kotodama

introduction :

With the formation of an authoritarian, quasi-fascist regime in the Thirties, the concept of kotodama was used as an ideological justification of obedience and submission to the military junta acting in the name of the emperor. according to the doctrine, there was no space for autonomous, subjective activity: the meaning of one’s life is to be found in the imperial will.


The “spirit of the words”

Kotodama means language that is filled with sincerity, and such language possesses... limitless power and is comprehensible everywhere without limitation [...] the word that possesses sincerity, by reason of kotodama, must inevitably be carried out. Thus, sincerity is found in the fundamental principle of the word able to become the deed. There is no room for self in sincerity. All of oneself must be cast aside in speech, for it is in the deed and in the deed alone that sincerity is to be found (Quoted in Miller 1982: 133-134).

According to this definition, Japanese language is only used to tell the truth, and to say things that can be carried out; it cannot be used to lie. Individuality is separate from language, which by speaking the truth solely refers to and produces disinterested action. In a different section, the text emphasizes the idea of self-effacement that results from this vision of language: The spirit of self-effacement is not a mere denial of oneself, but means living to the great, true self by denying one’s small Buddhist war ideology was supported by a disingenuous interpretation of epistemological and hermeneutical concepts, such as nondualism (funi ) and the direct contact with truth and reality

kotodama as we shall see, was one of the key concepts discussed by Edo period Nativists—in order to define the nature of Japanese language, the inherent character of the people, and the central role of the emperor in all this. In particular, Japanese language is used not to convey meaning and personal interpretations (an aberration which results from Western individualism), but to enact, perform, carry out deeds. The important difference between the two, however, is that the former grounds its vision of language and truth in theology and the divine nature of the emperor and its subjects. In other words, speaking the truth is a divine commandment that preserves the sacred ordering of the Japanese military state. The ideas of sincerity, action, utmost respect for the imperial orders in the Kokutai noHongi were used to enforce mindless and uncritical obedience to the authoritarian regime : here we see the most dangerous effect of the connection between semiotics and ideology in the formation of cultural identity.

One fundamental assumption : Japanese culture (and the life of the Japanese) is centered on the figure of the emperor; the Japanese people, whose paramount virtue is sincerity (makoto), have the ability to attain the true essence of things; the Japanese language is unique in that it possesses a “spirit” (kotodama) which enables it to tell the truth and to make things happen—what is said must be converted into deeds. Once again, signs cannot be used to lie (at least not by the Japanese), signs are directly related to the truth, the essence of reality without the mediation of interpretation and meaning, and language is perfectly transparent to reality. All this is predicated upon the figure of the emperor—the “empty center” of Japan. As we shall see below, the semio-ideological edifice of Japanese modernism was based on the ideas developed by the Nativist tradition (kokugaku) during the Tokugawa period (1600-1868).


Nativism (kokugaku) and the Spirit of the Japanese Language (kotodama)

During the Edo period (1600-1868), language became an important field of inquiry. A new intellectual tradition in particular, known as kokugaku, “national learning” or, Nativism, developed an intellectual discourse on Japanese authenticity based on a minutious study of ancient and classical texts, such as the Kojiki, the Man’yoshu, and the Genji monogatari . The main exponents of this traditions were Keichi, Kada no Azumamaro, Kamo no Mabuchi,

Motoori Norinaga, Fujitani Mitsue, and Hirata Atsutane. It is in this context that arose the peculiar semiotics which grounds modern discourses of Japanese identity. These authors envisioned the peculiarity of the Japanese experience of the world as poetic and irrational. It was based on a unique language whose sounds were considered directly in contact with the reality they signify without the mediation of writing—a language whose signs are incapable of lying, and whose magical qualities are called kotodama (the “spirit of the words”). Kamo no Mabuchi began to associate a sense of Japanese moral and cultural superiority with the qualities of their language.

Foreign ideas were seen (mainly, Chinese Confucianism and Indian Buddhism) asabstruse and complex, and can be expressed only through the unnatural mediation of writing; they were distortions of the simple, perfect, and natural ways of ancient Japan, and ended up by corrupting the Japanese.

