Collaborative Study of the Mythology on Placating 'Malevolent Deities' in Ancient Fudoki:Fieldwork Results

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K03013
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese history
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: SAKAE WATARU 神戸大学, 人文学研究科, 非常勤講師 (00221995)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 古市 晃 神戸大学, 人文学研究科, 准教授 (00344375) ; 高橋 明裕 立命館大学, 文学部, 非常勤講師 (90441419)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 風土記 / 荒ぶる神 / 祟り神 / 口承 / 始祖伝承 / 祭祀 / 王権 / 地域編成

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research into tales of ‘malevolent deities’ in Fudoki developed analysis of the topic through fieldwork. Its findings include the following:(1)Most of the sites of these myths were either difficult for the passage of transportation or were of strategic importance. (2)These myths were attempts in the early eighth century by local priestly families to legitimate their right to conduct religious ceremonies through narrating the meritorious deeds of their ancestors and thereby to control the locality. (3)Set expressions in the myths were traces of oral wordplay in order to demonstrate their authenticity to village audiences. (4)The priestly families in each place had been dispatched in about the mid-sixth century by the Yamato polity that was facing the threat of foreign invasion at the time. And(5)that policy of dispatching such families was in order for the Yamato polity to grasp political control of the regions.

Free Research Field

日本古代史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、従来、交通祭祀研究や往来者による境界祭祀論の立場で取り上げられてきた「荒ぶる神」の伝承を、地域社会の居住氏族の側で語られていた始祖伝承の一類型として捉え直した点に、最大の学術的意義がある。
また日本の在来信仰においては、祇園信仰や疫病神信仰などに典型的にみられるように、「祟り神」や「荒ぶる神」は、丁重な祭りを繰り返すことを通じて、かえって祭る者の「守護神」に転換する現象がみられる。「荒ぶる神」の鎮祭伝承は、その嚆矢として位置づけられるものである。これを見出した点にも、本研究の社会的意義がある。