Mythology and Professions : The Taishi Tradition in the Middle Ages and the History of Artisans(<Feature Articles> Japanese Literature and Tenno System II)

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  • 神話と諸職 : 中世太子伝・職人由緒書など(<特集>日本文学と天皇制 II)
  • 神話と諸職--中世太子伝・職人由緒書など
  • シンワ ト ショショク チュウセイ タイシデン ショクニン ユイショガキ ナド

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Abstract

One of the "ko"-groups of the Kinsei period artisans is called "Taishi-ko". It consists mainly of the people engaged in construction, such as carpenters and plasterers. It is the vestige of Shotoku Taishi worship during the middle ages. These people were called "Michimichi no mono" (artisans of various manufacture). The origin of "ko"-groups is found in some groups formed in the middle ages: "the people of Taishi" led by Shugen Yamabushi prirsts; the groups of artisans and lowly people formed in the Risso priests's Taishi-do; the groups of craftsmen and peddlers formed in the temples of Ikkoshu Buddhism. During the Kinsei period, " Kijiya" (woodcraftsmen) were controlled as one social class. This phenomenon clealy tells that the Shogunate government had a policy to fix the social standings of people according to their occupations. The fact that Koretaka Shinno Engi was read widely amongst the Kijiya in many regions (the book includes the idea of expelling of Taishi worship) is identified with the process of the breaking up of occupations and morals in the medieval concept. It is indivisible from a matter of political history that Ikkoshu Buddhism -its ideological core was Taishi worship-was broken up by the power of the Kinsei period.

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