ポツダム宣言原文を読んでみた

2024.9.10

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Potsdam Declaration

Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender
Issued, at Potsdam, July 26, 1945

1. We-the President of the United States, the President of the National Government of the Republic of China, and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, representing the hundreds of millions of our countrymen, have conferred and agree that Japan shall be given an opportunity to end this war.
2. The prodigious land, sea and air forces of the United States, the British Empire and of China, many times reinforced by their armies and air fleets from the west, are poised to strike the final blows upon Japan. This military power is sustained and inspired by the determination of all the Allied Nations to prosecute the war against Japan until she ceases to resist.
3. The result of the futile and senseless German resistance to the might of the aroused free peoples of the world stands forth in awful clarity as an example to the people of Japan. The might that now converges on Japan is immeasurably greater than that which, when applied to the resisting Nazis, necessarily laid waste to the lands, the industry and the method of life of the whole German people. The full application of our military power, backed by our resolve, will mean the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland.
4. The time has come for Japan to decide whether she will continue to be controlled by those self-willed militaristic advisers whose unintelligent calculations have brought the Empire of Japan to the threshold of annihilation, or whether she will follow the path of reason.
5. Following are our terms. We will not deviate from them. There are no alternatives. We shall brook no delay.
6. There must be eliminated for all time the authority and influence of those who have deceived and misled the people of Japan into embarking on world conquest, for we insist that a new order of peace, security and justice will be impossible until irresponsible militarism is driven from the world.
7. Until such a new order is established and until there is convincing proof that Japan's war-making power is destroyed, points in Japanese territory to be designated by the Allies shall be occupied to secure the achievement of the basic objectives we are here setting forth.
8. The terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out and Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine.
9. The Japanese military forces, after being completely disarmed, shall be permitted to return to their homes with the opportunity to lead peaceful and productive lives.
10. We do not intend that the Japanese shall be enslaved as a race or destroyed as a nation, but stern justice shall be meted out to all war criminals, including those who have visited cruelties upon our prisoners. The Japanese Government shall remove all obstacles to the revival and strengthening of democratic tendencies among the Japanese people. Freedom of speech, of religion, and of thought, as well as respect for the fundamental human rights shall be established. 
11. Japan shall be permitted to maintain such industries as will sustain her economy and permit the exaction of just reparations in kind, but not those which would enable her to re-arm for war. To this end, access to, as distinguished from control of, raw materials shall be permitted. Eventual Japanese participation in world trade relations shall be permitted.
12. The occupying forces of the Allies shall be withdrawn from Japan as soon as these objectives have been accomplished and there has been established in accordance with the freely expressed will of the Japanese people a peacefully inclined and responsible government.
13. We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper andgmnore 　
14. 5－7項は日本の無条件降伏が宣言されているポツダム宣言の中核を成す部分である。
15. 10項は第一次世界大戦のドイツに対する過酷な産業破壊と過度な賠償請求が結局ナチスの勃興を招き、その結果が悲劇的な第二次世界大戦に繋がった経験から日本の産業は維持されると保証している。
16. 12項は日本の占領が有期限であると述べられている。
17. 日本政府はポツダム宣言を当初無視ignore したが、当時の鈴木首相の真意は昭和天皇と同じく終戦であった。強硬に戦争継続を主張する軍部に配慮してこう言わざるを得ない事情があったのだ。しかし連合国はこれをreject拒否と受け取った為、広島長崎の悲劇に繋がってしまった。考慮中と言うくらいの返事ならば或いはあの悲劇は起きなかった可能性はあったと思われる。
18. 8月10日にポツダム宣言に対する条件的？受託が為されるが、それに対して8月12日連合国から有名なバーンズ（当時の米国国務長官）回答が為された。ある意味ポツダム宣言以上に有名な文だ。次の一節だ。
19. Japanese Government to rule the state shall be subjected to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers 以下略 この一文be subjectをめぐってこれを完全な服従と捉える軍部と、委ねられると言う比較的穏健な国民が納得しやすい解釈の外務省訳＝鈴木首相、昭和天皇の立場に分かれ更に数日間の討論が為された。