近代日本の兵役制度と地方行政 : 徴兵・召集事務体制の成立過程とその構造

抄録

The aim of the present article is to shed light upon the administrative framework within which the Japanese Army conscripted citizens in peacetime and mobilized them during wartime. Recent research conducted in the field of military history, which has focused on such topics as the social development of military training and relief operations, has yet to deal with the aspect of military administration. The research done to date on the subject at hand has described a clerical affairs structure directly linking regimental district commands to local administrative offices for the purpose of drafting and call-up, arguing that the completion of the system was motivated by after Russo-Japanese War in 1905. However, because this view focuses mainly on the process by which the "military" took over national integration, it fails to account for the actual operations related to clerical affairs, and fails to pay any attention to administrative leadership at the metropolitan and county levels. Therefore, if the supervisory function performed by the local civil authorities, which the Army considered of great import, is not better clarified, it will become impossible to understand the complete process by which conscription-related tasks were carried out. The present article examines the formation and structure of the clerical system from the time of the promulgation of the conscription act until after the Russo-Japanese War, focusing on the interaction among prefectural offices, local authorities and the Army. The aim is to examine how the prefectures supervised administrative affairs at the local level and its significance. The major conclusions are as follows: 1. Before the introduction of the division apparatus, conscription was processed by the prefectures and military, while call-up was processed by local city and county offices in conjunction with the military. 2. After the introduction of the division system, both conscription and call-up were processed at the local administrative level in conjunction with the military. 3. After the Russo-Japanese War, changing ideas about the military system in the midst of proliferation and increasing workloads in clerical affairs motivated the military to once more call upon the prefectures to take a supervisory role over local administration.