貧しい人々のための医療施設を描く人間ドラマ

[From October Issue 2012]

 

Red Beard (Directed by KUROSAWA Akira)

This is a human drama set in Koishikawa Yojosho, a free clinic built for the poor in 1772 by the Edo government. The film opened to the public in 1965. Winning a prize at the Venice International Film Festival, it was highly regarded not only in Japan, but also abroad. The film is based on a novel whose protagonist is the doctor who put forward the idea of building Yojosho. The novel has been adapted into TV dramas many times.

The film was directed by KUROSAWA Akira and the part of NIIDE Kyojo – affectionately nicknamed Red Beard – was played by MIFUNE Toshiro, an actor who often appeared in Kurosawa films. The film is also known for being the last Kurosawa work in which Mifune starred. The plot develops through the eyes of YASUMOTO Noboru, a young man who sets out to learn how to be a physician from Red Beard. Yasumoto is played by KAYAMA Yuzo, an actor who was known for appearing in a series of comedies about campus life.

Having just finished his studies in modern Western medicine in Nagasaki, Yasumoto’s future as a top physician at a government medical institution is guaranteed. However, while he was pursuing his studies in Nagasaki, his fiancée fell in love with another man, so Yasumoto finds himself in the depths of despair. In this state of mind he reluctantly visits Yojosho after being ordered by the government to go and meet Niide.

Instructed by Niide to practice medicine in a small room packed with patients wearing filthy clothes, Yasumoto takes offence. So by taunting Niide – breaking the rules by drinking alcohol on the job and taking naps when he should be treating patients – he tries to provoke Niide into kicking him out, but these tactics do not work.

One day, Yasumoto was ordered to accompany Niide on a house call and is told to take care of a twelve-year-old girl, his first patient. After being forced to work in a brothel she’s suffering both mentally and physically. At first she refuses to have her temperature taken or to take any medicine, but as Yasumoto devotes himself to caring for her, she begins to open up her heart and her health improves. This gives him confidence as a physician and he begins to admire Niide who sweats blood for the poor.

Meanwhile the younger sister of Yasumoto’s former fiancée visits again and again to apologize on behalf of her sister. Touched by this gesture, feelings of forgiveness towards his ex-fiancée begin to take root. His parents then advise him to marry this younger sister and he finally accepts the suggestion after giving it some hard thought. Around the same time, the order comes in from the government to go and work for a medical institution. When Yasumoto comes face to face with both sets of parents for yuinou (exchanging engagement gifts), he tells them about a decision he’s come to.

Built inside Koishikawa Oyakuen, a garden in which the Edo government cultivated medicinal herbs and other plants, Koishikawa Yojosho was known as being a medical facility for treating the poor for some 140 years, up till the end of Edo era. Today Oyakuen is a postgraduate botanical research facility of Tokyo University and under the name of Koishikawa Botanical Gardens it is open to the public. A well that has been kept in good condition since the Edo era was used to provide citizens with drinking water in the wake of the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923.

[2012年10月号掲載記事]

 

赤ひげ(監督:黒澤明)

1722年に江戸幕府が貧しい人々のために建てた無料の医療施設、小石川養生所を舞台にした人間ドラマ作品。1965年に公開された。日本だけではなく海外でも高く評価され、ベネチア国際映画祭でも賞を獲得した。原作は、この養生所の建設を提案した町医者を主人公にした小説。これまで何度もテレビドラマ化されている。

映画では黒澤明が監督を務め、赤ひげの愛称で呼ばれる新出去定は、黒澤作品には欠かせない三船敏郎が演じた。三船が主演した最後の黒澤作品としても知られる。物語は、赤ひげの下で医者とは何かを学ぶことになる青年、保本登の視点で進行する。保本には当時、大学生の青春を描いたコメディー作品シリーズで大人気だった加山雄三が演じた。

当時、長崎で最新の西洋医学を学んできたばかりの保本は、エリート医師として幕府の医学機関での将来が約束されていた。しかし、結婚を約束した女性が長崎留学中に他の男と恋に落ちてしまい、保本は絶望していた。そこへ、幕府から新出に会うよう命じられ、仕方なく養生所を訪れる。

汚い着物に身を包んだ患者が押し込められた狭い部屋で、新出からそこで医者として働くよう言われた保本は腹を立てる。そこで、新出を困らせて自分を追い出させようと考えた保本は、禁じられている酒を飲んだり、診察もせずに眠ったりするが、新出には通用しない。

ある日新出に命じられて往診に同行した保本は、最初の患者として12歳の娘を任される。娘は売春宿で働かされ、心身ともに病んでいた。最初は熱を測らせず、薬も飲もうとしないが、保本の必死の手あてにより心を開き、元気になっていく。これがきっかけで保本は医者としての自信をつけ、貧しい人々のために汗水流す新出を尊敬するようになる。

一方、結婚を約束していたかつての恋人の妹が、姉の代わりに保本のもとを何度も謝罪に訪れる。その姿にふれ、保本はかつての恋人を許す気持ちが芽生える。そんな矢先、この妹との結婚を親に勧められ、悩んだ末に受け入れる。同時に、江戸幕府からは幕府の医学機関で働くように命じられる。保本は両家が顔を合わせた結納の席で、ある決意を打ち明ける。

小石川養生所は、江戸幕府が薬草の栽培などを行った小石川御薬園内に造られ、幕末まで約140年にわたり貧しい人々の医療施設として親しまれた。現在小石川御薬園は東京大学大学院の植物学の研究施設として、小石川植物園の名で一般にも公開されている。園内に保存されている当時の井戸は、1923年に起きた関東大震災では飲み水として利用された。

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