<雲南懇話会からの寄稿>日本人にとって山とは何か --自然と人間、神と仏--

Abstract

山岳信仰を中心として日本人にとって山とは何だったのかを歴史的な観点から考察した。最初に仏教と山岳信仰の出会いの記憶を伝える開山伝承を検討し、神と仏が山岳を結節点にして変容してきた諸相を考えた。神仏習合は、奈良時代に始まったが、平安時代中期の本地垂迹の思想の浸透で日本の山の神は権現と呼ばれ、700年以上の神仏混淆の時代が続いた。しかし、明治維新の神仏分離で山岳信仰は根本的に覆った。2018年は明治維新150年で同時に神仏分離150年である。山岳信仰は、山中他界観を根源に持ち、農耕民や狩猟民に支えられ都市でも展開した。日本は世界でも稀な長い山岳登拝の歴史持つ。山の多義的な機能と意味を知ることは日本人の精神文化の見直しに繋がる。近代に発生したアルピニズムは近代化の中で100年ほどの歴史しかない。遥拝から登拝へ、そして登山と観光の対象になった山は、世界遺産の指定や山の日の制定でさらに変化しようとしている。劇的な変動の時代にあたって、山の歴史と意味を改めて問い直す時が訪れている。

Mountain worship had been the basic culture from ancient times to present day in Japan. This paper studies on this theme from various points of view; legend of opening the mountain, combinatory system of Kami and Buddhas, mountain worship of farmers, mountain worship of hunters, other worldview of mountain, religious ascetics of mountain mandala, from prayer to religious climbing, and tourism. The idea of the "Founder" is the main theme. Traditions associated with those who "opened" mountains all over Japan have come down to us through legendary history and oral lore. Since the year of the foundation called opening the mountain (kaizan), however is regarded as a later fabrication and even the very historicity of the founder is often open to question, the dates of the foundation and the identity of the founder have remained outside the concerns of historiography and have not been considered from the standpoint of intellectual history. From around the year 2000, sacred mountains and sacred sites all over Japan have been celebrating the 1250th or 1300th anniversary of their founding. Associated with this has been a remarkable reaffirmation of their origins and a reconstruction of orthodoxy. Founders come from a broad spectrum – officially ordained Buddhist monks, wandering ascetics, shamans, hunters, mountain dwellers, laymen. The beings that guided them in the mountain included indigenous people, hunters and local tutelary kami, and the creatures that guided them were crows, hawks, deer, bears, snakes and dragons. Making their way into the mountain they encountered buddhas, bodhisattvas and kami who appeared to them, often in caves. There was also a deep connection with water and many numinous beings appeared out of ponds. As the tales became "history, " the founders were identified through personal names and the year of the foundation was assigned a year from the official chronology. The interpretation and repositioning of founder lore opens up a broad understanding of Japanese history and temples and shrines premised on the admixture of Buddhism and mountain worship and practices. It also looks again at the 150 years of the modern era. Do events surrounding the 1300th anniversary of a mountain's foundation as a religious centre act as a stimulus to reconsider its beliefs and practices introspectively? This is a question for future study.