Motoori Norinaga further developed Mabuchi’s themes by attributing to the ancient Japanese a strong sense of irrational wonder for the deeds of the deities (kami) and poetic sentiment toward nature and humans. Motoori was a strenuous opponent of the rationalistic tendencies of Neo-Confucian philosophy and the complexities of the Buddhist cosmology. One of the themes that runs through the entire Nativist discourse concerns the nature and function of language—and the Japanese language in particular. All the authors emphasize sound rather than written characters—in an open polemics against Confucian “grammatology” which takes the Nativists to identify speech with authenticity. The phonological system of the Japanese language embodies the “Yamato spirit,” the fundamental principle of the entire Japanese culture, because those sounds are a symbolic representation of the cosmic order sustaining Japan as the “land of the gods”. Mabuchi and other Nativists posited at the basis of the Japanese language a spiritual essence which they called kotodama, after a rare and archaic word appearing in the Man’yøsh¥ and the Kojiki.

kotodama refers to the primitive belief according to which in words there is a spirit that makes the things one says happen. For example, if one says “it’s going to rain,” then it will rain. This belief, explained is based on the synonymy in ancient Japanese of the two terms “word” and “fact,” both pronounced kotoin Japanese—even though they are written with different Chinese characters.

For the Nativists, the connection between language and signs in general, cultural identity, and imperial ideology was clear and explicit. They considered the language of the Japanese empire (køkoku), and in particular its phonological system, the only perfect one; foreign languages were imperfect and wrong. The perfection of the Japanese language was due to the sacrality of the language itself, the country, and its ruler, the emperor. Among the most important Nativist thinkers, Hirata Atsutane was the most fanatical supporter of the theory of kotodama, to the point that he found the ground of his imperial ideology in the Japanese phonetics, which he envisioned as a sublime, divine, and spiritual entity.

The concept of kotodama permeates early modern and modern Japanese philosophy of language; even though different theories and explanations were proposed, they all assume a peculiar status of the Japanese language. Furthermore, kotodama is always associated to a certain cosmology, and a vision of the other world in particular.

Conclusion

There is no theory or explanation of the term kotodama and the conception of language it implies dating back to the Nara period; the term itself was very rare in ancient texts; kotodama becomes an important philosophical term only with the development of Nativism, in which it is used as one of the crucial marks of Japanese cultural identity and superiority. It is very possible, then, that kotodama was a very successful philosophical anachronism—a rare, archaic word appropriated by the Nativists in order to carry out their intellectual and ideological agenda by projecting back onto a mythological past contemporary Buddhist ideas about language and culture. In any case, it is clear that the role of the term kotodama in Japanese intellectual history cannot be taken for granted.

chinese philosophy on politics

政治の中国の哲学

1. 導入

中国語まで政治は、特に現代中国の政治かかわってい る、私達は共産主義システムに多くの注意を払う。 但し、私達はまたべきであるそれが中国の土で育ったことをわかりなさい。 それは深遠のによって影響されなければならない中国の政治文化。 古代中国人の影響政治哲学は現代的な政治にもっと置かれる。 理由はそれである東欧及びソビエト共産主義、中国の人々の崩壊が始まった後共産主義の信任を失って、中国の共産党は柔らかくしなければならないの中のモラ ルそして確信を再生するためにイデオロギーは従来の価値に、頼り人々。 何人かの学者は共産主義が何もしかしから輸入されてでなかった論争する中国へのソビエト連邦。 今日中国共産主義者、包含された古い中国の考え現代変装と。

2. 従来の政治哲学の輪郭か。

古代中国では、政治哲学は第6 世紀B に活気づき始めた。C.,
西のHellenic 年齢と平行にされる。 これは時ほとんどだった
重 要な中国の哲学者は彼らの創造的な仕事を作り出した。 著名のギャラクシー中国の知的な開発のこの黄金期の間に活気づいた登場人物Confucius 、Mencius 、ラオス語Tsu 、および他を含んでいる。 それは政治無秩序そして一定した戦いの時の中のまただった

様々な争う状 態。 Spring 及び秋の期間呼ばれたこの時代、戦争州期間。 それは力のための激化させた苦闘の時だった征服された封建的な王子はまたは堤出させる。 ヘゲモニーを得るため州に封建的な王子が彼の状態を強く及び豊かくさせることは必要だった。この文脈では、彼等の示すためにそれは多くの知識人に大きい段 階を提供した政治の哲学。 彼らによっては封建的な州が説得運動し、ことを彼らの作戦主張した州を強力くおよび豊かくさせることができる。 争う百の中この時代の間の哲学の学校によっては、ほとんどの中国学者ことが3 だけ一致した主要な学校は中国の知識人の重要な影響を出した開発: Confucianism 、Daoism 、および合法主義。 これらのそれぞれ学校に自身の主義および主義がある。 その中に和解が不可能な多数があるしかし一定した、熱くする論争をもたらした教義上の相違芸術があったその中の興味の共通の範囲の1 つを持っていた、支配。

