1960年代における「根性」の変容に関する一考察：東京オリンピックが果たした役割に着目して

Abstract

Konjo is the willpower necessary to endure suŠering, and for making an eŠort, having become a word in daily use in society, as well as in sports. The purpose of this study was to clarify the op-portunity and the factors responsible for the transformation of konjo in Japanese society in the 1960s. Our study focused on three points: 1) Clarifying how the meaning of the word konjo changed in the 1960s, from its dictionary deˆnition and usage in newspaper articles. 2) Clarifying the situation in which konjo became popular through the Tokyo Olympic Games, and its spread to the sports community and to socie-ty. 3) Considering the factors responsible for the transformation of konjo, and to propose a hypothesis that could account for it. Our conclusions were as follows: 1) The meaning of konjo evolved from a negative contextòa fun-damental character and mindset with which a person is born'' to a positive contextòa strong, resilient character that cannot be suppressed''aa strong motivation to accomplish an aim'' at the beginning of the 1960s. 2) Konjo was considered to the spiritual keynote for athletes at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Hirobumi Daimatsu'onjo theory'' had the persuasive reason bywinniOriental Witches'' cham-pionship at the Tokyo Olympics. In view of these factors, we considered that konjo was interpreted as a popularized moral virtue by society, and impacted on both education and popular culture. 3) We consi-dered that the concept of konjo became transformed and was used to promote competitiveness in sports at the Tokyo Olympics as part of the strategyfòcharacter building''. It also played a role in bolstering human resources that played a key role in economic development during the 1960s, and thus was of stra-tegic value. The considerations listed above show that the Tokyo Olympic Games played an important role in the transformation of the concept of konjo in the 1960s.