'22年3月22日 更新
本日、晴れて学士の学位をお受けになった学部卒業生の皆さん、そして修士ならびに博士の学位を授与された大学院修了生の皆さん、まことにおめでとうございます。また、この間、卒業生・修了生を温かく支え、見守ってこられたご家族をはじめ関係者の方々にも衷心よりお祝い申し上げます。
皆さんの卒業・修了に至るこの二年間は、思いもかけなかった新型コロナウイルス感染症のために、苦難に満ちたものとなってしまいました。本日の秋学期卒業式並びに学位授与式も、感染拡大防止のため、例年とは異なる形で、執り行っています。
オンライン授業の受講、課外活動の縮小、さまざまな行事の中止、手探りの就職活動など、不自由なこと、困難なことが多々あったと思います。しかし、その苦難を乗り越えて、本日、卒業の日を迎えられました皆さんの、勉学・研究への熱意、研鑽努力に対して深く敬意を表します。そしてまた、皆さんを今日まで支えてくださった多くの方々に思いを馳せ、感謝の心を忘れずにいていただきたいと思います。
さて、昨年8月に谷崎潤一郎賞を受賞した、金原ひとみ氏の『アンソーシャル ディスタンス』という短編集をご存知でしょうか。金原氏は二十歳の時、『蛇にピアス』で芥川賞をとっています。『アンソーシャル ディスタンス』には5編の短編がおさめられていますが、そのうち、表題作を含む2編がコロナ禍後に書かれたものです。表題作「アンソーシャル ディスタンス」に登場する恋人たちは、大学4年生と3年生で、コロナ禍において、授業受講やゼミ活動、卒論作成や就職活動を何とかこなしていますが、自由を奪われ、抑圧され、コロナに翻弄されることに耐えきれず、最後の心の支えとしていたバンドのライブ公演中止をきっかけに絶望を深め、心中の旅に出ます。道中で、二人はさまざまなことを考えます。
コロナは世間に似ている、人の気持ちなんてお構いなしで、自分の目的のために強大な力で他を圧倒する、免疫や抗体を持ったものだけ生存を許し、それを身に付けられない人を厳しく排除していく……、感染に対して神経質な人とそうでもない人の間の激しい対立にはうんざりする……、不要不急とは何か、ライブハウスは感染拡大の原因であるかのように名指しで攻撃されながら何の補償も受けられない、やる方であれ観る方であれ、音楽が無ければ、ライブが無ければ生きていけない人はどうしたらいいのか……、ビデオ通話が苦手なのにどうやって就職面接を乗り越えられるのか……、私たちにはまだわからないこと、知らないこと、知っていても実感できていないことがたくさんある、こんな卑小な自分のままで死んでいくのか……。
この恋人たちの苦悩には、コロナ禍を過ごした皆さんの多くが、共感されるのではないでしょうか。
小説の中の二人は自分たちの弱さを見つめ、それから、弱さを抱えた二人が共にいることの幸せを思い、「コロナが蔓延する時も、コロナが収束した時も、世界経済が破綻した時も、しなかった時も、相手を愛し敬い慈しむことを誓います」と、本文中の表現では「冗談のような言葉」を頭に浮かべたりします。しかしおそらく、その「冗談のような言葉」が彼らをこの世界につなぎ止めたのだろうと、私は受け止めました。そして一編は、「また悲しいとか嫌だなとか言い合って、無慈悲なような希望のような朝を迎え、コロナが拡大を続ける東京にもう一度戻っていくのだろう」と結ばれます。
昨年11月の同志社EVEのテーマは「青春奪還」でした。このテーマには、コロナウイルスの影響で失われた青春を、EVEを通じて取り戻してほしいという願いを込めたとの実行委員長の言葉に私は胸をつかれる思いがしました。
ご紹介した小説の中の二人のように、時に絶望し、時に嘆き悲しみながら、皆さんは困難な状況の中で懸命に生き、それがそのまま「青春奪還」の軌跡であって、本日を迎えられた皆さんの青春は決して失われていないものと信じます。
コロナ禍により、社会の分断や不寛容の問題が顕在化した今こそ、そして、痛ましい戦禍によって大勢の人々が苦しんでいる今こそ、本学の良心教育の真価が問われています。皆さんは、本学で過ごした学究の時によって、それぞれの学問領域における知見を深められたことと思います。そしてそれとともに、良心をもって誠実に生きることをも、きっと学ばれたはずです。卒業後、それぞれが赴かれるそれぞれの場所で、どうかその良心に恥じぬ生き方を貫いてくださいますよう、心から願っています。
もちろん、本日の卒業で皆さんと同志社大学の関係が終わるのではありません。多くの卒業生の、社会の諸分野での活躍が、今日の同志社大学の地位を築きあげてきたように、本日、ここから巣立っていく皆さんの活躍が、本学の評価をさらに揺るぎないものにしていくのです。
社会に出られてからも、ご自身のよりどころを再確認するために、あるいは知識や技能を学びなおすために、どうぞ母校に戻ってきてください。本学はいつでも皆さんを歓迎いたします。
すべての学部卒業生ならびに大学院修了生の皆さんお一人お一人の未来が輝かしい光に満ちたものとなりますようお祈りし、私の式辞といたします。
I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to all of you who just received your bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees respectively on this day of celebration. My heartfelt congratulations also go to your families and acquaintances who have warmly supported and watched over you during your years at the university.
