著者

高橋 敏

出版者

国立歴史民俗博物館

雑誌

国立歴史民俗博物館研究報告 (ISSN:02867400)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.109, pp.1-20, 2004-03

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人々は生命の危機に曝らされ、生活共同体の存亡の局面に立たされたときどのような行動に走るのであろうか。もとより、本来生命を保護し、共同体を行政の一環として支配する体制が人々の不安を解消し得ない非日常の時空においてである。本稿は安政五年(一八五八)突如人々を襲ったコレラの脅威に人々がどのように立ち向かったのか、いやいかにしてこの災厄から逃れようとしたのかを、克明に実証しようとしたものである。安政五年は黒船という「異」の襲来と嘉永末年から安政初年にかけて連続して天地を揺がし、地を震わせた大地震・大津波の恐怖の未だ覚めやらぬ時であった。そこにコレラが襲いかかった。即死病といわれ次々と感染しては大量死に至る惨状は医療行為によって対応することは困難となり、ありとあらゆる神・仏、流行神、呪術を動員して、これに当たることとなった。本稿は、人々の動向を駿河国駿東郡下香貫村(現沼津市下香貫)と深良村(現裾野市深良)で検証する。この二つの事例を取り上げたのはもちろん動向を記録した史料に恵まれたこともあるが、共通して京都吉田大元宮の勧請によってコレラの災厄を除こうしたことに注目したからである。何故に吉田神社の勧請に走ったのか。村共同体の意志決定の過程、吉田神社の神道支配の流れに着目しつつ、コレラの非日常の時空に置かれた人々の不安とそれに立ち向かう人々のエネルギーを掘り起こしたい。吉田神社の勧請は京都往復の路銀はもちろん祈祷料、鎮札などの宗教儀礼に金がかかる。下香貫村、深良村両村とも莫大な金銭の喜捨を村人に求め、最高級の七両二分の祈祷(小箱)をお願いし、帰村後は吉田宮まで造営し、コレラはじめ災厄除けの宮を勧請している。What sort of behavior do people exhibit when their lives are at risk and the survival of their community is at stake? Of course, systems that govern a community as part of its administration whose original duty is to protect life are placed in an abnormal time and space in which they are unable to relieve the anxieties of the people.In this paper I attempt to provide detailed evidence on the cholera outbreak of 1858 that suddenly posed a threat to people's lives and how the people responded to this and how they attempted to escape from this crisis. 1858 was the year of the invasion of the black ships, or "foreigners", and was also a time when the fear of large earthquakes and large tsunami that had continued to shake the land in the early and mid 1850 s had not yet abated.It was at such a point in time that cholera made its onslaught. Said to cause instantaneous death and as a sickness that was highly contagious, there was little that medical practices could do for this condition that led to mass fatalities. Thus, every possible Shinto, Buddhist and popular deity, as well as the supernatural, was mobilized to fend off impending catastrophe.In this paper, I study the actions of the people who lived in Shimo-kanuki village, Sunto County, Suruga Province (present-day Shimo-kanuki, Numazu City) and Fukara village (present-day Fukara, Susono City). Although the existence of recorded histories detailing the actions of the villagers is incidental to the selection of these two villages for this study, the main reason for their selection is that both these villages sought to escape from the calamity of cholera by means of the transfer of deities from Yoshida Daigengu.But why did they turn to transferring deities from Yoshida Jinja Shrine? I explore this question by exposing the anxieties of these people who, as a result of the cholera outbreak, were situated in an abnormal time and space, together with the energies of these people as they faced the threat of cholera, while examining the process of decision making in the village communities and the dominance of Shinto by Yoshida Jinja Shrine.The transfer of deities from Yoshida Jinja Shrine required money, including that for religious practices such as prayer fees and chinsatsu, not to mention the costs of going to and from Kyoto. The two villages of Shimo-kanuki and Fukara demanded alms from their inhabitants amounting to enormous sums of money and requested the highest grade of prayer (kobako). After returning to their villages they went so far as to build Yoshida shrines, which they designated as shrines for preventing calamities such as cholera.