BY SHIN TERADA

The Principal of Sera High School was pressured by the Ministry of Education on one side and the teachers in his high school on the other, which bought his life to a tragic end this February. The Japanese Government was deliberating the National Flag-and-Anthem Law. This law was enacted by an absolute majority on August ninth. A series of incidents gave us a chance to think of what the Hinomaru and the Kimigayo really are.

The arguments, which are based on two different views of history and the Japanese emperor, on a national flag and anthem occurred after World War II.

I belong to the generations after the World War II, which means I did not see how Hinomaru and Kimigayo were treated during that period. That is why I cannot understand the opinion against them. This implies that if I were born in that time, I would have the possibility of taking the opposite attitude toward them.

Hinomaru and Kimigayo cannot be considered objectively if they are seen only in the national situation and many misfortunes during the previous war. To see them objectively, we must discuss their whole history only that in war time. We, first of all, should learn the history of Hinomaru and Kimigayo before World War II.

Having studied them to some degree, I have concluded it is possible to regard them as the art and heritage which our ancestors left us. We should focus on our ancestors' mind as they created them.

Hinomaru was used as a flag on trading ships from about the sixteenth Century to the Edo era. The Meiji Government was established in 1968 and three years later it was adopted as the national flag in the Taiseikan Proclamation.

As for Kimigayo, it is from a poem in the Kokinwakashu which begins "wagakimi" and has had "kimigayowa" as its first line for many years. "Kimi" originally means a highlly-honored "you" and naturally "Kimi" was used to mean the emperor who reigned over Japan when this poem was written.

The Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said, in the legislature, "Kimi" is the Japanese Emperor who is the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people under the Japanese Constitution.

History has light and dark sides. This idea applies to the matter of Hinomaru and Kimigayo as well. We should look at the history that our ancestors created long ago not only the dark side of World War II.

We expected various arguments aired before the people. It cannot be denied that this law was enacted while arguments among the people were incomplete. The Japanese Government should have discussed the history of the national flag and anthem before everyone.

It is difficult to say that the National-Flag-and-Anthem Law, which the majority passed, affected into us deeply. We hope tragic incidents such as that of Sera High School in Hiroshima Prefecture no longer happen and Hinomaru and Kimigayo will find out roots in places of education. We hope that the people will come to respect and honor them and so fulfill our responsibilities to our ancestors and the world.