<論説>明治時代の京都祇園祭における弓矢町の武者行列の再編 (特集 : まつり)

Abstract

京都祇園祭には、かつて神輿を先導する武者行列が供奉した。この行列は、中世の坂者で組織された犬神人が神輿を警固するための神役であった。その慣例は、近代以降も弓矢町の住民によって受け継がれてきたが、昭和四九年を最後に武者姿での供奉は中断している。現在の弓矢町では、武具飾りが大切に継承されている。これまで筆者は、都市と祭礼との関係を地理学的に捉えてきた。本稿は、そのアプローチを踏襲し、中近世の犬神人と近現代の弓矢町住民による武者行列の繫がりについて、都市の社会・空間構造を通じて検証する。そのために、明治時代に一度中断された武者行列を再興・再編した「町中」に着目し、その構成員の属性や担い手意識を、武者行列の再興経緯や規則改正、行列内容の改変、その後の持続性とともに明らかにした。その結果、武者行列は、持続性に課題を抱えながらも、祝祭的行事に再編されることで、地域文化としての継承の道筋が整えられたことが分かった。

Kyoto's Gion Festival has a history that can be traced back more than 1, 100 years to the Heian period. It is famed as an outstanding example of Japan's festivals. Among the various events that make up the festival, the Yamahoko Parade, which has been designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property by the national government, attracts many onlookers every year, and it characterizes the festival as a ritual event. However, the true meaning of the Gion Festival, which originated in the Goryōe, an exorcism of the plague, lies in the portable shrines (mikoshi), that are carried back and forth between Yasaka Shrine and the tabisho, a place of temporary lodging for the gods during the festival. The processions transporting the shrines out to the tabisho and back are held in the evening on July 17 and July 24 after the parade of the Yamahoko. Accompanied by a procession made up of a large number of bearers, representatives of the shrines' adherents, and Shinto priests, the three mikoshi, dedicated to worship of the shrine deities proceed across the shrine's territory. Unlike the gorgeous ornament of the Yamahoko parade, the transporting of the portable shrines mixes the prayers of the adherents and the enthusiasm of the bearers together to create a uniquely vibrant event. If the Yamahoko parade can be said to be a celebration by certain areas within the shrine's territory, the transporting of the shrines is an event that doubles as a ritual and a celebration for the entire shrine territory. In the past, a procession of warriors led the mikoshi. In the Middle Ages his warrior procession was made up of men called Inujinin 犬神人 who guarded the portable shrines and who were organized by the sakanomono 坂者, low ranking shrine attendants who lived at the base of hillside where the shrine was located. The practice had been passed down by the residents of Yumiya-chō 弓矢町, a neighborhood in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto City until modern times. The warrior procession by the residents of Yumiya-chō was terminated in 1974, but even now, the “display of armor” that was used in the past is preserved at the meeting hall called the Kyūsenkaku 弓箭閣 and at each house in the neighborhood. The purpose of this paper is to examine geographically the connection between the medieval Inujinin and the residents of modern Yumiya-chō who participated in the warrior procession by grasping the social and spatial structure of the city. To this end, I focused on the chōjū 町中 who revived and reorganized the warrior procession, which had been suspended in the Meiji era, and clarified their sense of solidarity and awareness of the shrine bearers, along with the actual situation of the warrior procession at that time. In the Middle Ages, there was a strong sense that the hillside was a place where the sakanomono, including lepers lived, but it was in reality a space that had been urbanized earlier than the surrounding area, with merchants who ran shops also living in the area. In the early modern period, when lepers were socially and spatially isolated, some of the sakanomono were engaged in the bowstring and leather industry, and were called tsurumeso 弦召. By that time, the sakanomono had lost most of the benefits that they had maintained since medieval times, but their service to the Gion'e continued thereafter. In the early modern period, the upper echelon of the sakanomono became the nine elders of the community, six of whom served as bōnomono 棒之者 who mobilized the warriors of the four districts and led the Inujinin. At that time, the warrior procession was large with a total of more than 80 people and powerful enough to deflect any pressure from the authorities. However, after the middle of early modern period, when the bow and leather industry of Yumiya-chō declined, the upper-level sakanomono lost power, and the warrior procession also shrank and fell into decline. In the Meiji era, there was a change in the nature and position of the festival, from the Gion'e of the early modern period to the Gion Festival of the modern era. Taking advantage of this change, Yumiya-chō decided to suspend the warrior procession in the second year of the Meiji era (1869), severing its relationship with the Gion Shrine and the Inujinin that had been maintained since the Middle Ages. However, in the 5th year of the Meiji era, Tsuchida Sakubei 土田作兵衛 and others, who sought to create a festival for the shrine's adherents, wished fervently to revive the warrior procession and emphasize the festive ritual element. Then, after much deliberation, the whole town decided to respond positively to the request and revive the warrior procession in a new form. In addition, the rules related to serving in the role of warrior god were revised, and a new system for serving in the warrior procession was established. The contents of the procession were also transformed. In this way, the warrior procession at the modern Gion Festival was reborn as a festive ritual event. Although there are issues with its sustainability, the reorganization into a festive ritual event has prepared the way for the preservation of the warrior procession by the residents of Yumiya-chō. And the display of armor continues in the town today, with the aim of reviving the procession in the future.