著者

小馬 徹 コンマ トオル

出版者

神奈川大学人文学会

雑誌

人文研究 = Studies in humanities (ISSN:02877074)

巻号頁・発行日

no.207, pp.21-95, 2022-12-26

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The present paper is a sequel of this particular author’s former papers titled, ① ‶A mythical monster, Shii promoted the Shibues, top masters of Kappa, the most popular water monster in Japan" (Komma2021a), and ② ‶Rampant emergence of a mythical monster, Shii and the concealed outbreaks of rinderpest ―Ethno-history of massive fatalities of cattle and horses during the early-modern times in Japan" (Komma2022). In the 1st paper concerned, the author clarifi ed the historical process of the formation of the notion, Shii. Several Chinese books had been imported into Japan refer to Shii saying that it can miraculously steal into anybody’s chamber at amy time at will without being noticed, that it often harms anybody’s eyes, face, and limbs, and that it may kill the victims at times. Though those Chinese books never include cattle (nor horses)among Shii’s victims, when the natives of the Nagato and the Suou domains in Westernmost Honshu had been suff ering from massive fatalities of their own cattle in the early 17th century, they named Shii as the incident’s supernatural cause. After several decades, a Shinto priest living in the Suou domain who happened to be at a village in the Chikuzen domain in Northern Kyuhshu, witnessed quite a similar incident to theirs then and there. So he, with the confi dence, eagerly recommended the villagers to fi nd and kill racoon-dog-like creatures. Somehow they successfully hunted some heads, after which peace returned. Some other villages there followed suit and were successful in stopping the mysterious cattle killings, too. Hence Shii leaped into imfamy in nearby villages. An exclusively famous Confusian in the Chikuzen domain at that time, KAIBARA Ekiken wrote the incident vividly in his books titled Chikuzennokuni-nochinohudoki and Yamato-honzo respectively. Hence the high notoriety of Shii in the western half of Honshu and all of Shikoku and Kyushu. ① may be summarized as this. In the second paper ② , the author compares ① with Dr. KISHI Hiroshi’s papers. Kishi is a veterinarian, who identifi ed rinderpest as the aetiological cause of the massive fatalities of native cattle in his homeland,the Nagato and the Suou domains at that time, by referring to many archives well satisfying his fi ve conditions, i.e.(a) only cattle,(b)who are infected with some virus,(c) and died,(d) rapidly,(e) and alsomassively. He is the very fi rst and last person that substantiated the outbreaks of rinderpest during the early-modern times in Japan. His papers assisted the author indeed in that now we can safely say that the myth of Shii in Japan originated mainly due to the two great rinderpest outbreaks. Then, the last question is why did the sudden rise of the very notion of Shii in Western Japan as a whole occur just in the period of massive deth toll during the Kyohou great famine in 1732 which did not fulfi ll Dr. Kishi’s 5 conditions mentioned above, for not only cattle but also horses died in a great number. In ② , the author insists as follows. Through the extremely miserable experiences during the two great outbreaks of rinderpest in the early-and-mid 17th century, the native peasants realized that horses can substitute their dead cattle as ploughing animals. So, they did dreadfully fear the Kyohou great famine, during which their horses died together with their cattle, leaving no ploughing power, other than human beings themselves, behind at all. For the present author, the plenty of historical documents he cited as the hard evidence to corroborate the two great outbreaks of rinderpest, are heuristic and thought-provoking by far beyond expectation. The present paper’s author, encountered a thin document full of apparent miscopies in transcription, titled Kanbun-zakki meanig miscellaneous notes during the Kanbun era. After a careful study of the docu ment, a crucial evidence for the unexpected paradigm shift from Kappa to Shii as the aetiological cause of massive fatalities of cattle and horses loomed large out of historic mist. An offi cial circular of a tentative aetiology of the massive fatalities by Shogunate government offi cials was sent to each feudal lord in Western Japan during the second great outbreak of rinderpest in the mid-Kanbun era. The quite an old-fashioned circular, to which a transcription of the Shibues’ famous charm to avert Kappa’s evil attached, read as follows: the government recommends to press the charm to the head of each one of cattle, for the practice has turnd out very effi cacious to prevent the animal from dying in the Higo domain. Higo is the Shibues’ homeland. This is astounding fact, for, according to the standard academic evaluation, they at that time have been taken as persons of somewhat low social standing, up to now. The government’s pronouncement should have changed the attitudes of the common people toward them, especially in the Higo domain,avobe all. When the Kyohou great famine started, the above-mentioned paradigm shift from Kappa to Shii took place, for Higoites had been infl uenced by the aetiology in the Chikugo domain which was located in close vicinity to the Higo domain in the south. Chikugoites were known for having originated another diff erent concept of Shii independent from that of the Nagato and the Suou domains. According to it, Shii harms horses only, but not cattle, which is more profi table to the lesson gotten after the two great rinderpest outbreaks. So, it seems that the residents in the Higo domain successfully persuaded now prestigeful the Sibues to accept the Chikugo-like concept. All in all, the Shibues seem to come to be known as top masters of uprising Shii, other than those of Kappa. As a result, Kappa seems to have constantly reduced group consciousness day by day.

著者

小馬 徹 Komma Toru コンマ トオル

出版者

国立民族学博物館

雑誌

国立民族学博物館研究報告 (ISSN:0385180X)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.14, pp.117-165, 1989-07-27