著者

秋田 巌 Iwao AKITA 京都文教大学人間学部 KYOTO BUNKYO UNIVERSITY Department of Human Studies

雑誌

人間・文化・心 : 京都文教大学人間学部研究報告 = Reports from the Faculty of Human Studies, Kyoto Bunkyo University

巻号頁・発行日

no.1, pp.39-48, 1998-07-20

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Great success of "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "The Princess Mononoke" in 1997 are fresh in our memories. I found these simultaneous great hits more than a mere accident, and have submitted to the viewpoint of looking upon these heroines as "Non-human Wives"; Rei Ayanami as a "Disappearing Anima" and San as an "Animal Wife." The slender, delicate and frail looking image of this beautiful girl Rei is a historically important image for the Japanese; as the inner female image held by Japanese men, and as the soul or the God image of both men and women. And, this image goes back to Princess Kaguya in Taketori Monogatari. We have a long history of "The Disappearing Anima" repressing "Animal Wives," just as demons and devils have been repressed by the Christian God. Interestingly enough, we have "Animal-possession" such as fox-possession, snake-possession and dog (god) -possession rather than demonomania in the West. One of the features of modem Japan may be the over exclusion of "E" ‒uncleanliness, impurity or defilement‒ and this is expressed as the flood of goods for the removal of odors and the antibacterial products. "The Disappearing Anima" always exists on a pedestal. The divinity being enshrined. Whereas the "Animal Wives" have been looked down upon and exist in a low place. The relationship of these two different "Non-human Wives" may be thought to represent the mentality of excluding "E."