淸代浙東宗族の組織形成における宗祠演劇の機能について

Abstract

It is a practice quite common in China to use a set of characters known as bei-hang zi (輩行字) as markers of successive generations in a family tree. Recently Mr. Makoto Ueda has pointed out an important fact in that some noted families in Zhejiang which had branched off, dispersed, and started to use diverse sets of genealogical markers have, since the mid-Ming period, shown a tendency toward reuniting the branches and applying a uniform set of markers. This paper aims to trace the courses of diversification and reunification of genealogical marker sets in some families located around the walled city of Xiao-shan (蕭山) county during the Qing period, and also to analyse the relationship between the reunification effort and the development of ritual drama performed at ancestral halls. My arguments are as follows: (1) In the case of old families which had settled in Zhejiang since early Song, it was not easy to reunify the extremely diversified genealogical markers. In fact, it was not until after the mid-Qing period that such efforts were made. Some of these families had met with little success even after late Qing. (2) It is to be noted that in these families, theatrical performance had been introduced into the rites of ancestral worship prior to the efforts being made to reunify the genealogical markers. It is reasonable to think that the ritual performance functioned more significantly than the uniform markers in rebuilding the larger systems of family trees. (3) Conceivably the custom of staging plays at ancestral halls was meant to increase social contact among members of different family branches preparing for the reunification of genealogical markers.