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영어

This paper aims to examine the discourse of death and the world after death in modern Japan through analysis of The Will of Motoori Norinaga. Norinaga has chosen two places for his grave: a temple called Jyukyoji and a place near a temple called Myorakuji in the mountain of Yamamuroyama. This study critically examined the earlier studies which had explained the doubt about the two graves of Norinaga by associating it with Ryobo-sei, double-grave system, which was a grave system at that time. His instructions do not accord with the concept of Ryobo-sei, and if this grave system were a form generally practiced at that time, then it cannot be explained satisfactorily that his family and disciples after his death did not follow his will. It is evident that the grave and the form of funeral he had in mind were unconventional for the common sense of the time. In short, it can be regarded as an expedient for him, who greatly guarded against actions conflicting with the social convention, to keep up his appearances and at the same time to adhere to his principle as a scholar, concerned about the public eye. The will which seems weird at first glance is not self-contradictory at all within his thought, rather, it can be regarded as another expression of his consistent idea condensed. But Norinaga’s will in which divergent positions are entangled with each other has caused confusion later because it was difficult to comprehend his real intention. He used to teach that it is not advisable to think about something invisible. And he said that everyone only goes to Yomi(otherworld) after death, and in front of death, there is nothing for man to do but to mourn. Despite that, does the fact that he chose his grave himself before his death and made thorough preparations for his will tell a change in his idea of life after death in his last years? He never denied his own standpoint to the end. There was an example, however, of Hirata Atsutane who tackled this matter head-on to develope it into a unique theory of afterlife and a doctrine of the immortality of soul. From a different horizon from Norinaga’s, and from the viewpoint that the arena of the intellectual discourse initiated by Norinaga was expanded and reproduced in the later period of modern times of Japan, the will of Norinaga served as a decisive momentum to trigger discourse on afterlife for scholars of Japanese studies.

일본어

本稿は、本居宣長『遺言書』の分析を基に、近世後期において霊の行方や死後世界をめぐる言説がいかに始まったかを考察したものである。宣長の遺言によると、彼は自分の墓を菩提寺である樹敬寺と山室山の中にある妙楽寺付近の二カ所に指定した。基本的には、樹敬寺で世間通りに仏教式の葬送をすること。しかし、遺体は夜中に密かに妙楽寺の方へ埋めて、翌日の樹敬寺本堂までは空送をするように、といった内容の指示である。この二カ所の墓に対し、従来は両墓制に従ったまでのことだと説かれてきたが、本稿ではそれが両墓制の概念とは結び付かないことを指摘した。また、このような墓や葬送の仕方が当時の一般的な習慣だったとすれば、彼の死後、遺言通りには実行しなかったことが説明できない。つまり、遺言の指示が当時の常識からみても破格なものであったことは確かである。それは、世間に反する行いを常に警戒していた宣長が、社会的な面目を保持しながら、同時に自分の学問的信念を貫くための方便だったと考えられる。一見して異様に思われる遺言は、少なくとも彼の思想の中ではまったく矛盾せず、むしろ彼の一貫した思想が凝縮されたものと捉えることができる。ところで、この遺言はそもそも宣長の死後世界観が抱えていた難問を露呈したものでもある。彼の立場は明快で、見えないものについては考えない、もしくは考えられないということであった。そして、人は死んだら皆例外なく黄泉国に行く、だから死に直面して人はただ悲しむ他ない、と常にいっていた。にもかかわらず、生前に墓の場所や葬儀に関する遺言を徹底的に準備したのは、彼の死後世界観の変化を意味するのだろうか。彼が自分の黄泉国説を否定するようなことは最後までなかった。だが、まさにこの問題を発展させて独自の死後世界観と霊魂不滅思想に展開したのが平田篤胤である。篤胤は師説を否定し、宣長の霊が永眠するところは黄泉国ではなく、自ら定めた山室山の墓であると主張した。これ以降、宣長とは別な次元ではあるものの、宣長によって開かれた知の場が幕末から明治にわたって広く再生産された点からして、宣長の遺言は国学における死後世界論を呼び起こす決定的なきっかけとして位置づけられよう。