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The true meaning of history is that each dot between the past and present gets connected
Mitsuo Ochi
昨年10月、台湾教育部の「台湾を代表する国立台湾大学、国立交通大学、国立中山大学、国立成功大学を学长として访れ、直接に対话することでさらなる连携を深め、将来の方向性を共有してほしい」という招待を受けました。北から、まず台北市内にある国立台湾大学を访问しました。
台北市内には明治の日本统治时代に建てられたレトロな西洋建筑が数多く残っています。その一つ国立台湾大学医学院（医学部）の医学人文博物馆を案内していただきました。思わず、1枚の人物パネルに目が钉付けになりました。広岛大学の大先辈、河石九二夫先生のお名前と写真が展示されていたからです。
国立台湾大学は1928年に创设された台北帝国大学を前身としています。河石先生は第２次大戦末期の1944年から1945年にかけて、医学部付属病院の第4代院长を务められました。博物馆の方に先生が院长として台湾医学の発展に大きな足跡を残されたことを伺うことができました。
戦后、日本に戻られた河石先生は、広岛大学医学部の前身である広岛医科大学の学长を経て本学医学部第二外科教授、初代医学部长（1953年～1956年）を歴任され、広岛大学医学部の土台づくりに大きな贡献をされました。国际交流が活発で、学术的に高い评価を受ける现在の医学部の础は、この时期に确固として筑かれていたのです。
私にとって、台湾の地で河石先生の业绩の一端に触れることができたのは、予期せぬうれしい発见でした。広岛大学と国立台湾大学は、2014年に大学间协定を结び、研究连携や学生交流を行っています。また、2018年には私が世话人となり、日台双方の诸大学が参加した日台大学学长フォーラムを、本学が当番校となって広岛で开催しました。実は、そのはるか70年も前から、日本と台湾を隔てる东シナ海を跨いで、広岛大学と国立台湾大学の関係はすでに筑かれていたわけです。
ややもすれば、现代人は、自分だけで自分の意思のままに生きているように考えがちです。しかし父母や祖父母、祖先がいて、今の自分という存在があるのです。周りの人々に支えられ相互に连携し合いながら、私たちは、歴史の网目の中でつながり生かされています。现在に过去が息づき、歴史が未来につながっていくことにあらためて気付かされた旅でした。
生きていると、时に、过去と现在がつながり、歴史の连続性がひょっこりと、颜を见せることがあります。
Last October, I visited Taiwan at the invitation of the Taiwanese Department of Education. The letter of invitation requested me to visit each of the following universities: National Taiwan University (NTU), National Chiao Tung University, National Sun Yat-sen University, and National Cheng Kung University, in order to have face-to-face talks with each respective University President about a mutual future direction, thereby enhancing collaboration with 麻豆AV (HU).
The City of Taihoku still has many western-style architectural buildings which were constructed during the Japanese reign of Taiwan in the era of Meiji. One such building is the NTU’s College of Medicine’s Museum of Medical Humanities, of which I was fortunate enough to have a guided tour. In the museum, I was transfixed by one wall panel with the name and photo of Dr. Kunio Kawaishi, who was in fact an ex-professor of HU.
NTU has its origins in the Taihoku Imperial University, which was founded in 1928. Dr. Kawaishi served as the 4th Director at the Taihoku Imperial University Hospital between 1944 and 1945 in the final days of World War II. According to staff at the museum, Dr. Kawaishi greatly contributed to the advancement of medicine in Taiwan during his directorship.
At the end of the war, Dr. Kawaishi came back to the city of Hiroshima, he served first of all as President of Hiroshima Medical College and then as Professor of surgery, and finally as Dean of the School of Medicine (1953-1956). It was during these years that he greatly contributed to laying down the foundation of the HU Medical School. The current renowned Medical School, i.e. globally active in academic exchanges and highly acclaimed, was firmly established in the days of Dr. Kawaishi.
It was an unexpected and pleasant surprise for me to discover some of Dr. Kawaishi’s accomplishments in Taiwan. In 2014, HU and NTU signed an inter-university agreement, which led to ongoing research collaboration and student exchanges between the two institutions. Moreover, in 2018 I became Chairman of the Japan-Taiwan University Presidents’ Forum, which included many participating universities from Japan and Taiwan. This Forum was held in Hiroshima city, with HU acting as the host university. In actual fact, the institutional relationship across the East China Sea between HU and NTU was established more than 70 years ago, which of course was a considerable period of time before the above agreement was sealed.
People nowadays are prone to believing that they are in control of their own lives, free to live however they see fit. However, gratitude to parents, grandparents and ancestors should not be forgotten, since in many respects one’s current life is indebted to this past. We are all connected through the web of history, supported by and interconnected with those people around you. The trip to Taiwan made me realize once more that under the surface of the present dots lie the seed of the past dots, which will eventually get connected to those in the future.
In our lives, there are times when each dot between the past and present gets connected, resulting in historical continuity suddenly becoming clear in front of our eyes.