It was very unfortunate that the final two years of your studies at Doshisha turned out to be a difficult period due to the unexpected pandemic of COVID-19. Today’s Commencement and Ceremony for Bestowing Degrees for the Fall Semester is also being carried out in a different form from usual years as part of our infection prevention measures.
I am aware that you had to face numerous obstacles and inconveniences throughout these two years, from the online classes and the reduced extracurricular activities to the event cancellations and the unfamiliar way of job seeking. I would like to express my deep respect to you all for your continued passion and efforts in study and research, with which you have overcome these difficulties and are successfully graduating today, and I hope that you will always remain grateful to the people who have supported you in many ways till this day.
Have you heard of the book called Unsocial Distance? It is a collection of short stories that won the Tanizaki Junichiro Prize last August and written by Hitomi Kanehara, who had also won the Akutagawa Prize for Snakes and Earrings when she was 20 years old. Unsocial Distance contains five short stories, two of which including the title piece were written post pandemic. The title piece “Unsocial Distance” is about a couple of lovers in their third and fourth years at university, who are managing to cope with their schedule filled with classes, seminar activities, thesis writing and job hunting amidst the COVID-19 crisis, but are suffering the increasingly unbearable pain of being deprived of freedom, repressed and disrupted by the virus. Triggered by the cancellation of the concert of their favorite band, which was the last remaining thing they looked forward to and emotionally relied on during this dark time, their despair deepens and they embark on a journey, for the purpose of committing a double suicide on their way.
Along the way, various thoughts and worries occur to them: “COVID-19 is like a society, in the sense that it doesn’t care about people’s feelings and overwhelms others with its enormous power in order to win what it wants... and in the sense that it only allows immune ones to survive and fiercely eliminates those who aren’t. I’m sick and tired of the conflict between people who are extra cautious about infection and those who are not... What are ‘unnecessary and non-urgent’ in the first place? No compensations are given to music venues despite they are being bashed as if they were the cause of the spread of infections. Whether it’s performers or audience, what hope is there for people who cannot live without music, without live music... How can I survive the job interview when I’m terrible at video conferencing? Am I going to die just as this tiny immature being, when there are so many things we still don’t know, have never heard of or things that don’t feel real to us yet?”
Going through the COVID-19 crisis, I imagine that many of you can relate to these issues that the protagonist couple is concerned about.
The two lovers in the story face their weaknesses, and then, recognizing their happiness of being together while accepting their weaknesses, they think of what sounds like wedding vows, in which they swear to love, honor and cherish each other “in pandemic and after pandemic, with or without world economic collapse.” These are described as “joke-like words” in the story, but it left me the impression that it was actually these “joke-like words” that encouraged them to remain in this world. The story ends with the sentence “We will probably keep complaining together about sad and annoying things, share the morning that seems both merciless and hopeful, and go back to Tokyo where the virus continues to spread.”
The theme of our school festival Doshisha EVE last November was “Reclaiming Our Youth.” When the student leader of the executive committee of the festival explained how the theme represented their hope that the festival would give everyone an opportunity to reclaim their youth that was lost amidst the impact of COVID-19, the words filled me with many emotions.
Just like the couple in the story that I introduced above, you all have been doing your best in these difficult times, which must have made you also experience despair and sorrow. Those efforts and struggles of yours are exactly the trajectory of your “reclaiming youth,” and the proof today that your youth was never lost.
With the problems of social divides and intolerance exposed by the COVID-19 crisis, now more than ever is the time when the true value of Doshisha University’s education of conscience is being tested. I am certain that while you have deepened your knowledge and insight in your respective academic fields, your years of study at Doshisha University have also taught you the importance of living with conscience and integrity. It is my sincere hope that you will always continue to live up to your conscience in your respective places in society after graduation.
Of course, this graduation does not mean the end of your relationship with Doshisha University. Just as the achievements of our alumni in various fields of society over years have established Doshisha University’s reputation today, the future activities of each of you who graduate today will bring further honor to us.
Even after you go out into society, you are always welcome to return to Doshisha University, your alma mater, to reaffirm your roots or to reeducate yourself with additional knowledge and skills.
