六朝文學に現はれた山水觀

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discover what attitudes regarding the natural landscape prevailed during the Six Dynasties by examining the literature of the period. The word "landscape" or shan-shui 山水 was one of particular importance in the vocabulary of the period and denoted mountains, rivers, forests and craggy terrace, as well as gardens. During the Chin dynasty the "landscape" was regarded as a mystic, isolated retreat far from the world of men, the suitable habitation for a hermit, and at the same time a place of hardship and privation. But as the philosophy of eremitism gained in popularity, this "landscape" retreat came to be thought of as a place of enjoyment and, under the influence of Neo-Taoist thought, the abode of immortals and the locale in which to seek for the herbs of immortality. In the succeeding Sung, Ch'i and Liang dynasties, this attitude underwent a further change and it became fashionable to imitate the mystic isolation of the earlier landscape within the confines of one's own garden so that it could be enjoyed more fully. The landscape thus became an object of beauty to be viewed and appreciated. The present paper attempts to define these changes which took place during the Six Dynasties in the attitude toward natural landscapes.