근세 일본 지식인의 요괴 인식 -아키나리의 괴이 수용을 중심으로-

Abstract

In the Edo period, a culture was developed in which strange and mysterious beings were well enjoyed by the public. It was a kind of entertainment to make them feel the fear and at the same time laugh aloud watching those monstrous things. The strange and mysterious beings were vigorously made and became cultural products, but they were not recognized and accepted in the same way by all men. While the culture in which a monster is depicted and 'YOKAI’ are enjoyed has an entertainment aspect such as play, how it was recognized and accepted by intellectuals at that time was examined through Akinari, an Osakian writer in eariy modern times. Significant differences between Akinari and Confucian scholars on the perception of monsters can be found in their debate over monsters recorded in the collection of essays "Tandai shōshin roku" written in Akinari's later years. The Confucian scholars of Kaitokudō did not believe in nor aknowledge weird and extraordinary beings like ghosts. On the other hand, Akinari had a positive perception based on his personal experiences of strange beings and monsters. The acceptance of monsters showed a relativistic attitude even from a rationalistic perspective when we examined the debate with the Japanese classical scholar Norinaga about the god of the Sun. Though Norinaga recognized the world of mythology, it was mere an object of his own country-centered absolutist beliefs. The strange monsters embraced in Akinari's ghost story works, were not used as auxiliary expressions to show the obsession of human nature, but as foreign beings that have coexisted with humans. It is meaningful to pay attention to the mental culture of people in modern times as active thinking is needed to connect humans and non-humans, away from human-centered thinking today.