REKIHAKU

No.173 A Witness to History

Gallery 4 Toward completion of renovation
Makimono (scroll) as folklore – In relation to festivals and ceremonial rites

What do we think of when we hear the term makimono? Quite a few people will think of something formidable in connection with terms such as arcanum, tradition, or origins and history. Some people may lose their nerve or feel diffident, thinking that they have few chances to see makimono or that they cannot easily understand the profound content even if they can see it.

Makimono’s point of view on capturing folklore
From the standpoint of folklore study, the mysterious feeling associated with makimono as well as its content should be valued. It means that what is written in makimono and whether or not information within it is correct or true should be clarified through interpretation of written characters and, at the same time, attention should be paid to the atmosphere of the form of the scroll itself. Here, selected are two makimonos related to the sea, which have been surveyed and prepared for exhibition in the course of renovating Gallery 4 (Folk Life), and their positions in folklore culture are introduced.

Photo 1 : Bumping of futon danjiri floats	Photo 2 : Festivity in front of Ubaku Shrine
Photo 3 : Replica of “Ukidaisho” owned by National Museum of Japanese History. The original is owned by Rias Ark Museum of Art.

“Ukidaisho” and the Spring Festival in Noji
At Noji in Saizaki, Mihara City, Hiroshima Prefecture, which fronts the Seto Inland Sea, the Spring Festival is held on the fourth Saturday and Sunday of March every year. This is a stately and impressive festivity in which the mikoshi and futon danjiri floats operated by young people from Noji 1-chome to 4-chome parade between Tokiwa Shrine located at Noji 1-chome and Saizaki Shrine located at Noji 4-chome. Children dedicate their drumming called shindo in front of the shrines and the resting place, and the turning and bumping of the danjiri floats by the young people [Photo 1] make the festive mood more exciting.

What interests us is Ubaku Shrine [Photo 2] located at the center of Noji Town. This shrine is called otabisho (resting place) where the festive mikoshi takes rest. Also, as its name implies, it is said that the shrine enshrines an old woman (uba). It originates from the content of the scroll called “Ukidaisho” [Photo 3], which was handed down among fishermen in this region. “Ukidaisho” is a scroll describing the phenomenon off-shore of Noji in the early spring where the air bladder of the sea bream suddenly bulges due to the relation between the sea current and the topography of the sea floor, and sea bream float up to the sea surface looking faint, in connection with a historically famous person who passed this region. Apart from the content, some fishermen in Noji believed that as long as they had “Ukidaisho,” they were allowed to fish in any sea (“Writing and Oral Tradition Surrounding ‘Ukidaisho’” by KAWASHIMA Shyuichi in Oral Tradition and Written Culture edited by SASAHARA Ryoji, 2009). The scroll describes a woman offering floating sea bream to Empress Jingu, whereafter she was enshrined in Ubaku Shrine. In the spring festival, the mikoshi transports the spirits of the gods of Tokiwa Shrine and Saizaki Shrine to Ubaku Shrine where they stay overnight. Shrine parishioners say that the gods of both shrines have a talk for the welfare of the town at Ubaku Shrine.

Photo 4 : Funadama-sama enshrined in the wheelhouse of fishing boat	Photo 5 : Funadama-sama prepared for enshrinement in boat by the boatbuilder in Hakata-shima, Okayama Prefecture
Photo 6 :Funadama-sama, which is newly being made for exhibition

Meaning of the scroll
Apart from the content of the scroll, the scroll is regarded as a symbol of the right to positively fish in a wide area, and in the annual festival, the mikoshi parade recalls people to the content of the scroll, that is, the history of Noji. It may be interpreted as the guardian gods of Noji visiting Ubaku Shrine, who call back the woman of Noji and are connected to the histories and activities of the fishermen described in “Ukidaisho.” In the scroll “Ukidaisho,” these folk histories are compiled.

Divine spirit dwelling in boats and guarding them
As a divine spirit related to fishing, funadama-sama (ship spirit) has attracted attention in folklore studies since olden times. The divine spirit is enshrined in a boat, and it has been considered that it not only guards the boat but prophesies storms and predicts a good catch of fish, too [Photo 4]. SAKURADA Katsunori, who conducted many trailblazing researches and studies about fishing and the folklore of fishing villages, pointed out some interesting things about funadama. According to SAKURADA, people in Kanezaki, Munakata-gun, Fukuoka Prefecture say that there have been certain times when funadama made a tinging noise like the chirping sound of the bell cricket and there have been other times when it made a strong and intense sound while sailing and that making a strong sound was a sign of disaster. Funadama’smaking such sounds was called shigeru or isamu. In Kumamoto Prefecture, it was considered that after a fisherman reached a certain age, the age of 60, for example, he became unable to hear the sounds. It is supposed that relief artworks changed a lot along with the change of times, from the times when boats moved on the sea using sails or oars to the times when engines are used. (SAKURADA Katsunori “Relief of Ship Spirit” in SAKURADA Katsunori Collections (3), 1980)

Photo 7 : Replica of “Funadaiku-hiji-no-koto,” beginning part, owned by the National Museum of Japanese History. The original is owned by Iwate Prefecture Fishery Science Museum.	Photo 8 :“Funadaiku-hiji-no-koto,” description of the ship spirit

Skills in boatbuilding and magic ritual
When a Japanese-style boat was launched, funadama was enshrined in the boat by the boatbuilder in many cases [Photo 5] [Photo 6]. At such a rite, the boatbuilder sometimes recited religious speeches with the scroll in hand. The “Funadaiku-hiji-no-koto” (owned by Iwate Prefecture Fishery Science Museum) handed down at Kitamura Zosenjo in Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture includes descriptions of the “importance of… at boat building” at the beginning, “the method of offering of husband-and-wife ship spirits,” and “twelve ship spirits” in relation to funadama as well as descriptions about manners and knowledge of boatbuilding [Photo 7] [Photo 8]. It is said that when Tokumatsu Kitamura, first master, went to Kamigata in the Edo Period to study, he was given this scroll in the course of studying Japanese-style boatbuilding skills. At the end of the scroll, the names of, probably, boatbuilders from Settsu, Ise, Chikuzen, Edo, and Owari are written, from which the route on which the scroll was transcribed and handed down can be guessed.

Funadama was a presence that guarded the boat when sailing on the Great Nature of the sea and encouraged people on board. The scrolls tell that the boatbuilder played an important role in enshrining funadama in the boat. The boatbuilder not only had boatbuilding skills but also took charge of magic rituals for guarding the boat. The boatbuilder’s duties were rapidly forgotten along with the progress in boatbuilding technology and change to the power engine, but the scrolls about boatbuilders hold an important key to identifying and analyzing these funadama reliefs.

Junichi Koike (Folklore/Belief History, Research Department)