<論説>造瓦組織の復原と瓦当文 : 東海地方の国分寺から

Abstract

国分寺の造営にあたっては、中央政府が積極的に技術的援助を行ったとされ、各国国分寺で出土する平城京と同文の瓦はその証左であるとされてきた。本稿で扱う東海地方の四つの国についても、軒平瓦の文様意匠に共通点があることから、中央との関係の強さや四ヶ国の紐帯の強さが強調されてきた。筆者はこの四ヶ国の瓦を総体的に検討し、特に軒丸瓦において在地の要素が強いこと、国分寺瓦屋の展開・消長の様相が四ヶ国で一様ではないことを示し、従来の論への反証とした。その結果から、瓦当文からそのまま当時の政治的背景や寺院造営者間の関係などを読みとる研究に疑問を呈し、瓦当文を含めた瓦の分析については、造瓦組織の復原という目的のもとで行い、そこから導き出された結果を、文献史の成果や他の諸生産組織と比較検討していくという筆者の立場を主張した。

As regards the construction of provincial monasteries, it has been argued that the central government had actively offered technical assistance in their construction because the design found on antefixes (ornamented roof ales) of each of the provincial monasteries matches that found in the Nara capital. Regarding the four provincial monasteries of the Tokai district that will be discussed in this paper, some scholars have also emphasized the close relationship of each monastery with the capital and the strong affiliation among the four based on the shared design of fiat eaves die with that employed in the capital. The author examines roof tiles of the four provincial monasteries together as a set, including the eaves tiles. It can, then, be pointed out that production of the roof tiles for the monasteries appears to have been localized, especially in the case of the round eaves tiles, and that the rise-and-fall of workshops producing roof tiles in each monastery was not synchronous. The author therefore considers these points as counter-evidence to the traditional argument. This analysis challenges the conventional interpretations that read into a comparison of the designs of antefixes their political background or relationships between the builders of the temples, and so forth. The author asserts, instead, that an analysis of roof tiles, including the designs of antefixes, should be undertaken for the purpose of reconstructing the system of their manufacture. The results of such an analysis should be compared with, and discussed in the light of, the fruits of archaeological studies on manufacturing systems of other products and historiographical sources.