痕迹·事件·证言——侵华日军第十六师团第三十三联队中尉天野乡三在南京

Historical Traces Back to and Testimonies for the Incident Involving Kozo Amano,the Lieutenant of the 33rd Regiment of the 16th Division of Japan's China Expeditionary Army

与有关侵华日军"南京大屠杀"事件的宏大叙事相比,本文所讨论的内容属于鲜为人知的细节——侵华日军第十六师团第三十三联队中尉天野乡三的故事。这位当年在南京最为臭名昭著的日军中尉,因其手下士兵掌掴美国领事爱立逊而在美日之间引发了一场外交争端,天野乡三因此受到日军军法会议的审判。本文首先以天野乡三遗落的一张明信片为切入点,追寻致使天野乡三突然消失的爱立逊事件;继而以审判天野的日方记录和美方当事人的电文,讨论事件的来龙去脉;最后分析半个世纪后日军老兵证言中的虚实问题。从本文的考察可见,对于历史的细节,无法简单地运用因果关系勾连各种已知的、可见的表象说明其本质,而通过对事件留下的"痕迹"爬梳和辨析其语义学意义则不失为深化历史认识的一条路径。

This paper examines what is much smaller and less known than the grand narrative of Nanjing Massacre: the incident of Kozo Amano,a lieutenant of the 33 rd regiment of the 16 th division of Japan's China Expeditionary Army. He was once the most notorious Japanese lieutenant in Nanjing,for the incident that one of his soldiers hit Mr. Allison,an American consul,in the face,igniting a serious diplomatic disputes between the United States and Japan,and leading to his own indictment by a Japanese military trial. The paper begins with an examination of a postcard lost by Amano,by asking what led to the incident,which resulted in Amano's absurd disappearance. The subsequent analysis of the circumstances surrounding the incident is based on the Japanese trial records and telegrams from the American side. Finally,the analyst discusses the problematic testimonies from Japanese war veterans,made half a century later. It concludes that it is impossible to understand the details of history by simply bringing known facts into causal relationships; rather,combing through the traces left behind the incident and analysing their semantic meaning may well be a better way to deepen our understanding of history.