New Village - Atarashikimura

An idealistic group founded in November 1918 (Taisho 7) in Kijyo Village, Koyu County, Miyazaki Prefecture (now Kijyo Town) by Mushanokoji Saneatsu and others. True to their inner desires, many young people from all over the country participated in Mushanokoji's call to make the most of themselves. Along with Akai Tori, it can be said to be a powerful reflection of the ideas and culture of the Taisho period (1912-1926). Before deciding on the site in Hyuga, Mushanokoji launched the journal Atarashiki Mura, exerting the same energy he had infused into Shirakaba. There was sympathetic criticism of this movement from within Shirakaba by Arishima Takeo, and fundamental criticism of its utopian ideas from socialists of the time, but Mushanokoji maintained a pro-Hinode stance. Here he wrote his masterpieces, including "Happy Man," "Friendship," "The Fate of the Third Hermit," and "Long Live Humanity." The development of the village was accompanied by many difficulties, and Mushanokoji left the village at the end of the Taisho era, but it continued thanks to the efforts of Masao Sugiyama (1903-1983) and others. Sugiyama was adopted into the Mushanokoji family and took the surname Mushanokoji.

In the Showa era, in 1939 (Showa 14), "East Village" was opened in Moroyama, Iruma County, Saitama Prefecture, and after World War II, Watanabe Kanji (1911-2005) and others worked hard to create a system that enabled the village to be completely self-sufficient. In 1948, "East Village" became the "Atarashiki Mura Foundation," and in addition to rice paddies and orchards, chicken farming began. The number of people living in the village exceeded 50, and in 1980, the "Mushanokoji Saneatsu Memorial Atarashiki Mura Museum" was opened, housing Mushanokoji Saneatsu's calligraphy, paintings, letters, books, and more. Since then, the residents of the village have been aging, and as of 2013, there are only 13 people living in the village (there are 160 members from outside the village).

[Toshiro Akano January 19, 2017]

"Fifty Years of Shinshikimura" edited by Nagami Shichiro (1968, Shinshikimura Foundation)" ▽ "Life in Shinshikimura" by Mushanokoji Saneatsu (1969, Museum of Modern Literature)" ▽ "Even One Person is Still a Village -- Sugiyama Masao and Hyuga Shinshikimura" by Aman Shachito (1985, Komyakusha)" ▽ "Seventy Years of Shinshikimura in Chronological Form, from 1981 to 1988" by Watanabe Kanji (1990, Shinshikimura Foundation)" ▽ "The Birth and Growth of Shinshikimura" by Mushanokoji Saneatsu and edited by Watanabe Kanji (1992, Shinshikimura Foundation)" ▽ "Living in Shinshikimura -- Forty-five Years in Search of Coexistence with Oneself and Others" by Watanabe Kanji (1993, Shinshikimura Foundation)" ▽ "To Live Like a Human Being," by Mushanokoji Saneatsu, edited by Watanabe Kanji (1994, Shinshiki Mura Foundation)" ▽ "A Study of Mushanokoji Saneatsu -- Saneatsu and the New Village," by Otsuyama Kunio (1997, Meiji Shoin)" ▽ "Verification of the New Village -- the Idealism of Mushanokoji Saneatsu," by Okuwaki Kenzo (1998, Rural Culture Association)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1918年（大正7）11月、宮崎県児湯(こゆ)郡木城(きじょう)村（現、木城町）に武者小路実篤(むしゃのこうじさねあつ)らの推進により創設された理想主義的な集団。内心の要求に忠実に、互いに自己を生かすべく武者小路の呼びかけに全国より多くの青年が参加した。『赤い鳥』とともに大正期（1912～1926）の思想、文化の有力な反映といえる。日向(ひゅうが)に土地を決めるより前に、武者小路は機関誌『新しき村』を創刊、『白樺(しらかば)』に注入した同じエネルギーをここで発揮した。この運動に対して『白樺』内部からは有島武郎(たけお)の理解を込めた批判、当時の社会主義者たちからはその桃源郷的な発想に対する根本的批判などもあったが、武者小路はあくまでも向日的姿勢を堅持した。ここで彼は『幸福者』『友情』『第三の隠者の運命』『人間万歳』などの代表作を書く。村の発展には幾多の困難も伴い、武者小路は大正末に離村、しかし杉山正雄（1903―1983）らの力で継続された。杉山は、武者小路家の養子となり武者小路姓を名のる。

　また昭和に入って1939年（昭和14）埼玉県入間(いるま)郡毛呂山(もろやま)に「東の村」を開設、第二次世界大戦後は渡辺貫二（1911―2005）らが努力、完全に自活できる体制をつくりあげている。1948年「東の村」は「財団法人新しき村」となり、水田や果樹園に加え養鶏が始まった。村内生活者は50名を超え、1980年には、武者小路実篤の書画、書簡、著書等を収めた「武者小路実篤記念　新しき村美術館」が開館した。その後、村内生活者の高齢化がすすみ、2013年時点で、村内生活者は13名となっている（村外会員は160名）。

［紅野敏郎　2017年1月19日］

『永見七郎編『新しき村五十年』（1968・財団法人新しき村）』▽『武者小路実篤著『新しき村の生活』（1969・近代文学館）』▽『阿万鯱人著『一人でもやっぱり村である――杉山正雄と日向新しき村』（1985・鉱脈社）』▽『渡辺貫二著『年表形式による新しき村の七十年　自1981年～至1988年』（1990・財団法人新しき村）』▽『武者小路実篤著、渡辺貫二編『新しき村の誕生と生長』（1992・財団法人新しき村）』▽『渡辺貫二著『新しき村に生きる――自他共生を求めて四十五年』（1993・財団法人新しき村）』▽『武者小路実篤著、渡辺貫二編『人間らしく生きるために』（1994・財団法人新しき村）』▽『大津山国夫著『武者小路実篤研究――実篤と新しき村』（1997・明治書院）』▽『奥脇賢三著『検証「新しき村」――武者小路実篤の理想主義』（1998・農山漁村文化協会）』

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