일본 老女神의 형상과 특질

Abstract

This thesis looked into various aspects of old goddess featured in Japanese folkloric traditions & rituals, and verify her features by considering them in comparison with East Asia’s old goddess. Ubason worshipped in Ashikuraji located at the foot of Mountain Tateyama in Doyama Prefecture is a old goddess delivering women from the pang of hell & guiding them to paradise. Also, Onbasama widely worshipped in Japan is believed to have strong power for safe childbirth, going to paradise, safety of bridges, nidana severance, chincough and etc. And these old goddess of salvation uniformly bear the image of old woman Ghost, Datsueba, more dreadful-looking than the King of Hades. Also, their images of death & fear maximize in the traditions of Yamamba known as living alone in the woods and eating humans, Ohnibaba of Adachigahara, and Kokuribaba known as eater of dead body. Divine identity of Japan’s old goddess is always connected to the world of death mainly under images of fear & hatred. This representation of her is quite opposite to mild, gentle and merciful old goddess for China’s minority groups, or Korea’s old goddess of great creation. That is, while old goddess of Korea & China gives off life-generating energy, old goddess of Japan is closer to representation of death & fear. This may come from the three cultural areas’ differing perception of woman, aging, and humans.