<論説>古代の祭祀空間 : 『出雲国風土記』にみる地域社会の神と社 (特集 : 祈り)

Abstract

古代日本の地域社会において、神・社がどのような存在であったのか、天平五(七三三) 年に完成した『出雲国風土記』をもとに分析した。水源と観念された山に対する基層的な信仰があり、山の峯にある岩石など自然物が社と呼ばれた一方で、麓に設定された祭祀空間も同様に社と呼ばれた。後者は国家(神祇官) が把握する神社として認定されることにより固定化される傾向が強い。地域社会の中では、そのような国家の神祇制度の対象となる社(官社) 以外にも、様々な祭祀空間が重層的に併存していたのが実態であり、これらを社と呼んで並列的に書き上げたのが『出雲国風土記』に表れた地域的神社統制の特徴であった。こうした社は村落共同体ごとに存在しており、山間部や平野部、海浜部といった地形・生業形態によってその規模・分布密度は異なっていた。

The goals of this article are to clarify what were the roles of kami and shrines (yashiro) in local society in ancient Japan and how the central ritsuryo state controlled the ritual space devoted to worship of the local kami. In this regard, I compare and analyze the descriptions in the Izumo no kuni fudoki, which was completed in Tenpyo 5 (733), and the present-day situation in the area. The province of Izumo is characterized by the fact that the shrines under the jurisdiction of the central state (in form of the Jingikan) were established at an early date and that their number is extremely large. The Izumo no kuni fudoki lists the specific names of these individual shrines and it is thus possible to learn in detail the circumstances of the shrines in the first half of the eighth century. In the Izumo no kuni fudoki there are various records about the kami and their shrines, and among them, the records of the natural topography (mountain fields and rivers) are highly objective geographic information, and they are very valuable for learning of the actual situation at the time. Focusing on this point, we learn that cases of kami and shrines situated in mountains are the most numerous. The original residence of kami was generally thought to be mountains. At the base of this conception is thought to be the idea that mountains bring about the "water" that insures the sustenance of life and supports stable agricultural production. Next, examining the relationship between mountains and shrines, one sees that the Fudoki describes shrines of two types: shrines on the mountain (mine no yashiro) and shrines at the base (fumoto no yashiro). The shrines on the mountain were situated in a space centered around natural phenomena such as rock outcroppings and forests where water might spring up and where there might be a band of vegetation that marked it as different from the surroundings, a place endowed with a special atmosphere situated in the mountains. On the other hand, shrines at the base of mountains were ritual spaces that were established secondarily. They were often established on the borders between spaces employed in human activities and those of the natural world. In the case of artificially created spaces that did not traditionally carrying on natural objects, it is thought that within that area a certain amount accompanied the shrine buildings. As these latter fumoto no yashiro were recognized as government shrines (kansya) under the jurisdiction of the central state (Jingikan), they became increasingly fixed. On the other hand, the mine no yashiro indicated a location among the rocks and waterfalls in the mountains and were not necessarily fixed. For this reason, I point out that cases in which a number of rocks or the like were treated collectively as a single non-government shrine. The mine no yashiro and fumoto no yashiro coexisted. This is similar to the relationship in shrines today between the original shrine (motomiya) being a large rock or similar sacred object, and the shrine precincts being a group of buildings. In this way there coexisted in the locality numerous ritual sites at multiple levels in addition to the shrines controlled by the central government, i.e. government shrines. It is highly likely that this was a general feature of ancient society. In contrast to this complex reality, Izumo province was a precursor in the advancing control of shrines on the basis of the government shrine system. This can be deemed the regional shrine system of Izumo province. As a result of this, the recording of an array of proper names of shrines one after another in the Izumo no kuni fudoki was produced. These types of shrines correspond to the basic units of subsistence based on the natural environment of water systems and seashores. These units correspond to what appears in the historical records as "villages" and can be understood as natural settlements. According to differences in the extent of the settlement and agricultural land and the degree of development, the unit of a group that worshipped at a single shrine varied in size. I point out the various models of these: those in the center of plains, at the base of hills, on seashores, and in the mountains, and I explain the reason why it appears that the density of shrines and that of the population do not conform.