A Study of Early Modern Lords' Tales and the Creation of Local Communities

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K12288
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 02010:Japanese literature-related
• Research Institution: Momoyama Gakuin University (2022-2023); Kobe University (2018-2021)
• Principal Investigator: Nango Koko (中島晃子) 桃山学院大学, 国際教養学部, 准教授 (40709812)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 領主説話 / 藩祖 / 家祖 / 移行期 / 怪異譚 / 神霊 / 地域伝承 / 写本

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examined the formation and transformation of tales about feudal lords during the System transition period and the creation of local communities through the stories, focusing on regional manuscripts.
Through this study, I showed the fact that many local manuscripts contain stories related to feudal lords, such as a clan disconnected by a woman's "haunting" or a ghost story in the castle. Such tales have polyphonic characteristics, the landscape of the place in the present is overlaid with local "history" narratives, and that the underlying narrative of the divine spirit.
Moreover, this study clarified such polyphonic characteristics contains the activities of the workers and warriors for obtaining their identities and interests during changing society.

Free Research Field

近世説話

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

これまで近世説話の形成と変容と社会変動との関係は、抽象的なものにとどまるか、あるいは宗教活動と紐づけられる傾向があった。しかし本研究を通じ、具体的な技術者集団と説話との相関関係の存在を明確にしたことで、説話が人々の体制への働きかけとしての意味を持つこと、またそういった営みが物語を作るという構造を提示することができた。また、十分にその意義が認められているとは言い難い、地域社会に流布する写本の重要性を、歴史認識を含む地域のアイデンティティ形成、そこに含まれる説話の持つ独自性という点から明らかにすることにできた。