寫實與規範之間--公學校國語讀本插畫中的臺灣人形象

Between Reality and Norm: The Images of Taiwanese as Illustrated in the Japanese Language Readers for Elementary Schools in Colonial Taiwan

本文探討日治時期臺灣公學校國語本插畫中的臺灣人形象及其涵義。從一八九八年公學校設立至一九四五年日本戰敗，臺灣總督府總共發行五期國語讀本，每期都有豐富的插圖。本文比對各期臺灣人形象的特色及其間的差異，以及插畫所呈現者和社會實況之間的關係，進而探討其背後的時代推移與政策變化等因素。透過研究，本文發現國語讀本中的插畫，具有兩個面向：一則反映歷史現場的臺灣，再則顯示殖民統治者的規範意圖。而且，兩者之間的比重消長因時代而有所不同。第一期讀本的臺灣人形象相當程度反映當時的臺灣社會景況（如纏足、梳辮、穿著傳統服飾等），但也看得出規範的意圖（如女孩不纏足、無吸鴉片景象）。在第二期插畫中，臺灣人以「男斷髮女不纏足」的新形象出現，雖然不全然寫實，卻也預示著時代的走向。第三期出現的重大變革是「改裝」──臺灣人不再穿著傳統服飾，且加強「內地風」（日本風）。插畫中的「民族界線」逐漸模糊。第四與第五期讀本使用於皇民化運動時期（1937~1945），插畫的中的臺灣人，從起居到穿著完全日本化了。五期插畫中，臺灣人形象愈是前期愈寫實，愈到後期則規範意味愈濃厚，愈遠離社會實況。五期插畫也具體而微地反映了殖民政策從早期的舊慣溫存到最後推行皇民化運動的巨大變化。

Japan took over Taiwan as its First colony in 1895. The Colonial Government in Taiwan soon established an elementary school （kogako）system for Taiwanese children in 1898. The National Language（i.e. Japanese；kokugo）was considered the most important subject taught. Until Japan ended its rule in Taiwan in 1945, the colonial government had issued five editions of the Japanese readers. These Japanese readers were abundant in illustrations. Taiwanese were depicted in different ways in each edition. What were the basic variations that outlined the images of Taiwanese in the five editions of Japanese readers? What kind of “self-images” did the colonial educators intend the Taiwanese children to acquire? How were these images related to actual social scene? Can we grasp changes in the cultural policies adopted by the colonizer through the images of Taiwanese illustrated in those readers? These are the questions this article sets out to answer. A careful examination of these readers reveals that the images of Taiwanese shifted between what Taiwanese were commonly known to be and what Taiwanese should become in the eyes of the colonial government. It is a story of reality and norm. In the first edition, the images of Taiwanese reflected to a great extent what Taiwanese usually were, although normative attitudes can be detected. Thus, we see women with bound feet, men wearing plaited hair (a queue) and traditional Taiwanese (Manchu-Chinese) clothes, but girls of tender ages were not foot-bound and opium-smoking was nowhere to be seen. The Taiwanese appearing in the second edition had new images—men and boys cut their hair short (Western style), while women and girls no longer bound their feet. This did not reflect the real situation at that time. Although men would soon discard the traditional hair-style, the practice of foot-binding took longer time to disappear. The third edition illustrated Taiwanese boys in Western clothes, and the so-called “Japanese life style” (naichi f?) also gained visibility. For instance, Taiwanese children started wearing kimono. In other words, the “self-image” of Taiwanese children was “Japanized” to some extent. The fourth edition began to appear in 1937. Soon there would come the fifth (and final) edition in 1942. The images of Taiwanese illustrated in these two editions were strongly normative. The Taiwanese wore either Western clothes or kimono, living a Japanese way of life. This was the period (1937-1945) when the colonial government fervently carried out the movement of “making Taiwanese the imperial subjects” (k?minka und?). In textbook illustrations, it became almost impossible to discern who was Taiwanese and who was Japanese. In sum, the Taiwanese depicted in earlier editions of Japanese readers reflected more of the social reality on the island, while later ones more of the images expected of the colonized by the colonizer. The images of Taiwanese illustrated in the Japanese readers also reveal to a large degree the cultural policies adopted by the colonial government at different stages during its 51-year rule of Taiwan. The policies started from one that respected Taiwanese native customs (ky?kan onzon) and ended in one that campaigned to make Taiwanese into “true Japanese”.