<論説>古代日本の布生産と女性 (特集 : ジェンダー)

Abstract

律令制成立期の調布（端を単位とする布）と庸布（常・段を単位とする布）の令規定における布長の差異に着目すると、性別分業により女性が習得する直状式有機台腰機と輪状式無機台腰機の二系統の製織技術に一致することが、甲塚古墳の機織形埴輪等から判明する。続いて、遠江国敷智郡衙に比定される静岡県伊場遺跡の出土資料等の分析から、郡衙を拠点とした端布生産と集落での段布生産とが重層する状況を指摘し、正倉院に伝わる布資料等からその実態を確認する。さらに、古墳時代後期に遡ってみると、二系統の腰機により幅五〇～六〇㎝の布が織られたことが出土部材から判明し、令規定における幅約七一㎝までは身体長による制約を受けないことが民族例等により推察できる。麻素材による布の織成は、女性が変わらず保持した生業技術であり、生産労働として統率した首長層女性の神格化と結びつき継承されたことが「大刀自」銘紡錘車等から読みとれる。

During the period of the establishment of the Ritsuryō state, there are two types of cloth paid as tax: chōfu 調布 paid as a basic tax in kind and measured in tan 端, and yōfu 庸布 paid as tax in place of labor service and measured in jō 常 and dan 段. Their lengths differed according to regulations, but were both made from hemp or ramie fiber. That the standards for these two types of cloth corresponded in terms of production technology to two types of looms that women mastered due to the gendered division of labor, is clear from the loom-shaped haniwa excavated from the Kabutozuka Kofun 甲塚古墳(in present-day Tochigi prefecture), which is dated to the latter half of the 6th century, and wooden tools excavated from other sites. First, because lengthy bolts of cloth could be woven using a horizontal straightwarp frame back-strap loom 直状式有機台腰機 introduced in the late Kofun period, it could be used to produce to tanfu 端布. The other method was to use a circulating continuous-warp stick back-strap loom 輪状式無機台腰機, which was used continuously through the Yayoi and Kofun periods, as the basic technology for the production of jōfu 常布(or danfu 段布), but that the length of woven cloth was governed by the length of the weaverʼs foot. In contrast to the idea that tanfu weaving was concentrated at the local government headquarters based on the fact that only weaving devices including horizontal straight-warp, frame back-strap looms from the latter half of the 7th century were found at the Iba Site 伊場遺跡 in Shizuoka prefecture, which can be identified as the local government headquarters for Fuchi no Kōri 敷智郡評 in Tōtoumi province, it is hypothesized from the excavation of wooden tags (tsukefuda mokkan 付札木簡) and the distribution of hand spindles that danfu was produced as an extension of the weaving of cloth made from hemp threads in settlements on a regular basis. Furthermore, from the writing reading the “cloth of Egame” 恵我女布 on the shōfu 商布 preserved in the Shōsōin 正倉院 and from the documents permeated with lacquer (urushigami monjo 漆紙文書) excavated at the Kanoko C Site 鹿の子C遺跡, it can be surmised that the danfu was the product of female labor. The width of tanfu and danfu was stipulated at approximately 71 centimeters across the board according to the demand for clothing from the central government, but we can assume on the basis of examples of the various widths of woven cloth produced by people in Asia, widths would actually depend on the skill of the weaver. In fact, the width of cloth employed in an ordinary household was generally 50-60 centimeters judging from the cloth bag from Shinano province preserved in the Shōsōin and the sword shuttle excavated from the early-8th century Kami-Tabe Site 上田部遺跡in Osaka. The fact that weaving of cloth from hemp or ramie thread was maintained by the women of the community and that it was a learned skill that sustained their livelihoods and moreover, that there was a class of women leaders who commanded womenʼs labor can be seen in the composition of the group of haniwa from the Kabutozuka Kofun. Furthermore, the earthenware spindle engraved with the word Ōtoji 大刀自 that was excavated from the Kamiya Site 神屋遺跡 in Ibaragi prefecture, which is a settlement dating to the first half of the 9th century, can be understood as an important in indicating the continued linkage between the technology for producing hemp or ramie thread and cloth with faith in deified female chieftains.