包山楚簡「卜筮祭禱簡」の構造とシステム

Abstract

In Chu 楚 during the Warring States period, influential leaders would summon men known as zhen-ren 貞人, each year, and have them conduct rites, called sui-zhen 歳貞, to divine their fortune in the coming year. Furthermore, if there were an outbreak of disease, prayers for a recovery would also have been conducted in a rite known as a ji-bing zhen 疾病貞. A Bu-shi ji-dao jian, a record of those sorts of rituals conducted by the zhen-ren, was copied by a scribe, someone other than the zhen-ren himself, as a funerary item following the death of a grave owner. This article is an attempt to clarify the system and structure of the Bu-shi ji-dao jian by analyzing concrete examples of the form. When one tries to consider the custom of using this sort of Bu-shi ji-dao jian as a funerary object in terms of the traditions of Chu culture, the time at which they were buried and the relationship to the ri-shu 日書, a divination manual, draws our attention. In other words, the burials at the three tombs, i. e., Tomb No. 1 at Tian-xing-guan 天星觀 Tomb No. 2 at Wang-shan 望山, Tomb No. 2 at Bao shan 包山, where Bu-shi ji-dao jian were discovered have been dated to the mid-Warring States period. They were tombs persons of feudal lord 邦君 or grand master 大夫 status and the dates of each of the tomb owners were not far removed from one another. By way of contrast, a Bu-shi ji-dao jian has also been excavated at the small-scale Tomb No. 3 at Qin-jia-zui 秦家嘴, the age of which is uncertain. This indicates that the custom of the ruling class of Chu to employ a Bu-shi ji-dao jian as funerary object gradually penetrated into broader levels of society. The earliest ri-shu has been found in a small-scale tomb, thought to be from approximately the same period as the Qin-jia-zui tomb, i. e., from the early stages of the Late Warring States period. The grave owner appears to have been a commoner. In terms of content, this ri-shu can be seen as having many similarities to the ri-shu of the Qin record from Shuihu-di 睡虎地. In considering the period of the shift from the Bu-shi ji-dao iian to the ri-shu, it is an item worthy of great attention. Moreover, the age of Tomb No.2 at Bao-shan, burial of whose owner has been firmly estimated, is of a period that is circa the period of adoption of kingly titles by the states of the Warring States period. Just how these political circumstances were reflected in the Bu-shi ji-dao jian is a topic for future examination.