二十世紀初日本大阪鼠疫大流行的時空意涵

Temporal and Spatial Significances of the Plague Diffusion in Osaka in the early Twentieth Century

20世紀初期，日本關西地區的主要國際門戶-大阪，在快速工業化與國際貿易的發展下，也從海外帶進了嚴重的鼠疫疫情。在1905到1910年之間，爆發了日本近代化以來最嚴重的一次鼠疫，共造成了近千人死亡。然而這次的疫情也促使政府當局進行大規模的疾病調查與統計，這也是20世紀初大阪快速國際化與工業化歷程下，社會及都市環境變遷的重要史料。本研究利用地理資訊系統的地圖套疊、分析功能、重新檢視這5年間大阪鼠疫大流行患者的屬性資料，建立大阪鼠疫流程的歷史地理資訊庫。藉此從患者的患病時間、空間分布位置的比對分析，探討鼠疫如何藉由大阪市內潛在的「迴路」擴散。並進一步從空間的角度檢驗當時對抗鼠疫所施行的交通遮斷、隔離、消毒、捕鼠策略的效益；同時比較都市內不同地區的患者屬性，探討過去所認為的不潔之地或貧民居住地是否為本次鼠疫疫情傳播的病灶。研究發現，20世紀初的大阪鼠疫大流行，並非在所謂不潔的環境及特定的社會階層中傳播，而是在都市內部水運網絡的迴路中擴散，反覆的對特定的區域及人群造成重大打擊。

After Japan opened the ports to foreign trade, Osaka became the main portal of Kansai region and began its rapid industrialization. However, the international trade activities not only brought a high degree of economic development, but also caused serious plague epidemics. In the beginning of 20 century, the outbreak of plague lasted for about six years, from 1905 to 1910, spread over larger area, and resulted in 1,682 patients in both Hyogo and Osaka prefecture. It was by far the greatest plague epidemic in Japan that the administration conducted a large-scaled disease investigation and statistics. The reports about bubonic plague were so detailed that researchers can use these material to look inside the social and urban environment of Osaka during its rapid internationalization and industrialization. This study take advantage of GIS’s visual power to analyze the prevalence of patients and its relationships with urban environments. GIS provides a new perspective to verify historical materials and transform the static value data into a dynamic and valuable time maps. The analysis shows the spread of plague in Osaka had closer relationship with commercial and transportation networks than with dweller’s living status and their occupations. The prevail trail and the spatial aggregation were highly related to the canals and some specific areas near the river. One of the main targets of the executive authorities’ anti-plague measures was the slums; however, there was a little victim found against our, and the executive authorities of those days’ expectation. This study found that the plague pandemic in Osaka was not spread among the so-called dirty environment and among the specific social classes, but diffused in the inner city’s canal networks, repeated a major blow to the particular area and population.