earticle

영어

This study was reviewed the views of life and death(死生觀) of ancient Japanese found in Kojiki(古事記). The views of life and death of the ancient Japanese was divided into the soul notion and the afterlife and it was examined in relation to the related words in Kojiki. The results are as follows. The idea of ‘spirit(靈)’, ‘soul(魂)’ and ‘god(神)’ is seen in the soul museum of Kojiki, but the idea of ‘ghost(鬼)’ is not seen. The presence of the soul can be confirmed by the awareness of the existence of various gods, and though the thought about the heavenly system where the gods are seated is seen, the idea of the place where the soul can rest is lacking. In other words, it can be said that there is no positive concept of the ‘immortal world(仙界)’ and ‘paradise world(極樂)’ in which the soul can go after death. Therefore, the ancient Japanese could not think of a positive the world after death until Buddhism was introduced. However, in terms of the use of terminology, I think that there was a master of ‘Huangcheon(黃泉)’ and ‘Sangse(常世)’ derived from Confucian ideas. However, the two terms are different. In the case of ‘Hwacheon’, it was recognized as a subterranean world going after death. But, when compared with this, it can be said that ‘Sangse’ is understood as the heterogeneous region existing in the sea. In general, it is understood that Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, which were foreign religions, came to Japanese society in the 6th and 7th centuries, citing the records of Nihonshoki(日本書紀). Neverthless, it can be understood that, even in the early 8th century, when the Kojiki was established, the viewpoints of the foreign religions did not have a great influence on the formation of the view of life and death of the ancient Japanese. Also, the negative worldview of afterlife is a concept similar to the views of life and death of shaman faith distinguished by this world and the next world.