I would like to conclude my address by expressing my best wishes for a bright future for each and every one of our undergraduate and graduate program graduates.
皆さんの卒業・修了に至るこの二年間は、思いもかけなかった新型コロナウイルス感染症のために、苦難に満ちたものとなってしまいました。本日の秋学期卒業式並びに学位授与式も、感染拡大防止のため、例年とは異なる形で、執り行っています。
オンライン授業の受講、課外活動の縮小、さまざまな行事の中止、手探りの就職活動など、不自由なこと、困難なことが多々あったと思います。しかし、その苦難を乗り越えて、本日、卒業の日を迎えられました皆さんの、勉学・研究への熱意、研鑽努力に対して深く敬意を表します。そしてまた、皆さんを今日まで支えてくださった多くの方々に思いを馳せ、感謝の心を忘れずにいていただきたいと思います。
さて、昨年8月に谷崎潤一郎賞を受賞した、金原ひとみ氏の『アンソーシャル ディスタンス』という短編集をご存知でしょうか。金原氏は二十歳の時、『蛇にピアス』で芥川賞をとっています。『アンソーシャル ディスタンス』には5編の短編がおさめられていますが、そのうち、表題作を含む2編がコロナ禍後に書かれたものです。表題作「アンソーシャル ディスタンス」に登場する恋人たちは、大学4年生と3年生で、コロナ禍において、授業受講やゼミ活動、卒論作成や就職活動を何とかこなしていますが、自由を奪われ、抑圧され、コロナに翻弄されることに耐えきれず、最後の心の支えとしていたバンドのライブ公演中止をきっかけに絶望を深め、心中の旅に出ます。道中で、二人はさまざまなことを考えます。
コロナは世間に似ている、人の気持ちなんてお構いなしで、自分の目的のために強大な力で他を圧倒する、免疫や抗体を持ったものだけ生存を許し、それを身に付けられない人を厳しく排除していく……、感染に対して神経質な人とそうでもない人の間の激しい対立にはうんざりする……、不要不急とは何か、ライブハウスは感染拡大の原因であるかのように名指しで攻撃されながら何の補償も受けられない、やる方であれ観る方であれ、音楽が無ければ、ライブが無ければ生きていけない人はどうしたらいいのか……、ビデオ通話が苦手なのにどうやって就職面接を乗り越えられるのか……、私たちにはまだわからないこと、知らないこと、知っていても実感できていないことがたくさんある、こんな卑小な自分のままで死んでいくのか……。
この恋人たちの苦悩には、コロナ禍を過ごした皆さんの多くが、共感されるのではないでしょうか。
小説の中の二人は自分たちの弱さを見つめ、それから、弱さを抱えた二人が共にいることの幸せを思い、「コロナが蔓延する時も、コロナが収束した時も、世界経済が破綻した時も、しなかった時も、相手を愛し敬い慈しむことを誓います」と、本文中の表現では「冗談のような言葉」を頭に浮かべたりします。しかしおそらく、その「冗談のような言葉」が彼らをこの世界につなぎ止めたのだろうと、私は受け止めました。そして一編は、「また悲しいとか嫌だなとか言い合って、無慈悲なような希望のような朝を迎え、コロナが拡大を続ける東京にもう一度戻っていくのだろう」と結ばれます。
昨年11月の同志社EVEのテーマは「青春奪還」でした。このテーマには、コロナウイルスの影響で失われた青春を、EVEを通じて取り戻してほしいという願いを込めたとの実行委員長の言葉に私は胸をつかれる思いがしました。
ご紹介した小説の中の二人のように、時に絶望し、時に嘆き悲しみながら、皆さんは困難な状況の中で懸命に生き、それがそのまま「青春奪還」の軌跡であって、本日を迎えられた皆さんの青春は決して失われていないものと信じます。
コロナ禍により、社会の分断や不寛容の問題が顕在化した今こそ、そして、痛ましい戦禍によって大勢の人々が苦しんでいる今こそ、本学の良心教育の真価が問われています。皆さんは、本学で過ごした学究の時によって、それぞれの学問領域における知見を深められたことと思います。そしてそれとともに、良心をもって誠実に生きることをも、きっと学ばれたはずです。卒業後、それぞれが赴かれるそれぞれの場所で、どうかその良心に恥じぬ生き方を貫いてくださいますよう、心から願っています。
もちろん、本日の卒業で皆さんと同志社大学の関係が終わるのではありません。多くの卒業生の、社会の諸分野での活躍が、今日の同志社大学の地位を築きあげてきたように、本日、ここから巣立っていく皆さんの活躍が、本学の評価をさらに揺るぎないものにしていくのです。
社会に出られてからも、ご自身のよりどころを再確認するために、あるいは知識や技能を学びなおすために、どうぞ母校に戻ってきてください。本学はいつでも皆さんを歓迎いたします。
すべての学部卒業生ならびに大学院修了生の皆さんお一人お一人の未来が輝かしい光に満ちたものとなりますようお祈りし、私の式辞といたします。
I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to all of you who just received your bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees respectively on this day of celebration. My heartfelt congratulations also go to your families and acquaintances who have warmly supported and watched over you during your years at the university.
