japanese as the dominator.