著者

吉野 裕子

出版者

日本文化人類学会

雑誌

民族學研究 (ISSN:00215023)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.45, no.2, pp.134-159, 1980-09-30

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In the serialized reports the writer gave in this journal's previous issues entitled "Studies on Ise Shrine, Part I-III, the contention is that what we conceive of as typically Japanese festivities observed and conducted in the Shrine were actually very much influenced by the old Chinese philosophical thinking of "Cosmic Dual Forces and Five Natural Elements' as envisioned in the enshrining of AMATERASU, the Imperial ancestral goddess in the Ise Shrine. She was the incarnation of the Chinese cosmic god of Tai-Yi, the mythical identification of the North Star and to the Geku goddess, the outer Shrine, the enshrining of the Big Dipper. While festivals observed at Ise Shrine are Imperial Household rituals, the thought of Cosmic Dual Forces and Five Natural Elements was also widely and forcefully applied and practiced in the public domain such as in the festivities, seasonal change customs and in conjurations to avoid ill omens and calamities. The present report is a study of such phenomena. According to ancient Chinese philosphy. CHAOS was the one and only absolute being in the primordial age. Out of this CHAOS, the light, clear and clean Yang (陽) atmosphere rose to form the Heavens while the dark, heavy and murky Yin (陰) atmosphere descended to form the land. Since the two poles of Yin (陰) and Yang (陽) are the spinoff from the same maternal substance, the CHAOS, their roots are identical and therefore, they would attract one another, mingle and react, and as a result, would produce the five natural elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Every phenomenon was categorized into one of these five natural elements. The colours, directions, seasons, times, virtues, sounds and the kinds of living creatures to such natural phenomena as thunder, wind and so forth were all conformed into one of these five natural elements. To illustrate, the wood spirit symbolizes the Spring of the seasons, blue is its colour, East is its direction, and Morning in time, while the Fire spirit symbolizes Summer, Red, South and Noon, and Metal, Autumn, White, West and Evening respectively. There was another thought regarding these five Natural Elements which was reactionary in its function:one was continuity and amity, while the other was conflict and struggle. Continuity and amity will bear Fire from the Wood while Fire will bear Earth and the Earth, the Metal and the Metal bears Water while Water bears Wood. This is the plus or positive factor relation. The conflict and struggle are negative or minus relation in which the Wood overcomes Earth, and Earth the Water and Water the Fire and Fire the Metal, with Metal overcoming the Wood. These two opposing and reactionary functions serve to guarantee the perpetuation of all living matter. What the Chinese emphasized most was the smooth transition of the four seasons. They believed that people should actively participate and assist the natural transition of seasons and to this end the ancient Chinese emperors wore blue clothes and blue jewels to meet the Wood spirit on the first day of Spring (calendar date) and walked out to the East suburb to personally welcome the Spring. By the same token. in summer they wore red clothes and red jewels and walked out to the South suburb. Thus, by personally greeting the four seasons, they encouraged the natural transition of the seasons. For the Japanese, a race dependent on rice crops, they too would seek a regulated transition of the four seasons and the principle practiced in China would be utilized and practiced.

著者

吉野裕子著

出版者

学生社

巻号頁・発行日

1970

著者

吉野 裕子

出版者

日本文化人類学会

雑誌

民族學研究 (ISSN:00215023)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.41, no.1, pp.30-56, 1976