It was very unfortunate that the final two years of your studies at Doshisha turned out to be a difficult period due to the unexpected pandemic of COVID-19. Today’s Commencement and Ceremony for Bestowing Degrees for the Fall Semester is also being carried out in a different form from usual years as part of our infection prevention measures.
I am aware that you had to face numerous obstacles and inconveniences throughout these two years, from the online classes and the reduced extracurricular activities to the event cancellations and the unfamiliar way of job seeking. I would like to express my deep respect to you all for your continued passion and efforts in study and research, with which you have overcome these difficulties and are successfully graduating today, and I hope that you will always remain grateful to the people who have supported you in many ways till this day.
Have you heard of the book called Unsocial Distance? It is a collection of short stories that won the Tanizaki Junichiro Prize last August and written by Hitomi Kanehara, who had also won the Akutagawa Prize for Snakes and Earrings when she was 20 years old. Unsocial Distance contains five short stories, two of which including the title piece were written post pandemic. The title piece “Unsocial Distance” is about a couple of lovers in their third and fourth years at university, who are managing to cope with their schedule filled with classes, seminar activities, thesis writing and job hunting amidst the COVID-19 crisis, but are suffering the increasingly unbearable pain of being deprived of freedom, repressed and disrupted by the virus. Triggered by the cancellation of the concert of their favorite band, which was the last remaining thing they looked forward to and emotionally relied on during this dark time, their despair deepens and they embark on a journey, for the purpose of committing a double suicide on their way.
Along the way, various thoughts and worries occur to them: “COVID-19 is like a society, in the sense that it doesn’t care about people’s feelings and overwhelms others with its enormous power in order to win what it wants... and in the sense that it only allows immune ones to survive and fiercely eliminates those who aren’t. I’m sick and tired of the conflict between people who are extra cautious about infection and those who are not... What are ‘unnecessary and non-urgent’ in the first place? No compensations are given to music venues despite they are being bashed as if they were the cause of the spread of infections. Whether it’s performers or audience, what hope is there for people who cannot live without music, without live music... How can I survive the job interview when I’m terrible at video conferencing? Am I going to die just as this tiny immature being, when there are so many things we still don’t know, have never heard of or things that don’t feel real to us yet?”
Going through the COVID-19 crisis, I imagine that many of you can relate to these issues that the protagonist couple is concerned about.
The two lovers in the story face their weaknesses, and then, recognizing their happiness of being together while accepting their weaknesses, they think of what sounds like wedding vows, in which they swear to love, honor and cherish each other “in pandemic and after pandemic, with or without world economic collapse.” These are described as “joke-like words” in the story, but it left me the impression that it was actually these “joke-like words” that encouraged them to remain in this world. The story ends with the sentence “We will probably keep complaining together about sad and annoying things, share the morning that seems both merciless and hopeful, and go back to Tokyo where the virus continues to spread.”
The theme of our school festival Doshisha EVE last November was “Reclaiming Our Youth.” When the student leader of the executive committee of the festival explained how the theme represented their hope that the festival would give everyone an opportunity to reclaim their youth that was lost amidst the impact of COVID-19, the words filled me with many emotions.
Just like the couple in the story that I introduced above, you all have been doing your best in these difficult times, which must have made you also experience despair and sorrow. Those efforts and struggles of yours are exactly the trajectory of your “reclaiming youth,” and the proof today that your youth was never lost.
With the problems of social divides and intolerance exposed by the COVID-19 crisis, now more than ever is the time when the true value of Doshisha University’s education of conscience is being tested. I am certain that while you have deepened your knowledge and insight in your respective academic fields, your years of study at Doshisha University have also taught you the importance of living with conscience and integrity. It is my sincere hope that you will always continue to live up to your conscience in your respective places in society after graduation.
Of course, this graduation does not mean the end of your relationship with Doshisha University. Just as the achievements of our alumni in various fields of society over years have established Doshisha University’s reputation today, the future activities of each of you who graduate today will bring further honor to us.
Even after you go out into society, you are always welcome to return to Doshisha University, your alma mater, to reaffirm your roots or to reeducate yourself with additional knowledge and skills.
I would like to conclude my address by expressing my best wishes for a bright future for each and every one of our undergraduate and graduate program graduates.
