著者

福原 敏男

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.117, pp.251-268, 2004-02

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嘉永五年(一八五二)六月三日夜より三夜連続して、兵庫津の二七の町々(現在の神戸市兵庫区の二六町と中央区の相生町に相当する)が雨乞を目的として、西国街道を舞台に一大灯火行列を繰り広げた。本稿では、その光と色彩と音のページェントともいうべき造り物風流を取り上げて、その風流史的意義について考察する。雨乞というと連想されるのは修験者の祈禱など、すぐれて宗教的な行為である。しかし、本稿で取り上げる雨乞は、危機儀礼というにはあまりに華美であり、新出の『嘉永五子年六月 福原雨乞記』(神戸市立博物館蔵)の挿絵を見ると、あたかもテーマパークにおけるイベント・パレードを見るような、心うきうきする楽しさがある。それはまた、観客の視線を意識した祭礼行列のようでもある。同書巻末によると、惣人数一万三百人あまり、ほかに北浜と南浜の町より加勢人足約五〇〇〇人、松明一二〇〇、半鐘四〇七、太鼓三〇四、大釣鐘四、八丁鉦三〇、法螺貝六三、弓張提灯七一二〇が参加したと記される。一般的に、村落の雨乞いの方法として、村中の人々が鉦・太鼓・法螺貝などを鳴らしながら、松明を持って行列を作って氏神などを出発して村を一周し、近くの霊山に登り、河原に降りてきて松明を積んで燃やす千本松明行事が知られる。兵庫津の事例はその都市版と想定できるが、兵庫津の内でも、農民が集住する「地方十八町」のうち一六町が参加しており、日照りは農業にとって深刻であったことをうかがわせる。稲の生育期の旧暦六月初旬における降雨の多寡は、稲作にとって死活問題だからである。毎年繰り返される年中行事と異なり、雨乞のような一回性の臨時の行事においては、殊に、各町の創意工夫が発揮され、まさに風流の精神が溢れ出る行事ともいえよう。Starting on the third day of June 1852, the 27 machi of Hyogotsu (currently the 26 machi in Hyogoku and Aioi-machi in Chuo-ku, Kobe City) took part in a grand lantern procession along the Saigokukaido in which they prayed for rain. This paper looks at this refined "tsukuri-mono", which may also be described as a pageant of light, color and sound.The practice of praying for rain is associated with prayers by mountain ascetics, and as such is an exceedingly religious practice. However, the practice of praying for rain described here is too ostentatious for a ritual performed at a time of crisis, and from the illustrations contained in the newly found "Fukuhara Record of Prayers for Rain in June 1852" it is a lively and entertaining procession of the kind one would see at a parade at a theme park. It resembles a festival parade that is aware of the gaze of onlookers.At the end of this document it is recorded that a total of more than 10,300 people took part in the procession, as well as 5,000 helpers from Kitahama and Minamihama, 1,200 torches, 407 small hanging bells, 304 drums, 4 large hanging bells, 30 "hatcho" bells (usually attached to the body), 63 conch shells and 7,120 hand-held lanterns. The method of praying for rain for the villages involved the villagers using the bells, drums, conch shells, etc. to produce noise at the same time as they were forming a procession in which the participants held torches as they departed from the site of the tutelary deity, completing a circuit of the village, climbing a nearby sacred mountain, descending to the banks of a river where they gathered the torches together in a bundle and burned them in a practice known as the "thousand torches" (senbon shomei). We may assume that this example from Hyogotsu was an urban version, although peasants living in 16 of the 18 towns in the area within Hyogotsu took part in the procession, which suggests the seriousness of the continued dry weather for fanning. For rice cultivation, the amount of rain that falls in the beginning of the sixth month following the lunar calendar when the rice is starting to grow is a matter of life or death.Unlike the annual events that are repeated each year, practices like praying for rain that are special one-off practices display the creativity of each town and truly exhibit the spirit of refined practices (furyu).