著者

江口 重幸 Shigeyuki Eguchi

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 = Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology (ISSN:0385180X)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.12, no.4, pp.1113-1179, 1988-03-26

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This paper examines two cases of fox possession (kitsunetsuki)in a mountain village in eastern Shiga Prefecture. The studyfocuses on the socio-religious and clinical context of the expressionof possession.In Japan, kitsunetsuki has long been one of the most familiarexpressions of indigenous "madness". Nevertheless, psychiatricresearch on the phenomenon, including those from folkloristicand religious perspectives, have been conducted only since the1960s. Hitherto, kitsunetsuki had been regarded as a vestige ofsuperstition.The first part of the paper deals with some methodologicalproblems encountered when spirit possession is defined as a"culture-bound syndrome". The features of this phenomenonchange according to various approaches used to understand it.In the second part, two cases are examined from psychiatricrecords. In the first a 18-year-old male became psychoticallyexcited after fatigue and a traffic accident. During his severeconfusion he manifested fox-like jumping actions. His familyregarded him as being possessed by local gods, and so left himunattended for a month. He was hospitalized and was incomplete remission after three months of treatment. Hisillness is diagnosed as "atypical psychosis" [MITSUDA 1979:121-124].In the second case a 34-year-old housewife (an aunt of themale in the first case), entered a psychiatric hospital as a resultof illness induced by conjugal discord. After undergoing a seriesof religious rituals to evict the fox that possessed her, she came tohear the voices of three foxes. Her illness is diagnosed as typical"invocations psychosis" [MORITA (森田) 1915: 286-287].These two cases reveal a discrepancy between traditionaltherapeutic ritual and modern psychiatric treatment.In the third part of this paper, Kitsunetsuki is re-examinedfrom the socio-religious viewpoint, based on interviews withvillagers. The reasons for the occurrence in this village ofsymptoms of fox possession are considered in their cultural andreligious contexts. Kitsunetsuki of this district can be traced backto folkloristic and religious lines. Among other phenomena thisis attested to by many folktales of foxes, public religious ritualspracticed by the folkpriest, occasional visits of a man of the"mountain religion" and his furious performances under godpossession,and the famous kyogen play, which contains themetamorphosis of fox, derived from the family temple of thevillagers. A major factor was acute social change in 1950s (e.g.,in the marriage system, in traditional forestry, etc.). Onetherapeutic religious cult which came to exert considerableinfluence over the traditional religious order of this village wasfinally absorbed into a large sect of Buddhism. Typically,spirit possession in this village seemed to be formed in accordancewith the god-possessing seances of this cult. From this standpointthe two cases examined expressed themselves through the symbolicrepresentation of "fox", when they reached psychologicalcrises. The other curious disease, "K village disease", is avariant product of this process. These acts of performance aremolded upon the complicated socio-cultural background;"possession complex" .The last part of this paper presents some complementaldiscussions on the expression of fox-possession. The folkloristicand "symptomatic" peculiarity of this mountainous district, andits tendency to combine with spirit possession, is analysed andcompared with that in the plain district. Two different types ofshamanism, spirit possession and ecstacy, are reconsidered,based on the analogy of schizophrenic symptoms and othermystical thoughts. The body in a state of possession and theassociated healing process are reviewed from theatrical andpolitical points of view.After examining kitsunetsuki as a performed expression, it ispointed out that the Westernized psychiatric nomenclature only