<Articles>The Korean Problems and International Politics in the 1880s : the Road Leading to the Sino-Japanese War

個人情報保護のため削除部分あり日清戦争は日本の大陸国家化の第一歩であるとともに極東の帝国主義的分割の開始を告げるものであった。この日清戦争とその後の分割については、これを不可避とする状況(日本政府の対清武力対決方針の決定・列強の極東に対する外圧の強化) が一八八○年代中期までに朝鮮問題を焦点として形成された、とするのが通説である。本稿はかかる通説の再検討の試みであり、そのために壬午事変後より甲申事変の勃発、天津条約を経て巨文島事件下の朝鮮弁法八ヶ条に至る一八八○年代前半の朝鮮問題の展開を検討した。 これにより得られた結論は、一、当時の日本政府の朝鮮政策は単一ではなく、その主流である長州派(井上馨・伊藤博文・山県有朋ら) は朝鮮支配のための対清武力対決方針を基本的外交方針としていなかった、二、清・日両国の列強への対抗力はこの時期むしろ強化されていた、三、したがってこの時期、日清戦争、極東の帝国主義的分割の開始を不可避とする状況は存在していなかった、というものである。そしてこのことは日清戦争前の日本国家の進路の多様な可能性を示すとともに日清戦争という選択の持つ決定的な重みを明らかにすることになろう。With the Sino-Japanese War, Japan got a foothold on the Asia continent and the imperialist states began to divide up the Far East. It is commonly accepted that this Sino-Japanese War and the following division was unavoidable under the circumstances of the Korean problems from the middle of the 1880s ; the Japanese government had decided to come into armed conflict with the Qing court and the great Powers' pressure on the Far East had been intensified. In this article, we attempted to reconsider this common view by examining the course of the Korean problems in the first half of the 1880s ; from after the Jingo Incident 壬午事変, through the outbreak of the Koshin Incident 甲申事変 and the Tien-tsin treaty 天津条約, to the Eight Article Korean Doctorine 朝鮮弁法8ケ条 following the Port Hamilton Incident 巨文島事件. As a result, we came to these conclusions ; (1) In those days, the Korean policy of the Japanese government was not unanimous. Instead, the leading faction, the Choshu clan, which included Kaoru Inoue, Hirobumi Ito, Aritomo Yamagata and others, did not choose the policy of armed conflict with the Qing. (2) In this period, both China and Japan had strengthened their ability to oppose the great Powers. (3) Consequently, in this period there were no circumstances under which the Sino-Japanese War and the imperialist division of the Far East were unavoidable. This makes it clear that there were various alternatives in Japanese state policies before the Sino-Japanese War, and it shows how important and decisive the choice of the Sino-Japanese War was