本日、晴れて学士の学位をお受けになった学部卒業生の皆さん、そして修士ならびに博士の学位を授与された大学院修了生の皆さん、まことにおめでとうございます。また、この間、卒業生・修了生を温かく支え、見守ってこられたご家族をはじめ関係者の方々にも衷心よりお祝い申し上げます。
皆さんの卒業・修了に至るこの二年間は、思いもかけなかった新型コロナウイルス感染症のために、苦難に満ちたものとなってしまいました。本日の秋学期卒業式並びに学位授与式も、感染拡大防止のため、例年とは異なる形で、執り行っています。
オンライン授業の受講、課外活動の縮小、さまざまな行事の中止、手探りの就職活動など、不自由なこと、困難なことが多々あったと思います。しかし、その苦難を乗り越えて、本日、卒業の日を迎えられました皆さんの、勉学・研究への熱意、研鑽努力に対して深く敬意を表します。そしてまた、皆さんを今日まで支えてくださった多くの方々に思いを馳せ、感謝の心を忘れずにいていただきたいと思います。
さて、昨年8月に谷崎潤一郎賞を受賞した、金原ひとみ氏の『アンソーシャル ディスタンス』という短編集をご存知でしょうか。金原氏は二十歳の時、『蛇にピアス』で芥川賞をとっています。『アンソーシャル ディスタンス』には5編の短編がおさめられていますが、そのうち、表題作を含む2編がコロナ禍後に書かれたものです。表題作「アンソーシャル ディスタンス」に登場する恋人たちは、大学4年生と3年生で、コロナ禍において、授業受講やゼミ活動、卒論作成や就職活動を何とかこなしていますが、自由を奪われ、抑圧され、コロナに翻弄されることに耐えきれず、最後の心の支えとしていたバンドのライブ公演中止をきっかけに絶望を深め、心中の旅に出ます。道中で、二人はさまざまなことを考えます。
コロナは世間に似ている、人の気持ちなんてお構いなしで、自分の目的のために強大な力で他を圧倒する、免疫や抗体を持ったものだけ生存を許し、それを身に付けられない人を厳しく排除していく……、感染に対して神経質な人とそうでもない人の間の激しい対立にはうんざりする……、不要不急とは何か、ライブハウスは感染拡大の原因であるかのように名指しで攻撃されながら何の補償も受けられない、やる方であれ観る方であれ、音楽が無ければ、ライブが無ければ生きていけない人はどうしたらいいのか……、ビデオ通話が苦手なのにどうやって就職面接を乗り越えられるのか……、私たちにはまだわからないこと、知らないこと、知っていても実感できていないことがたくさんある、こんな卑小な自分のままで死んでいくのか……。
この恋人たちの苦悩には、コロナ禍を過ごした皆さんの多くが、共感されるのではないでしょうか。
小説の中の二人は自分たちの弱さを見つめ、それから、弱さを抱えた二人が共にいることの幸せを思い、「コロナが蔓延する時も、コロナが収束した時も、世界経済が破綻した時も、しなかった時も、相手を愛し敬い慈しむことを誓います」と、本文中の表現では「冗談のような言葉」を頭に浮かべたりします。しかしおそらく、その「冗談のような言葉」が彼らをこの世界につなぎ止めたのだろうと、私は受け止めました。そして一編は、「また悲しいとか嫌だなとか言い合って、無慈悲なような希望のような朝を迎え、コロナが拡大を続ける東京にもう一度戻っていくのだろう」と結ばれます。
昨年11月の同志社EVEのテーマは「青春奪還」でした。このテーマには、コロナウイルスの影響で失われた青春を、EVEを通じて取り戻してほしいという願いを込めたとの実行委員長の言葉に私は胸をつかれる思いがしました。
ご紹介した小説の中の二人のように、時に絶望し、時に嘆き悲しみながら、皆さんは困難な状況の中で懸命に生き、それがそのまま「青春奪還」の軌跡であって、本日を迎えられた皆さんの青春は決して失われていないものと信じます。
コロナ禍により、社会の分断や不寛容の問題が顕在化した今こそ、そして、痛ましい戦禍によって大勢の人々が苦しんでいる今こそ、本学の良心教育の真価が問われています。皆さんは、本学で過ごした学究の時によって、それぞれの学問領域における知見を深められたことと思います。そしてそれとともに、良心をもって誠実に生きることをも、きっと学ばれたはずです。卒業後、それぞれが赴かれるそれぞれの場所で、どうかその良心に恥じぬ生き方を貫いてくださいますよう、心から願っています。
もちろん、本日の卒業で皆さんと同志社大学の関係が終わるのではありません。多くの卒業生の、社会の諸分野での活躍が、今日の同志社大学の地位を築きあげてきたように、本日、ここから巣立っていく皆さんの活躍が、本学の評価をさらに揺るぎないものにしていくのです。
社会に出られてからも、ご自身のよりどころを再確認するために、あるいは知識や技能を学びなおすために、どうぞ母校に戻ってきてください。本学はいつでも皆さんを歓迎いたします。
すべての学部卒業生ならびに大学院修了生の皆さんお一人お一人の未来が輝かしい光に満ちたものとなりますようお祈りし、私の式辞といたします。
I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to all of you who just received your bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees respectively on this day of celebration. My heartfelt congratulations also go to your families and acquaintances who have warmly supported and watched over you during your years at the university.
