著者

小林 信彦 Nobuhiko Kobayashi 桃山学院大学文学部

雑誌

桃山学院大学総合研究所紀要 = ST.ANDREW'S UNIVERSITY BULLETIN OF THE RESEARCH INSTITUTE (ISSN:1346048X)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.31, no.3, pp.199-215, 2006-03-15

---

According to the ancient Japanese, women can never be happy during their lives nor can theyget peace after death, because their minds are full of inborn defects such as jealousy, frivolity orcaprice. These defects are said to be sins, to which women themselves are solely responsible.The Japanese ascribed the authority of this view to Buddhist scriptures. However, descriptionsof such female defects are not found in Buddhist texts. Instead, female bodies are said there tobe disadvantageous to preparation for becaming Buddhas, because of physiological phenomenaconnected with generative function, such as menstruation, morning sickness and labour.Having read a Buddhist reference to disadvantages of female bodies, the Japanese of the ninthcentury mistook it for a reference to defects intrinsic to women's minds. And the well-knownJapanese proposition, "Women are naturally sinful and therefore quite hopeless," was thus establishedto justify the Japanese society in tormenting women for more than 1000 years.