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Ancient Chinese philosophy had considered Chaos (混沌) as the one and only primal absolute force. Out of this Chaos rose the clear and clean Yang (陽) atomosphere to become Heaven, while the dark and murky Yin (陰) atomosphere sank to become Land. Since Heaven and Land are the off-springs of the same maternal substance, it was thought that they should always mingle with each other. As knowledge of astrology deepened and expanded, the non-moving North Star was located and confirmed in the northern sky. This star was then considered as the center of the universe and sanctified as Tai-Yi (太一) . Tai-Yi evolved into one unity with Chaos and became the Supreme Ultimate(太極) . The Big Dipper (北斗) , because of its regular movement around the North Star, was thought of as either Tai-Yi's minister or his vehicle, while also being worshipped as the agricultural god. But couldn't there have been a much simpler reason giving rise to the worship of the Big Dipper ? What makes the Big Dipper so prominent in the night sky is its special spoon-shaped appearance. The Chinese worship and pay tribute to their ancesters. Their ritual is centered around food. It could be that their thought followed the pattern that if they offered food to the heavenly big spoon, the Big Dipper, it would reach the ancestral God of the universe. Incidentally, there is another big spoon besides the Big Dipper in the sky. It is the South Dipper (南斗) in Sagittarius. The ancient Chinese considered this star as the 'Mausoleum' enshrining the ancestral soul. As already expounded, Chinese philosophy has conceived the theory that the sky and the earth were of the same origin. Thus the celestial image was symbolically employed for the imperial court infrastructure. The emperor was considered to be the son of the heavenly king, and the central imperial courtyard was modeled after Tai-Yi's palace. It is said that the northern section of the palace of the Han dynasty was modeled after the Big Dipper, while the southern section, after the South Dipper. The writer assumes that the symbolic embodiment on the earth of these three heavenly bodies were accepted in Japan and its imitation completed in the era of Emperor Temmu (ruled : 672-686) . Through the spoon of the northern and sonthern dippers, offerings finally reach the ancestral god, the North Star. With the North Star forming the nucleus, the angle formed by the North and South Dippers is 67°. This infrastructure is reflected in the construction of the festival hall and the venue of Ohname-sai (大嘗祭-the festival honoring the ancestral soul during the imperial enthronement) of the Ise Shrine as clearly shown in Fig. I through Fig. 5. The Kammiso Festivals (神衣祭-the ritual in which wearing apparels are offered to the ancestral god) of the Ise Shrine are observed twice a year in spring and autumn, but it is full of mystery. The South Dipper is visible from May through October, and the festivals are held when the star becomes visible and when it disappears. The latter is the occasion of the Kammiso Festival. Offerings to the ancestral god are only possible when the big spoon appears. The confirmation of the big spoon is the ritual of the Kammiso Festival which is followed immediately by the Kan-name Festival (神嘗祭) , the food offering ritual to the ancestral god. The Ise Shrine enshrines the imperial ancestral god, Amaterasu (天照), the Goddess of the Sun. Chinese philosophy, hand in hand with astrology, highly esteems the Nohth Star, Tai-Yi (太一) as the fundamental factor of the universe. The incarnation of Amaterasu and Tai-Yi has explained in the writer's previous reportwhich stated in sum as the unification of the Sun and stars.

著者

吉野 裕子

出版者

日本文化人類学会

雑誌

民族學研究 (ISSN:24240508)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.45, no.2, pp.134-159, 1980-09-30 (Released:2018-03-27)

---

In the serialized reports the writer gave in this journal's previous issues entitled "Studies on Ise Shrine, Part I-III, the contention is that what we conceive of as typically Japanese festivities observed and conducted in the Shrine were actually very much influenced by the old Chinese philosophical thinking of "Cosmic Dual Forces and Five Natural Elements' as envisioned in the enshrining of AMATERASU, the Imperial ancestral goddess in the Ise Shrine. She was the incarnation of the Chinese cosmic god of Tai-Yi, the mythical identification of the North Star and to the Geku goddess, the outer Shrine, the enshrining of the Big Dipper. While festivals observed at Ise Shrine are Imperial Household rituals, the thought of Cosmic Dual Forces and Five Natural Elements was also widely and forcefully applied and practiced in the public domain such as in the festivities, seasonal change customs and in conjurations to avoid ill omens and calamities. The present report is a study of such phenomena. According to ancient Chinese philosphy. CHAOS was the one and only absolute being in the primordial age. Out of this CHAOS, the light, clear and clean Yang (陽) atmosphere rose to form the Heavens while the dark, heavy and murky Yin (陰) atmosphere descended to form the land. Since the two poles of Yin (陰) and Yang (陽) are the spinoff from the same maternal substance, the CHAOS, their roots are identical and therefore, they would attract one another, mingle and react, and as a result, would produce the five natural elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Every phenomenon was categorized into one of these five natural elements. The colours, directions, seasons, times, virtues, sounds and the kinds of living creatures to such natural phenomena as thunder, wind and so forth were all conformed into one of these five natural elements. To illustrate, the wood spirit symbolizes the Spring of the seasons, blue is its colour, East is its direction, and Morning in time, while the Fire spirit symbolizes Summer, Red, South and Noon, and Metal, Autumn, White, West and Evening respectively. There was another thought regarding these five Natural Elements which was reactionary in its function:one was continuity and amity, while the other was conflict and struggle. Continuity and amity will bear Fire from the Wood while Fire will bear Earth and the Earth, the Metal and the Metal bears Water while Water bears Wood. This is the plus or positive factor relation. The conflict and struggle are negative or minus relation in which the Wood overcomes Earth, and Earth the Water and Water the Fire and Fire the Metal, with Metal overcoming the Wood. These two opposing and reactionary functions serve to guarantee the perpetuation of all living matter. What the Chinese emphasized most was the smooth transition of the four seasons. They believed that people should actively participate and assist the natural transition of seasons and to this end the ancient Chinese emperors wore blue clothes and blue jewels to meet the Wood spirit on the first day of Spring (calendar date) and walked out to the East suburb to personally welcome the Spring. By the same token. in summer they wore red clothes and red jewels and walked out to the South suburb. Thus, by personally greeting the four seasons, they encouraged the natural transition of the seasons. For the Japanese, a race dependent on rice crops, they too would seek a regulated transition of the four seasons and the principle practiced in China would be utilized and practiced.