It was very unfortunate that the final two years of your studies at Doshisha turned out to be a difficult period due to the unexpected pandemic of COVID-19. Today’s Commencement and Ceremony for Bestowing Degrees for the Fall Semester is also being carried out in a different form from usual years as part of our infection prevention measures.
I am aware that you had to face numerous obstacles and inconveniences throughout these two years, from the online classes and the reduced extracurricular activities to the event cancellations and the unfamiliar way of job seeking. I would like to express my deep respect to you all for your continued passion and efforts in study and research, with which you have overcome these difficulties and are successfully graduating today, and I hope that you will always remain grateful to the people who have supported you in many ways till this day.
Have you heard of the book called Unsocial Distance? It is a collection of short stories that won the Tanizaki Junichiro Prize last August and written by Hitomi Kanehara, who had also won the Akutagawa Prize for Snakes and Earrings when she was 20 years old. Unsocial Distance contains five short stories, two of which including the title piece were written post pandemic. The title piece “Unsocial Distance” is about a couple of lovers in their third and fourth years at university, who are managing to cope with their schedule filled with classes, seminar activities, thesis writing and job hunting amidst the COVID-19 crisis, but are suffering the increasingly unbearable pain of being deprived of freedom, repressed and disrupted by the virus. Triggered by the cancellation of the concert of their favorite band, which was the last remaining thing they looked forward to and emotionally relied on during this dark time, their despair deepens and they embark on a journey, for the purpose of committing a double suicide on their way.
Along the way, various thoughts and worries occur to them: “COVID-19 is like a society, in the sense that it doesn’t care about people’s feelings and overwhelms others with its enormous power in order to win what it wants... and in the sense that it only allows immune ones to survive and fiercely eliminates those who aren’t. I’m sick and tired of the conflict between people who are extra cautious about infection and those who are not... What are ‘unnecessary and non-urgent’ in the first place? No compensations are given to music venues despite they are being bashed as if they were the cause of the spread of infections. Whether it’s performers or audience, what hope is there for people who cannot live without music, without live music... How can I survive the job interview when I’m terrible at video conferencing? Am I going to die just as this tiny immature being, when there are so many things we still don’t know, have never heard of or things that don’t feel real to us yet?”
Going through the COVID-19 crisis, I imagine that many of you can relate to these issues that the protagonist couple is concerned about.
The two lovers in the story face their weaknesses, and then, recognizing their happiness of being together while accepting their weaknesses, they think of what sounds like wedding vows, in which they swear to love, honor and cherish each other “in pandemic and after pandemic, with or without world economic collapse.” These are described as “joke-like words” in the story, but it left me the impression that it was actually these “joke-like words” that encouraged them to remain in this world. The story ends with the sentence “We will probably keep complaining together about sad and annoying things, share the morning that seems both merciless and hopeful, and go back to Tokyo where the virus continues to spread.”
The theme of our school festival Doshisha EVE last November was “Reclaiming Our Youth.” When the student leader of the executive committee of the festival explained how the theme represented their hope that the festival would give everyone an opportunity to reclaim their youth that was lost amidst the impact of COVID-19, the words filled me with many emotions.
Just like the couple in the story that I introduced above, you all have been doing your best in these difficult times, which must have made you also experience despair and sorrow. Those efforts and struggles of yours are exactly the trajectory of your “reclaiming youth,” and the proof today that your youth was never lost.
With the problems of social divides and intolerance exposed by the COVID-19 crisis, now more than ever is the time when the true value of Doshisha University’s education of conscience is being tested. I am certain that while you have deepened your knowledge and insight in your respective academic fields, your years of study at Doshisha University have also taught you the importance of living with conscience and integrity. It is my sincere hope that you will always continue to live up to your conscience in your respective places in society after graduation.
Of course, this graduation does not mean the end of your relationship with Doshisha University. Just as the achievements of our alumni in various fields of society over years have established Doshisha University’s reputation today, the future activities of each of you who graduate today will bring further honor to us.
Even after you go out into society, you are always welcome to return to Doshisha University, your alma mater, to reaffirm your roots or to reeducate yourself with additional knowledge and skills.
