宗教面から見た殷代の二・三の問題 : 殷王朝の構造、その二

Abstract

The official diviners of the Yin Dynasty were recruited from among the diviners of the conquered states, and the study of those diviners' relations to the Yin Dynasty reveals that the power of the dynasty often fluctuated because the authority of the Yin rulers was derived from their position as commanders of the confederation of states. One of the most important functions and binding forces of the confederation was nature worship where spirits of mountains, rivers and other natural objects and phenomena were regarded as deities. As other states were forced to subject to Yin, their own deities were added to the pantheon of Yin under the supreme god of Yin, while the the diviners from other states were subject to the Yin ruler, thus making the religious hierarchy conform with the political. The fact that, whenever not many names of deities appear in oracle bones, proportionately oracle bones bearing Yin's foreign relations decrease, seems to give support to the above view.