三星堆祭祀坑銅神壇の圖像學的考察 (特集 文化史)

Abstract

In 1986 two ritual pits dating to the late Shang-dynasty period were discovered at the Sanxingdui 三星堆 at Guanghan in Sichuan from which were excavated large quantities of bronze, gold and jade artifacts. Large-scale figurative artifacts related to cultic practices such as bronze animal masks, a standing human bronze figure, and a bronze tree spirit in particular received the most attention, but the bronze artifact, classified as a shentan 神壇, is also a valuable source for learning of the spiritual culture of the period. As the bronze shentan is profoundly damaged, its reconstruction has been conducted in diagrams using the fragments as clues, and Sun Hua 孫華 has recently published a proposed new reconstruction. It takes the form of 110-centimeter-tall structure, representing a tripartite mythological cosmology, divided into registers representing heaven, earth, and the underworld. Shangdi, the ruler of the universe, is situated in heaven, and in the underworld are animal deities that are ridden by four human deities who support the earth. A noteworthy section of the register of heaven contains a heavenly stairway that is represented by a wave-like mountain design that links the registers of the earth and heaven. This later appears in the Shan hai jing (Classic of Mountains and Seas) as the immortal sacred land under the direct control of the lord of heaven (Tiandi) that was the forerunner of Mt. Kunlun 崑崙山. In the realm of the earth a scene of ritual worship is depicted, which, if interpreted using the images engraved of the jade jewels found at the same site, seems to show shamans kneeling in worship of heaven at a sacred edifice atop a mountain, and the heavens raining down benefice in response. According to this interpretation, there is also a deity in the form of bird with a human face and a phoenix reigning in the sacred edifice, which represents the ideal relationship between heaven and earth. The ritual pits at the Sanxingdui site were not from the Shang dynasty but from an ancient kingdom that existed in the Shichuan region. It is certain that the bronze vessels and other items undoubtedly show the profound influence of Shang culture, but insofar as can be seen from the bronze shentan, its cosmology and the manner of worship can be seen as closely related to the early descriptions in the Shan hai jing, which was compiled in the south during the Warring States period, and also to the content of the later T-shaped painting on a silk garment excavated from the Han-dynasty tomb at Mawangdui in Changsha, Hunan, which is from the early Former Han dynasty. The appearance of figurative works that go back to over 1, 000 years earlier than the silk garment excavated at Mawangdui is likewise deeply significant in revealing heretofore unknown world.