I would like to conclude my address by expressing my best wishes for a bright future for each and every one of our undergraduate and graduate program graduates.
皆さんの卒業・修了に至るこの二年間は、思いもかけなかった新型コロナウイルス感染症のために、苦難に満ちたものとなってしまいました。本日の秋学期卒業式並びに学位授与式も、感染拡大防止のため、例年とは異なる形で、執り行っています。
オンライン授業の受講、課外活動の縮小、さまざまな行事の中止、手探りの就職活動など、不自由なこと、困難なことが多々あったと思います。しかし、その苦難を乗り越えて、本日、卒業の日を迎えられました皆さんの、勉学・研究への熱意、研鑽努力に対して深く敬意を表します。そしてまた、皆さんを今日まで支えてくださった多くの方々に思いを馳せ、感謝の心を忘れずにいていただきたいと思います。
さて、昨年8月に谷崎潤一郎賞を受賞した、金原ひとみ氏の『アンソーシャル ディスタンス』という短編集をご存知でしょうか。金原氏は二十歳の時、『蛇にピアス』で芥川賞をとっています。『アンソーシャル ディスタンス』には5編の短編がおさめられていますが、そのうち、表題作を含む2編がコロナ禍後に書かれたものです。表題作「アンソーシャル ディスタンス」に登場する恋人たちは、大学4年生と3年生で、コロナ禍において、授業受講やゼミ活動、卒論作成や就職活動を何とかこなしていますが、自由を奪われ、抑圧され、コロナに翻弄されることに耐えきれず、最後の心の支えとしていたバンドのライブ公演中止をきっかけに絶望を深め、心中の旅に出ます。道中で、二人はさまざまなことを考えます。
コロナは世間に似ている、人の気持ちなんてお構いなしで、自分の目的のために強大な力で他を圧倒する、免疫や抗体を持ったものだけ生存を許し、それを身に付けられない人を厳しく排除していく……、感染に対して神経質な人とそうでもない人の間の激しい対立にはうんざりする……、不要不急とは何か、ライブハウスは感染拡大の原因であるかのように名指しで攻撃されながら何の補償も受けられない、やる方であれ観る方であれ、音楽が無ければ、ライブが無ければ生きていけない人はどうしたらいいのか……、ビデオ通話が苦手なのにどうやって就職面接を乗り越えられるのか……、私たちにはまだわからないこと、知らないこと、知っていても実感できていないことがたくさんある、こんな卑小な自分のままで死んでいくのか……。
この恋人たちの苦悩には、コロナ禍を過ごした皆さんの多くが、共感されるのではないでしょうか。
小説の中の二人は自分たちの弱さを見つめ、それから、弱さを抱えた二人が共にいることの幸せを思い、「コロナが蔓延する時も、コロナが収束した時も、世界経済が破綻した時も、しなかった時も、相手を愛し敬い慈しむことを誓います」と、本文中の表現では「冗談のような言葉」を頭に浮かべたりします。しかしおそらく、その「冗談のような言葉」が彼らをこの世界につなぎ止めたのだろうと、私は受け止めました。そして一編は、「また悲しいとか嫌だなとか言い合って、無慈悲なような希望のような朝を迎え、コロナが拡大を続ける東京にもう一度戻っていくのだろう」と結ばれます。
昨年11月の同志社EVEのテーマは「青春奪還」でした。このテーマには、コロナウイルスの影響で失われた青春を、EVEを通じて取り戻してほしいという願いを込めたとの実行委員長の言葉に私は胸をつかれる思いがしました。
ご紹介した小説の中の二人のように、時に絶望し、時に嘆き悲しみながら、皆さんは困難な状況の中で懸命に生き、それがそのまま「青春奪還」の軌跡であって、本日を迎えられた皆さんの青春は決して失われていないものと信じます。
コロナ禍により、社会の分断や不寛容の問題が顕在化した今こそ、そして、痛ましい戦禍によって大勢の人々が苦しんでいる今こそ、本学の良心教育の真価が問われています。皆さんは、本学で過ごした学究の時によって、それぞれの学問領域における知見を深められたことと思います。そしてそれとともに、良心をもって誠実に生きることをも、きっと学ばれたはずです。卒業後、それぞれが赴かれるそれぞれの場所で、どうかその良心に恥じぬ生き方を貫いてくださいますよう、心から願っています。
もちろん、本日の卒業で皆さんと同志社大学の関係が終わるのではありません。多くの卒業生の、社会の諸分野での活躍が、今日の同志社大学の地位を築きあげてきたように、本日、ここから巣立っていく皆さんの活躍が、本学の評価をさらに揺るぎないものにしていくのです。
社会に出られてからも、ご自身のよりどころを再確認するために、あるいは知識や技能を学びなおすために、どうぞ母校に戻ってきてください。本学はいつでも皆さんを歓迎いたします。
すべての学部卒業生ならびに大学院修了生の皆さんお一人お一人の未来が輝かしい光に満ちたものとなりますようお祈りし、私の式辞といたします。
I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to all of you who just received your bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees respectively on this day of celebration. My heartfelt congratulations also go to your families and acquaintances who have warmly supported and watched over you during your years at the university.
