著者

山近 久美子

出版者

一般社団法人 人文地理学会

雑誌

人文地理 (ISSN:00187216)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.62, no.3, pp.231-250, 2010 (Released:2018-01-19)

参考文献数

99

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This study examines the ideas of ancient people about places for placenta rituals in Heijo-kyo, the 8th-century capital of Japan. The placenta is the material that comes out of a woman’s body after she gives birth to a baby, which is necessary to nourish and protect the baby in utero. Traditionally, the treatment of the placenta has been associated with the health and future of the baby, so there are many forms of related ceremonies around the world.In Japan, placenta rituals took different forms in different periods. In many modern instances, the placenta was wrapped with paper or cloth and put in a pot, then buried underground in an auspicious direction. The pot contained, if the baby was a boy, a brush or an ink stick with his placenta. If the baby was a girl, there was a thread or a needle with her placenta.Archaeologists have cited placenta rituals in folklore for their interpretations of pottery-buried remains. Many archaeologists have believed pottery was ritually buried around the front door of houses since in folklore, the placenta was frequently put in a pot and buried under the entrance of a house. But placentas were actually buried in various places apart from the front door; for example, in the shade, on mountains, by the roadside, in estates, under the floor, and in lavatories.The oldest attested pottery-buried remains are found at the capital, Heijo-kyo. It is difficult to determine the purposes of burying earthenware during the Nara period. Yet two major purposes are for ground-purification ceremonies and for placenta rituals. So this paper first attempted to classify them by the kinds and the contents of the ritually buried pottery. The typical pottery used for placenta rituals is Sue ware jars called “Sueki tsubo A”, resembling a medicine pot that was associated with Yakushi or the Buddha of healing. The typical contents of the pottery are ink sticks, brushes and pieces of cloth.The sites where pottery-buried remains were unearthed are large in size and near the Heijo Palace. This fact suggests that placenta ceremonies were carried out by government officials of the Heijo-kyo capital. And the sites of rituals were not always at entrances, but in many cases around the houses. According to ancient Chinese medical books, burying the placenta in the shade was taboo. But in modern folklore of Japan, the shade was often chosen as the place for burying the placenta, and many placentas were buried under the floors of houses.In this respect, the sites where pottery-buried remains were unearthed in Heijo-kyo differ from those of placenta rituals as described in modern folklore. We came to the conclusion that though in Heijo-kyo they had their own idea about the placenta burial site, the rituals were typically performed by government officials on the basis of ancient Chinese medical books.

著者

小林 茂 山近 久美子 渡辺 理絵

出版者

人文地理学会

雑誌

人文地理学会大会 研究発表要旨 2008年 人文地理学会大会

巻号頁・発行日

pp.110, 2008 (Released:2008-12-25)

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2008年3月、ワシントンのアメリカ議会図書館で外邦図の調査をおこなったところ、1880年代に中国大陸・朝鮮半島・台湾で、日本軍将校がおこなった簡易測量にによる手書き原図を発見した。まだ調査は完了していないが、彼らの調査旅行と測量、手書き原図を集成した地図作製、さらにその利用について一定の成果がえられたので報告する。この測量と地図作製は、日清戦争以後の臨時測図部による外邦図作製の前段階と位置付けられるが、記録がすくなく、手書き原図のさらなる調査は、その全貌の解明に大きな意義をもつと予想される。

著者

山近 久美子

出版者

奈良女子大学古代学学術研究センター

雑誌

都城制研究 (ISSN:21874107)

巻号頁・発行日

no.12, pp.28-42, 2018-02-28