빗자루를 통한 일본의 출산민속

Japanese Ethnology of Childbearing Relating to Brooms

In this article, we analyze the Japanese ethnology of childbearing based on the folk belief relating to brooms. The faith in broom in childbearing originated from people’s recognition of broom, according to which the broom has a mysterious power of extracting a new life from the body, as a metaphorical interpretation of the usual function of brooms. The broom is, therefore, an equipment which has been carefully used. Some shrines propagated their beliefs by making use of the mythology that the broom acquired the mystical power due to its mystical force and that it was employed to control sea crabs which were believed to eat baby‐internal poisons. There is also a belief that if one puts a broom on the ground upside down, it will become a holy tree where the guardian deity of pregnant women will lodge. There are various guardian deities of pregnant women in Japan. In particular, the god lodging in a broom is considered the one which helps easy childbearing and the child beyond the realm of childbearing. While the god lodging in a toilet is an abstract existence, the god lodging in a broom manifests its figure through a concrete entity and helps childbearing by “sweeping” the pregnant women’s body. In addition, the god lodging in a broom immediately comes once it is notified of someone’s childbearing. For these reasons, we contend that Japanese people have most thoroughly relied upon the god lodging in a broom in the case of childbearing.