It was very unfortunate that the final two years of your studies at Doshisha turned out to be a difficult period due to the unexpected pandemic of COVID-19. Today’s Commencement and Ceremony for Bestowing Degrees for the Fall Semester is also being carried out in a different form from usual years as part of our infection prevention measures.
I am aware that you had to face numerous obstacles and inconveniences throughout these two years, from the online classes and the reduced extracurricular activities to the event cancellations and the unfamiliar way of job seeking. I would like to express my deep respect to you all for your continued passion and efforts in study and research, with which you have overcome these difficulties and are successfully graduating today, and I hope that you will always remain grateful to the people who have supported you in many ways till this day.
Have you heard of the book called Unsocial Distance? It is a collection of short stories that won the Tanizaki Junichiro Prize last August and written by Hitomi Kanehara, who had also won the Akutagawa Prize for Snakes and Earrings when she was 20 years old. Unsocial Distance contains five short stories, two of which including the title piece were written post pandemic. The title piece “Unsocial Distance” is about a couple of lovers in their third and fourth years at university, who are managing to cope with their schedule filled with classes, seminar activities, thesis writing and job hunting amidst the COVID-19 crisis, but are suffering the increasingly unbearable pain of being deprived of freedom, repressed and disrupted by the virus. Triggered by the cancellation of the concert of their favorite band, which was the last remaining thing they looked forward to and emotionally relied on during this dark time, their despair deepens and they embark on a journey, for the purpose of committing a double suicide on their way.
Along the way, various thoughts and worries occur to them: “COVID-19 is like a society, in the sense that it doesn’t care about people’s feelings and overwhelms others with its enormous power in order to win what it wants... and in the sense that it only allows immune ones to survive and fiercely eliminates those who aren’t. I’m sick and tired of the conflict between people who are extra cautious about infection and those who are not... What are ‘unnecessary and non-urgent’ in the first place? No compensations are given to music venues despite they are being bashed as if they were the cause of the spread of infections. Whether it’s performers or audience, what hope is there for people who cannot live without music, without live music... How can I survive the job interview when I’m terrible at video conferencing? Am I going to die just as this tiny immature being, when there are so many things we still don’t know, have never heard of or things that don’t feel real to us yet?”
Going through the COVID-19 crisis, I imagine that many of you can relate to these issues that the protagonist couple is concerned about.
The two lovers in the story face their weaknesses, and then, recognizing their happiness of being together while accepting their weaknesses, they think of what sounds like wedding vows, in which they swear to love, honor and cherish each other “in pandemic and after pandemic, with or without world economic collapse.” These are described as “joke-like words” in the story, but it left me the impression that it was actually these “joke-like words” that encouraged them to remain in this world. The story ends with the sentence “We will probably keep complaining together about sad and annoying things, share the morning that seems both merciless and hopeful, and go back to Tokyo where the virus continues to spread.”
The theme of our school festival Doshisha EVE last November was “Reclaiming Our Youth.” When the student leader of the executive committee of the festival explained how the theme represented their hope that the festival would give everyone an opportunity to reclaim their youth that was lost amidst the impact of COVID-19, the words filled me with many emotions.
Just like the couple in the story that I introduced above, you all have been doing your best in these difficult times, which must have made you also experience despair and sorrow. Those efforts and struggles of yours are exactly the trajectory of your “reclaiming youth,” and the proof today that your youth was never lost.
With the problems of social divides and intolerance exposed by the COVID-19 crisis, now more than ever is the time when the true value of Doshisha University’s education of conscience is being tested. I am certain that while you have deepened your knowledge and insight in your respective academic fields, your years of study at Doshisha University have also taught you the importance of living with conscience and integrity. It is my sincere hope that you will always continue to live up to your conscience in your respective places in society after graduation.
Of course, this graduation does not mean the end of your relationship with Doshisha University. Just as the achievements of our alumni in various fields of society over years have established Doshisha University’s reputation today, the future activities of each of you who graduate today will bring further honor to us.
Even after you go out into society, you are always welcome to return to Doshisha University, your alma mater, to reaffirm your roots or to reeducate yourself with additional knowledge and skills.
I would like to conclude my address by expressing my best wishes for a bright future for each and every one of our undergraduate and graduate program graduates.