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

A Study on the Relation between the Acceptance of Annual Events and the Transformations of their Images in the Heian Literature - Focusing on the Annual “New Year’s Holiday” Events

農耕民族であった日本人は、昔から農作への関心が高く、豊作を願うため四季折々に農作業にかかわる事柄を神に祈りながら一年を過ごした。こうした過程を通して日本の年中行事は成立される。特に正月は新たな一年が始まるめでたい月で、神を迎え送る時期だという認識が日本人の意識の根底にあった。そこで収穫の神に感謝し、豊作への期待と念願を込めて年の初めである正月のそれぞれの日に神に祈りを捧げようとした長い年月の伝統の影響によって多くの正月の年中行事が生まれた。 正月の初子の日に行われる「子の日の遊び」は郊外に出て、小松の根を引き、若菜を摘み、健康と長寿を祈りながら、宴を開く儀式であった。春の訪れを喜ぶこの儀礼は「小松」「若菜」と一緒に用いられ、喜ばしい晴れの行事という肯定的なイメージが構築されるようになる。平安時代はいうまでもなく、以後の作品にもこうした基底が受け継がれているが、これは平安朝の先行する史料や文学作品の諸要素を受容した結果であるといえよう。一方、「子の日」から派生した若菜を摘み、食すことで長寿を寿ぐ「若菜」のイメージは、そのまま踏襲されたのではなく、変容の過程を経て「若」と 「老」の対比を通し、若菜のみなぎる生命力とは対照的なおのれの老いを嘆く傾向も生まれた。これによって平安朝文学は読者の心に響く、より豊かな展開が可能になったといえよう。

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.