고대 일본의 사리신앙

Abstract

This study examines meanings of Sarira to ancient Japanese, and status and characteristics of Sarira belief to temples of Aska(飛鳥) period. First, Sarira belief served as a direct opportunity for acceptance and prosperity of Buddhism in ancient Japan. It was well presented in the image of Soga Umako(蘇我馬子), who was converted to Buddhism after examining Buddhist Sarira in September, 584. Likewise, Sarira belief becoming the direct opportunity for the acceptance and rise of Buddhism was also shown in folklores of Kang Seunghoe(康僧會) and Son Kwon(孫權), which is considered to be one of common characteristics of East Asian Sarira belief. Second, importance of Sarira belief at temples was studied by seeing layout of temples that were built in Ask period. As a result, most of about 80 temples where temple layout is current seen had a stupa in the center of a temple, standing on an equal footing with the main building of a temple. In other words, 57% of all the temples had Horyuji(法隆寺) and Hokiji(法起寺) styles layout, which is arranging the pagoda and the main building of a temple on the left and right side by side. 16% of all the temples had Sitennoji(四天王寺) style layout, which is placing a pagoda at the front of a temple and the main building behind. Thus, it is presumed that over 80 % of temples in Aska period accepted Sarira as their main faith. Lastly, as shown from Sarira containers in Aska period including Askadera(飛鳥寺), Suhukuji(崇福寺), Horyuji(法隆寺), Yamadadera(岐阜県山田寺) and Naohaiji(縄生廃寺), many remains that are the same as ancient tombs' buried remains or similar to them have been found in Sarira containers of the period. It can be pointed out that Buddhism represented by Sarira was accepted on the basic culture of Ancestor belief(祖靈信仰) that was deeply rooted in Japan before introduction of Buddhism as a background of Sarira belief.