「同じ志をもつ友達が遠くからやってくる。なんと楽しいことだろう」という論語の有名な一節は、仲間と共に学問をする喜びを述べた言葉として広く知られています。

　9月下旬、リトアニア政府の招きを受け「Life Sciences Baltics 2018」で軟骨再生をテーマに基調講演を行うため、バルト海に臨むリトアニアの首都ビリニュスを再訪しました。イタリアのローマとギリシャのアテネから名誉教授である私の友人たちが「朝食から夕食まで一緒に過ごしたい」とリトアニアまで駆け付けてくれ、2日間を一緒に過ごしました。彼らはヨーロッパ、アメリカ、アジアの学会で何度も顔を合わせ、学会中必ず１度は食事する仲間で、私の知らなかった文化やネットワークを教えてくれたかけがえのない友です。

　膝関節外科という小さな領域ながら、国際学会などの招待で私が海外で講演した回数は170回を超えました。国内はもとより海外にも多くの友人ができて楽しい時間を過ごせるのも、長時間のフライトもいとわず飛び回ってきたおかげであると思います。

　一方、冒頭に紹介した論語の一節については、朋は「亡くなった友」を指し、「死者との対話」の意義役割を述べているのだという解釈もあります。

　2013年に私が会長を務めた第86回日本整形外科学会学術総会で講演をお願いした思想家の内田樹氏、そして内田氏の師匠であるフランスの哲学者レヴィナスが、そろって言及しているのも「死者との対話」です。また、イギリスの批評家チェスタトンは「死者のあいだにしか生は見出せない」という言葉を残してしミます。

日本や中国にも「温故知新」「彰往察来(しょうおうさつらい)」という故事成語があります。歴史を振り返り、そこから未来を切り拓いていかなければならないという訓えは、洋の東西を問わぬ真理であると思います。

　昨今、大学を取り巻く状況はいっそう厳しさを増しています。こうした時代だからこそ、広島文理科大学の時代から法人化、そして改革の歩みをあらためて顧みながら、その課題と成果を理解し、将来への道程を見出していくことが不可欠であると、しみじみ思うこのごろです。

"How delightful it is to have an old friend who shares your vision makes a journey to see you.”This is a famous passage from the Analects, well known for its description of the joy of learning something together with like-minded friends.

In late September, at the invitation of Lithuanian government, I visited Vilnius, which is the capital city of Lithuania enclosing the Baltic Sea, for the second time. The purpose of my visit was to give a plenary lecture on cartilage regeneration at Life Sciences Baltics 2018. During my stay, two friends--one from Rome in Italy and the other from Athens in Greece--came to see me, saying "we want to spend the next two full days (including breakfast, lunch, and dinner time) with you.”They are both emeritus professors whom I used to meet regularly for dinner during the academic conferences I attended in Europe, America, and Asia. I consider them to be invaluable friends, to whom I am indebted for enlightening me with cultural knowledge and a network of contacts during these conferences.

Despite my area of research, knee surgery, being highly specialized, I have been invited to give more than 170 lectures abroad at international conferences. The upside of enduring the long flight times around the world has been that I have become close friends with many people both inside and outside of Japan. Interestingly, some say that the “friend” mentioned in the passage from the Analects above can be interpreted as meaning "a deceased friend"，and that the passage is actually describing the　significance and role of a "dialogue with the deceased.”

"A dialogue with the deceased" has also been mentioned by Mr. Tatsuru Uchida (a Japanese thinker who was invited to give a lecture at the 86th Annual Meeting of Japanese Orthopaedic Surgery where I served as a Congress President) and by his master Dr. Emmanuel Levinas (a French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry). Likewise, G. K. Chesterton, a British critic, left us with the following observation： "One can only find life among the dead.”

Both China and Japan have idioms, which in Japan we call故事成語：（Koji-seigo).These idioms are derived from historical events or classical literature such as 温故知新： （Onko chishin: "Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old") and 彰往察来 (Shooh-Satsurai："Consider past events and examine the gain or loss from them in future"). Be it the West or the East, it seems to be a universal truth that one needs to take a look back at the past to unlock the future.

Nowadays，the situation surrounding universities in Japan is becoming increasingly hostile. By looking back on the history of Hiroshima University from its pre-establishment days (such as when it was Hiroshima University of Literature and Science） to the times of its incorporation as well as the path it has taken for its reforms, it is essential for us to try to understand the challenges it has faced and the accomplishments it has made in the past as well as to unlock the future path of HU. These days, I am often preoccupied by such thoughts.