角兵衛獅子はいかにして「消滅」したか─「近代的子ども観の誕生」の描き直しの一例として―

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  • カクベエ ジシ ワ イカニ シテ 「 ショウメツ 」 シタ カ : 「 キンダイテキ コドモミ ノ タンジョウ 」 ノ エガキ ナオシ ノ イチレイ ト シテ
  • The Disappearance of the Kakubei-Jishi Child Performers: Rethinking the Construction of Modern Childhood

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Kakubei-jishi is a type of child performance that originated in Tsukigata Village, Niigata, Japan. These indentured child acrobats or contortionists are said to have disappeared during the course of modernization, when children started being expected to go to school and supposedly being protected from cruelty such as trafficking and child labor. This can be seen as the trickle-down phase of “modern childhood,” since it reached children who were the most miserable, but this study, by scrutinizing historical discourses on these entertainers, illuminates an alternate polyphonic history. 　In the late 1890s, when modern childhood began to prevail, society began to view kakubei-jishi as objects of pity. Social philanthropists considered their existence to be a “social problem” and coined the term “cruelty to children” in response. Middle class families, however, only used these pitiful children as examples to inspire their own children to be thankful for their circumstances, behave better, and study harder. Meanwhile, the acrobats began to disappear, not because they were protected but because the job was regarded with disdain and became obsolete. The Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act was finally enacted in 1933 but did not clearly prohibit child acrobats and trafficking, which left some children working in newer businesses such as Western-style circuses. Ironically, during the 1920-30s, kakubei-jishi began to be praised as a vanishing local performing art, and appeared in novels and films as popular, romanticized representations of a pitiful but innocent childhood―even though many real children at the time were being excluded from such a “childlike” childhood. 　Modern childhood has not permeated society in a linear way. Importantly, even when modern sentiments toward childhood began to prevail, children without a childlike childhood were not truly protected, and even began to be discriminated against. We should examine how the concept of modern childhood was constructed as a complex of various viewpoints and agendas―with many elements missing.

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