原子彈的日本譯名(I)

Recently the Asahi News reported the following:

終戦直前に広島へ投下された兵器の正体を、国内でいち早く「原子爆弾」と訳し、政府に報告したのは、埼玉県川越市で海外放送を傍受した通信社だった――。戦後６５年の今年、そんな裏面史を検証する調査が進んでいる。大本営は結局、しばらくは「新型爆弾」としか発表せず、放射能の脅威が知らされないまま２次被爆の拡大につながったと指摘する専門家もいる。
　「トルーマン（米）大統領が原子爆弾で広島を攻撃した旨発表した」
　財団法人通信社史刊行会（現・新聞通信調査会）から１９５８年に発行された「通信社史」によると、こんな海外放送を傍受したのは、共同通信社や時事通信社の前身だった同盟通信社の川越分室。４５年８月７日午前１時半ごろだった。前日の広島の惨禍に関する重大情報で、日本語に訳され、直ちに東郷茂徳外相らに伝達されたという。 しかし、この記述を検証できる史料は乏しい。川越市史には「同盟通信社が疎開して外国電波をキャッチしていた」とだけ記されている。
　外電の傍受活動について調べている元共同通信記者の鳥居英晴氏（６１）と、郷土史を探究する市内の作家龍神由美さん（５２）が別々に検証作業を始めたところ、昨年から今年にかけて、市内の同じ「生き証人」にたどり着いた。分室の記者だった故・杉山市平氏の妻昭子（てるこ）さん（８３）だ。
　昭子さんは夫から生前、こう聞いていた。「今までにない爆弾が落ち、どうやって訳すかを考え、『原子爆弾』という名を付けた」。翻訳は、同僚の故・武井武夫記者との共同作業だったという。 昭子さんによると、分室は現在の市立博物館の場所で、当時の市立工業学校を使っていた。傍受にあたる逓信省の技術者や英文をタイプする日系人も出入りしていた。昭子さんは「知られていないけど大変な歴史なんです」と話す。

It was a news agency in Saitama Prefecture Kawagoe City that intercepted the overseas radio service and the true nature of the weapon dropped at Hiroshima immediately before the end of the war was promptly translated into "Atomic Bomb" domestically, and reported to the government. This year is 65 years after the war, the investigation that verified such an inside history was pursued. Imperial headquarters also had specialists who pointed out that if without quickly announcing the "New Bomb", or letting the threat of the radioactivity unknown would contribute to an increase in secondary radiation exposure.
"President Truman (U.S.) announced the order to attack Hiroshima with an atomic bomb".
According to the "History of the News Agency" issued in 1958 and based on the News Agency History Publication Association Foundation (the present Newspaper Communication Investigation Committee) , it was the Kawagoe branch of the Alliance News Agency, being the predecessor of Kyodo News Service and Jiji Press Co. that intercepted such overseas radio broadcast. It was about 1:30AM on August 7th 1945. It was said that it was translated into Japanese as an important information about the disaster in Hiroshima the day before, and was transmitted at once to Foreign Minister Togo Shigetoku and others. However, historical materials that could verify this description was scarce. The record in the history of Kawagoe City was only that "The Alliance News Agency evacuated and a foreign radio message had been captured".

Regarding the investigation of interception activity on foreign radio messages, Ryuukami (52) the writer and local village history searcher who was in the city together with Torii (61) the former journalist of Kyodo News Service, both separately started the verification work, from last year to this year and they reached the same "surviving witness" in the city. It was Akiko (83), the surviving wife of the deceased Sugiyama who was the journalist of the branch.

She heard from her husband when he was alive saying that "The bomb dropped was not as before, and had to consider how to translate it, and the name 'Atomic Bomb' was coined. It was said that this translation was the joint work with Takeo Takei the deceased colleague journalist.
According to Akiko, the branch at that time used a municipal technical school, its present location was the municipal museum. Engineers of the communication ministry who undertook to intercept together with people of Japanese descent who typed it in out in English went in and out. Akiko said, "It is an important piece of history although it is not made known". (to be continued)