平安朝文学作品における年中行事の受容と変容の影響関係についての一考察 - 正月の年中行事を中心に -

Abstract

Japanese people, as an agricultural tribe, have long been engaged in agriculture, and have passed a year by seasonally praying to the god for things related to agriculture. The Japanese annual events were established through these processes. In particular, the New Year’s holiday was recognized as the celebrating time when Japanese people meet the god. People were grateful to the god of harvest and prayed for a bountiful harvest on New Year’s holiday for years, and this is how various annual events relating to the New Year’s holiday emerged. In the annual event called “Ko-no hi-no asobi,” which took place on the day of Hatsune, people went out to the suburbs, and prayed for their health and a long life, pulling out young pines and picking young herbs. This ritual has acquired the positive image of a peaceful and happy event. This image was reflected not only in the Heian literary works but also in works in the subsequent periods; this could be construed as the acceptance of various factors in the historical materials and literary works during the Heian period. On the other hand, the image of young herbs, according to which people pray for a long life by picking young herbs and eating them, was inherited, not directly, but thorough the “acceptance” process revealing the contrast between “young” and “old.” The process also created the tendency that people deplored their old age, which contrasts with the vital force of wakaba. This, I argue, enabled the Heian literature to inspire the readers and to develop stories in a fruitful manner.