『古事記』·『日本書紀』에 나타난 老人像

Abstract

This paper analyzed Nihonshoki and Kojiki which is known as the oldest documents in Japan in order to figure out what an old man was in the ancient Japan. The Chinese character "nou(老)" and "ki(耆)" was mainly used in the article in Kojiki and Nihonshoki to indicate the character of an old man. This paper focused on how an old man was described in these articles and re-organized into four features as follows. First, it is the person who appears as the symbol of the native force, from the time of Gods to the 23th Emperor Kenzō. Second, it only appears in the article of Emperor Kenzō, however, is a person who fulfills the mission for the rulling ideology of the Imperial Family. Third, there were no description of a specific person in the next article, but had many articles about a generalized non-specific number of elderly such as "all of the old man of the country". Such social position variation began to settle down as a new recognition by the age of Emperor Tenmu and Jitō. The last is the old man as the object of the protection which was described a lot in the Emperor Tenmu and Jitō era. The recognition to support the old man physically and nationally began to settle down institutionally while the establish of Ritsuryō. Foreign system was the reference of producing Ritsuryō, however, the beginning of the national support for the old man can be said that it reflects the dominant ideology of the foreign country. In conclusion, the image against the elderly, who is the object of the protection, was the principle added by the Emperor, so it should be understood by dividing the period before and after seventh century.