殷周開國の神話と｢神代史｣

Abstract

There is a structure in Shi-jing 詩經 and Chu-ci 楚辭 about the myths on the founding of Yin 殷 and Zhou 周 dynasties. The structure is the mythic birth of the founder, followed by the persecution of the founder and then the unification of the country and its cultural development. E.Neuman mentions this structure in his studies about western heroic mythology. Yet there is a remarkable difference of the founding of Yin dynasty from that of Zhou dynasty, or a difference of Shi-jing from Chu-ci about the founding of Yin and Zhou dynasties. The epics in Shi-jing, Da-ya 大雅 are mythic about Hou-ji 后稷 and Gong-liu 公劉 who are the ancestors and cultural gods during 'jindai' 神代, the mythological period. Yet when the stories are about renwang 人王, the historical kings after Gu-gong 古公, especially Wang-ji 王季, all the historical facts, that would be unfavourable to the image of the dynasty, are erased. Only the Yin-Zhou revolution is admired as a brilliant success to take over the period of 'jindai'. We can say that the myths of the founding of Zhou dynasty as well as the history of Yin-Zhou revolution is changed into 'mythological history'(jindaishi 神代史) for the purpose of strengthening the sacred rule of the dynasty. When the people of Zhou dynasty eventually edited Shangsong 商頌 collected during the period of Chun-qui 春秋 in Song-guo 宋國, which was a remaining country from Yin period, the beliefs of the people of Yin in cultural gods about the myths on the founding of Yin dynasty, were not depicted in these epics but changed into 'jindaishi' at the request of the rulers of Zhou dynasty. This fact proves that in China, there are much more Sheng-wang(s) 聖王 who created the culture than heroes who drew the swords. Regarding the myths on the founding of Yin dynasty, Chu-ci, Tianwen 天問 includes mythic stories about the ancestors who can be found in jia-gu-wen 甲骨文. To the contrary, it ignores the cultural achievement of the ancestors of Zhou. It is clear that there was political and cultural difference between Chu-guo 楚國 and Song-guo. Chu-guo suffered less political pressure from Zhou than Song-guo did. Chu-guo was also more close to Yin than Zhou in the cultural aspect. Thus, when the rulers mythicize mythological and historical period, much of the cultural gods in ancient China are altered at their political requests. They also erase 'inconvenient' historical facts about Wen-wang 文王 to make up their 'jindaishi.'