한·일 업神 설화의 양상과 그 의의

Abstract

This study shows the significance of narrative literature on Korean-Japanese Eop god tales through a comparison and analysis of Korean Eop god and Japanese Zashikiwarashi tales. Since Eop god and Zashikiwarashi have the ancestral god characters, the dead ancestors may change into two household gods. Eop god is reincarnated into a rat snake Eop after the death of the ancestors by the Eop(karma) thought. Meanwhile, in the case of Zashikiwarashi, the ghost of the ancestor becomes a god called Zashikiwarashi. Since Eop god and Zashikiwashi do not exist, symbols are needed as substitutes in order to serve those two gods. The symbols of two gods have differences on the name, the places to serve and the shapes. The symbol of Eop god and is called Sinche(神體) which means the body of a god, and the symbol of Zashikiwarashi is called Sinsang(神像) which means the Statue or the shape of a god. While Sinche is served in a back garden which is located between the outside of a house and fences, Sinsang is served with the altar in a room with a tatami floor in the house. While Sinche is formed as a stack of straw covering a jar with rice, Sinsang shows the shape of a statue or a doll of children. Eop god and Zashikiwarashi are in a shape of human. Also, they are able to talk like human and have human nature. The human nature of these two gods have slight differences; Eop god has emotions, and Zashikiwarashi do a mischievous prank. Eop god beliefs are shown in the fusion of rice farming culture and Eop(karma) thought in Buddism. Zashikiwarashi beliefs are shown in the fusion of rice farming culture and human god beliefs. The tales of these two gods have been settled become tales(說話化), after the religious life that Korean and Japanese experience in their actual life were orally transmitted. Thus, the tales of Eop god and Zashikiwarashi have a deep origin in the Korea and Japan narrative literature as the familiar story of one’s experiences that Korean and Japanese.