北原白秋的臺灣訪問

The Visit of Kitahara Hakushu to Taiwan

西元1934年，日本近代詩史上的重要詩人北原白秋（1885-1942）受台灣總督府及台灣教育會的邀請來台訪問，此行對台灣日語教育的貢獻受到矚目。本文將當時北原白秋所寫下的台灣紀行《華麗島風物誌》中所見其在台灣的體驗及對台觀感，由（1）感覺的反應（2）政治意識（3）現實認識這三個層面來做探討。首先，關於感覺的反應方面，指出北原白秋在「熱帶」及「中華文化」中感受到異國風情的魅力，但也同時對於實際體驗到的「強烈而過度執著的支那氣息」表示反感。其次討論其對於殖民地台灣的政治意識，可說白秋畢竟是站在宗主國殖民者的角度，對作為「國語」的日語抱持絕對的態度。最後，其現實認識可說是正視本島人的活力，亦包含了將殖民地的現實相對化的契機。這三個層面相互干涉並相互關聯，因而最後使得北原白秋正視到殖民地控制所產生的矛盾。

In 1934, KITAHARA Hakushu (1885-1942), one of the most influential poets in the history of modern Japanese poetry, visited Taiwan at the invitation of the government-general of Taiwan; he was expected, by the Educational Society of Taiwan, to contribute toward development of the Japanese-language teaching system. In this paper, I have discussed Hakushu's experience ant its resulting view of Taiwanese life, documented in his travelogue Narrative of Things Formosan, in terms of his (a) aesthetic reaction, (b) political assumptions, and (c) understanding of the realities of Taiwan. First of all, his aesthetic reaction is characterized by the fact that he was not sympathetic toward 'intense and excessively strong Chinese flavor,' while he was attracted by the exoticism of 'the tropics' and 'Chinese culture.' Secondly, his political assumptions were firmly anchored in his awareness as a colonizer belonging to the suzerain state, with his exaltation of Japanese as the national language. Thirdly, however, he was confronted with the vitality of Taiwanese people, and was led to a deeper understanding of the realities, with their inherent contradictions, of the colonial rule. Hakushu extended his intellectual horizons, which might have involved a relativist view of cultures, during his stay in Taiwan.