근세 일본 국학에서의 사후세계 담론의 시작*- 모토오리 노리나가의 유언장 -

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the discourse of death and the world after death in modern Japan through analysis of The Will of Motoori Norinaga. Norinaga has chosen two places for his grave: a temple called Jyukyoji and a place near a temple called Myorakuji in the mountain of Yamamuroyama. This study critically examined the earlier studies which had explained the doubt about the two graves of Norinaga by associating it with Ryobo-sei, double-grave system, which was a grave system at that time. His instructions do not accord with the concept of Ryobo-sei, and if this grave system were a form generally practiced at that time, then it cannot be explained satisfactorily that his family and disciples after his death did not follow his will. It is evident that the grave and the form of funeral he had in mind were unconventional for the common sense of the time. In short, it can be regarded as an expedient for him, who greatly guarded against actions conflicting with the social convention, to keep up his appearances and at the same time to adhere to his principle as a scholar, concerned about the public eye. The will which seems weird at first glance is not self-contradictory at all within his thought, rather, it can be regarded as another expression of his consistent idea condensed. But Norinaga’s will in which divergent positions are entangled with each other has caused confusion later because it was difficult to comprehend his real intention. He used to teach that it is not advisable to think about something invisible. And he said that everyone only goes to Yomi(otherworld) after death, and in front of death, there is nothing for man to do but to mourn. Despite that, does the fact that he chose his grave himself before his death and made thorough preparations for his will tell a change in his idea of life after death in his last years? He never denied his own standpoint to the end. There was an example, however, of Hirata Atsutane who tackled this matter head-on to develope it into a unique theory of afterlife and a doctrine of the immortality of soul. From a different horizon from Norinaga’s, and from the viewpoint that the arena of the intellectual discourse initiated by Norinaga was expanded and reproduced in the later period of modern times of Japan, the will of Norinaga served as a decisive momentum to trigger discourse on afterlife for scholars of Japanese studies.