アジア・太平洋戦争最末期の学校体育政策に関する一考察：文部省による通牒を手掛かりとして

抄録

 This study attempted to identify initiatives regarding content and implementation of school physical education policies during March-August 1945, using data from Ministry of Education circulars. Its findings were as follows:
 1. The historical development of school physical education administrative functions during the Asia-Pacific War was clarified. These functions were enhanced by establishing the Physical Education Bureau (January 1941). After 1942, these functions gradually diminished, and the Physical Education Bureau was absorbed into another department by July 1945. However, its functions did not become obsolete, and the policy planning and implementation initiatives were not suspended.
 2. Regarding physical education policies after March 1945, the study first examined “Special Measures and Guidelines for Students' Physical Training” and “Special Measures and Guidelines for Students' Military Education” implemented in April 1945, and found that differences in content between the 2 reflected the degree of military involvement. The Course for Communication of Content to Local Regions as part of the former was also examined. Its characteristic features included nationwide implementation and dispatch of instructional officers to local regions to provide coaching and implement policy.
 The study also examined the “Ministry of War and Ministry of Education Discussion Memorandum Regarding Deployment of Active Military Officers in School and the Wartime Special Measures for Regulation of its Enforcement” issued in July. This was construed as an amendment of previously stipulated regulations in accordance with circumstances at the time. School training measures were being continuously negotiated between the Ministry of Education and the military until just before the defeat. The “Special Measures and Guidelines for the Implementation of Female Students' Naginata (Pole Swords) and Self-Defence Methods” implemented in August were also examined. This confirmed that these guidelines constituted the last school physical education policy during the Asia-Pacific War.
 3. The study re-examined the “Guidelines for Training of People's Fighting Power” (Kokumin Toryoku Rensei Youkou) established in May 1945, which previous studies had deemed the last school physical education policy during the Asia-Pacific War. This was a private recommendation based on martial arts created by Muneo Shiotani, and not an official Ministry of Education policy.
 4. The present study has revealed details about school physical education policies during March-August 1945, which have not been examined previously. The findings are significant because they reveal that school physical education policies developed continuously during this late period of the Asia-Pacific War.