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Short short with English summary　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

紀元節
２月１１日は、我国の建国記念日であった。この日は、明治維新から５年経って、国が必要にせまられて設定した「紀元節」を改名したものだ。当時、この日を算出して確定した歴史学者は、迷信・伝説に近代科学の衣を着せたわけだ。さぞや心が痛んだことだろう。あるいは、単なる、御用学者・官僚だったのかも。　戦時中、１９４０年に、皇紀二千六百年祭典という一大国家行事・祭典があった。日本人全ては心を合わせて祝った。この、盲目的付和雷同の日本人を育成したのは、義務教育であり、小中学校教師の犯した大罪といえる。　さすが敗戦によって、「紀元節」は廃止されたが、２０年の冷却期間の後、１９６６年末、改名復活して今日に至っている。
明治維新当初、政府が必要に迫られたことは理解できる。しかしこの重大な記念日を数多くの候補日の中から、根拠なきものをイージーに選んだということは、実はそう重要視されていなかったから、とも言える。選挙目当てに復活させた、時の総理大臣・佐藤栄作は、１９７４年ノーベル平和賞を受賞。
そもそも、建国記念日などというものは、世界各国、それそれ、お国の事情で相当のバリエーションがあるはずだ。米国は簡単だろう。フランスも簡単だろう。しかし、ロシアは？ドイツは？イタリアは？スペインは？ 当時、植民地だった、東南アジアの諸国の場合、簡単に日本敗戦の日付とはいかない。　英国には、建国記念日は、ない。まさに諸般の事情で、ない。オーストラリアも、英国とアブオリジンに遠慮して、ない。　全世界とは言わなくても、知っているとか、往った事のある国々の建国記念日設定事情を知ることは楽しそうだ。　　
私は、肩に力の入った「建国記念日」は、ない方が良いと思う。建国に不同意の人々は数多い。クルド・バスク・アイルランド・スコットランド・パレスチナ・チベット・ウクライナ、国際紛争・戦争の火種は、数え切れない。　そもそも、国という単位は、教育・医療・交通・大規模インフラをマネージする、行政機関に止めるべきであろう。税制は、地方税を主とすべきであり、軍隊は世界統一の機構にすれば、無茶・無法な殺戮は防げる。
ところで、お隣の中国の「建国記念日」は、毛沢東が建国宣言をした日。北朝鮮 は、金日成が建国宣言をした日。この日は、中国の「建国記念日」よりも、１年前である。　韓国は、８月１５日「光復節」は、当然として、更に、日本の「紀元節」の向こうを張って、「開天節」がある。この日は、ＢＣ２３３３年の１０月３日を算出して定めたという。何となく、微笑ましい。

The National Foundation Day “Kigen-setsu”
Buddhism started in BC500 in India. It took 1000years to reach China. Within a few hundred years Buddhism became a big competitor to Shintoism in Japan. The period of Buddhism’s spreading was the same period when Muslim spread in the middle and the south Asia. Shintoism has been in Japan very long, perhaps for 2500years but naturally not archeologically proved. The theology of Shintoism is a collection of folklores.
The 11th of February is the Notional Foundation Day of Japan.
About 150years ago, we had the Meiji Restoration. After 5years of the restoration, the government found it necessary to have the national foundation memorial day. The day was named “Kigen-setsu”. The scholars who calculated the date 11th of February coated over the folklore with unscientific archeology and mathematical calculation. They must have felt very uneasy or they were just a group of toadies. 　Under the War, in 1940, there was a big national festival, the 2,600years Commemoration based on Kigen-setsu. All of the Japanese without an exception joined and celebrated the festival. I would say it was a great and wrong success of the Japanese school education. We lost the War and Kigen-setsu was abolished. But after the 20years cooling period, Kigensetsu was revived, renamed as the National Foundation Day with the same date February the 11th. In 1873 just after the restoration, the Meiji government needed and fixed quickly a national foundation day. It was in a way understandable and agreeable. But in 1966, the government took up the same subject and fixed the same date, only renamed. The government was not quite intelligent. The Prime Minister Sato received later the Nobel Peace Prize.
There are many nations in the world with their own national history. There were winners and there were losers. A revolution followed by a counter revolution. There must be many different strong reasons behind each of the National Foundation Days. USA and France may have simple motives. But how did some of other nations decide their National foundation Days such as Russia, Germany, Italia, Spain? The nations in the south eastern Asia had been long time colonized. Their national foundation days couldn’t have been dated simply based on the end of the Japanese occupation. UK has no National Foundation Day because of a lot of delicate reasons. Australia has not either, somehow following the pattern of UK. It might be interesting to study how the nations in the world decide their national foundation days.
I do not like the national foundation day celebrated with parades, flags and big speeches. In the world there are many people who do not agree and do not feel happy with the national foundation day. Kurds, Basque, Ireland, Scotland, Palestine, Tibet and Ukraine, so many unsolved conflicts and dispute are leading us to the war. I think the power of the nations should be limited in the sectors as education, medication, wide infra structures. The taxations should mainly be managed by the local autonomies. The armed forces should be under the one international authority so that at least lawless useless killings could be avoided.
By the way, the date of the National Foundation Day of China is the day when Mao Tsuo-Tong declared the establishment of the communist China. For North Korea, the day when Kim Il-Sung declared the independence. North Korea declared one year before China declared. South Korea has two memorial days. The one is naturally the 15th of August. And the other one was calculated based on their folklore telling the nation was established on the 3rd of October, BC 2,333. It sounds as if it followed the pattern of Japan.
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