[66] 「不毛地帯」“FUMO CHITAI” (THE BARREN ZONE)

　
　　　　　不毛地帯
　
　３月１１日、テレビドラマ「不毛地帯」（全１９話）の最終回を見た。第１話は２００９年１０月に放送されたから半年続いたことになる。「不毛地帯」は大本営参謀・陸軍中佐、壱岐正の物語だ。ソ連が１９４５年満州に侵略、壱岐はシベリアに抑留され１１年間強制労働に服役する。帰国後、近畿商事に入社し３０年間商社マンとして活躍する。ＦＸ戦闘機の航空自衛隊への導入、千代田自動車とユナイテッド・モーターズの合併、イラン油田開発など、会社のため大いに貢献する。退職後はシベリア戦没者の慰霊と遺骨収集に身を捧げる。
　１９話どれも胸を打つものがあり、ドラマが放映される木曜日の晩を毎回楽しみにしていたが、こうして終わってしまうと、空虚さを感じ身体から貴重なものが奪い取られたような気がする。壱岐正の誠実な、真面目な、挫けない生きざまと、ドラマの最後に流れる重厚なテーマミュージックが懐かしい。
　なぜこの物語はこんなにも魅力があるのだろう。それは同名の小説「不毛地帯」をドラマ化しているからだ。 　「不毛地帯」は直木賞など多数の文学賞を受賞している山崎豊子（現８６歳）の作品だ。山崎は政・官・業の癒着、近畿商事の壱岐と東京商事の鮫島との熾烈な受注合戦、壱岐の企画をことごとく妨害する副社長、里井達也との確執等を鋭く描いている。山崎は商事会社間の激しい闘いと併せて陶芸家、秋津千里との淡いロマンも物語に組み込んでいる。
　山崎が執筆に懸ける努力には脱帽する。山崎は「不毛地帯」に関する随筆で、以下のように書いている。「私はこの作品を書くにあたり３４０人以上の人にインタビューし、脱稿までに５年かかった。執筆時間より取材時間の方が遥かに長かった。零下３０度のシベリアの戦没者墓地を訪れたのは、壱岐がドラマでどのように感じたかを実感したかったからだ。またソ連、アメリカ、サウジアラビア、イラクと商社マンのように飛び回り、その体験を小説に生かした。イラン砂漠では焼けつく熱さで、カメラマンにシャッターを一秒でも早く押して欲しいと頼んだ。そうしないと、太陽の熱で頭が焼けそうだったから。取材で集めた資料も実際に執筆に使ったのは４０分の１ぐらい。全部生かされない悔しさがあるが、捨てた部分が間接的に作品に深みをつけていると思う」
　山崎作品が読者の期待を裏切らないのは、この信じられないような努力に基づいているからだ。山崎の「虚構」は「現実」を物語っており、読者を圧倒する。だから「不毛地帯」に誰しも感動するのだ。

FUMO CHITAI (BARREN ZONE)

　　I finished watching the last episode of “Fumo Chitai” (The Barren Zone), a 19-episode serial drama on March 11. The first episode started in October in 2009 and the drama lasted for six months.
　　It is a story about a man named Tadashi Iki. He was a lieutenant colonel and an etat major of the Japanese Imperial Headquarters. When the Soviet Russia invaded Manchuria in 1945, he was detained and forced to labor in Siberia for eleven years. After returning to Japan, he enters the Kinki Trading Corporation. He works for the company for 30 years, during which time he achieves a number of remarkable business successes: the introduction of FX fighters to Japan Air Self-Defense Force, the tandem of Chiyoda Automobile Company and United Motors, and the extraction of petroleum in an Iranian oil field. After retiring from the company, he devotes himself to visiting the graves of his wartime companions and collecting their remains in Siberia.
　　Every episode was so moving that I was always looking forward to watching the program every Thursday night. Now that it has ended, I feel emptiness. I feel as if something enjoyable and valuable had been taken away from me. I miss the main character, Tadashi Iki, a sincere, serious, and persistent man and the husky heavy song at the end of each episode.
　　Why do I miss the drama so much? This is because “Fumo Chitai” is based on the novel of the same title written by Toyoko Yamazaki, an 86-year old woman and winner of several literary prizes including the prestigious Naoki Award. She sharply depicts the cozy relations among politicians, bureaucrats, and business leaders; the fierce battle between Tadashi Iki of the Kinki Trading Corporation and his rival Tatsuzo Samejima of the Tokyo Trading Corporation; and the harsh conflict between Iki and Tatsuya Satoi, vice president of the Kinki Trading Corporation, who takes every chance to interfere with Iki’s projects. Yamazaki does not forget to insert a romance between Iki and Chisato Akitsu, a woman ceramic artist.
　　I admire Yamazaki’s profound devotion in writing her novels. She said in one of her essays about “Fumo Chitai,” “I interviewed more than 340 people. It took me five years to write the novel. I spent much more time in collecting data than in writing the novel. I went to Siberia and crossed the freezing land in minus 30 degrees Centigrade weather to visit the graveyard of Japanese soldiers. I thought it important to feel what Iki felt in the drama. I flew to Soviet Russia, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Iran like a tireless businessman. The Iran desert was so fiercely hot that I asked the cameraman to push the camera button as quickly as possible. Otherwise, only a few seconds under the heat would have burned my head. It is vexing that I sometimes used only one datum out of 40 data in the course of my writing, but I think the discarded 39 data support the novel indirectly.”
　　Because of such unbelievable effort, her novels never betray the readers’ expectations. Her novels reveal a “real” world. They overwhelm you. That is why “Fumo Chitai” stirs your emotion.