日韓同祖論と神社

Abstract

In this article, the author discusses the relationship between the deities enshrined in the Shinto shrines founded in the colonized Korea and the theories of the identical origin between Japanese and Korea (hereafter “the theories”). First, the general meaning of social functions of an argument about the common origin between two respective groups is analyzed. According to this analysis, here the author regards the whole process of establishing “the theories”on the interpretations of history and influencing the faith to the enshrined deities as cultural symbolization. In the academic basis of “the theories”,it had been derived from mainly the views of historical examinations on the Japanese mythologies in Kojikiand Nihonshokiand the researches by anthropologists. The perception of historical inconsistency between ancient and modern times in terms of the dominance of Japan or Korea was tied up “the theories”. And they were inquiries about the common origin among the conventional “Japanese” people as well as the one between Japanese and Korean, reflecting the sense of unstableness on the Japanese nation at that time. The author suggests a point of view considering “the theories” as to have been a type of shock absorber for Japanese society in the astonishing situation of swallowing up the next country. In fact, Japanese mythology can be interpreted in both ways of the explanation of difference and the fraternity between these two ethnic groups. The subtle cultural difference in the ritual manner of ancestor worshipbetween Korea and Japan, regarding “the policy of Shinto shrines as non-religion” in the imperial Japan, might be crucial in spite of “the theories”.