Daoist, represented by Lao Tsu, believed that a well ordered society must be in harmony
性 質の原則と、それはある: Dao 。 彼らは性質がすべてを定める信じた整然とした生命への方法は性質に矛盾した何もしないことである。 のための努力力及び材料の商品は励まされるべきくない。 Daoists は哲学だったanarchists 。 ラオス語Tsu の心の理想的な州はある種の小さ単位だった。 人々自身の村で解決されて、しかし決して近隣の村を訪問するためにそれらはなかった非常に近く。 定規は何もしないことによってすべてを達成する、なぜなら信じたそれは"最もよい行為形態休止" である。 しかし休止はさを意味しない何も; むしろ、Daoists は不自然、計算されてこされてである、または反対した行為に傲慢。 当然、皇帝はその時にこの種類の作戦を受け入れることができないある人々はそれに、Tsu が遠隔場所に動かさせるラオス語憤慨した。Taoist の政治哲学の価値は"定規の休止" の思考である、経済的で、個人的な出来事の任意干渉のためのより少ない許容。 これはある私達がそれを知っていたように、今日中国の政府に特に重要計画経済の期間の中国の政府はに絶対に反対にしたDao の原則、政府は人々の人生のすべてを、その結果、それ支配した生命を損なった。

主要な中国の政治文化を形作った合法主義及びConfucianism はあった人間性の別の確信に基づかせている。

Confucians のために、人の天性はよく、それらは潜在性をの有する道徳的な人になる。 道徳的な人は外に彼の悪い傾向を一人で制御できる基づく強制支配する最もよい方法よい人々を促していたかどれがに従って性質はそれを耕されて人々自己調整 し。 Confucian 政治理想政治家倫理的なシステムはあった: 王は家族のよう賢人王、王国であるとのである彼の人々への父として皇帝。 Confucius は言った: 法律によって人々を支配すればそして罰の適用によって順序でそれらを保ちなさい、罰を避けるが、彼等の失う恥の感覚。 美徳の原則によってそれらを支配し、順序で保てば李によって、それらは恥の感覚を保ち、よくなる。"示される李礼儀のdecorum 、儀式、または規則。 例えば、2,000 ポンドがあるお金が取り去ることができないことここに、2 つの条件1 はこと持っている人々であるモラルは彼に属しないお金を自己調整し、取らないことができる。 他は私達が法律によって罰を恐れているので私達がそれを取ることを敢えてしないことである。
最初に第2 がlegist の方法の間、Confucian の人々を考慮する方法はあった。Confucianism は愚か、unfashionable であるには余りにも理想主義的であると考えられたpre-Qin の期間。 但し、Confucianism に明らかな利点がある: その教授は人間性、正義を強調する
人、愛、慈善、同情、慈悲、および希望の威厳。 これらは普遍的である政治にもかかわらずすべての人々によって、および宗教共有される価値、オリエンテーション。 Confucian のhumanism は普及した感情と一致してある、Confucianism はまた人々が規則の基盤であることを考えた。 従って、Confucianism は持っている政治及び社会を促進する倫理的な価値による定規のための大きい懇願安定性。

Confucianism への明瞭な対照では、Legalists は人の天性論争した
邪 悪がある; 彼らは人間が彼ら自身のための利己的、唯一に心配であることを信じた。 Legalists人々が彼ら自身によってよいすることができる定規がそれらをないに作ることができることを考えなかった報酬及び罰の使用によって傷つけ なさい。 従って、間Confucians は美徳の耕作がよい達成する最もよい方法だったと考えた法律をおよび唯一の実行可能な方針として力信じられる政府、Legalists 。 法律ので定規が彼の主権を支える器械見なされた人々及び主権。 彼が最高の定規として彼の位置を強化するべきなら彼絶対の権力を持たなければならない。legalist 主義の重大さはことただコース作り出されないlegalists である強い定規および強い状態を確立し、維持するために続かれるべき行為のしかしそれらはまた道徳的で、倫理的な考察から中国の政治を解放した。 合法主義抑制するには結局十分に強くなったQin の状態によって採用された、単一政府および結合された中国確立される他の封建的な州。 それにもかかわらず、合法主義は個人の福祉同情及びの慈悲支持しなかった人々。 政治は余りに不人情、圧制的であると受諾可能であるために考えられた安定状態。

相違にもかかわらず、Confucian 及びlegalist の政治は同じ意見を共有した
ある面: 両方とも定規及びdespotic 規則の絶対権力を強調する。 のため
Confucianism 、定規の権限は彼の完全のために天の命令から来た
美徳。 定規に従うことは天に従うべきだった。 定規が彼の美徳を失ったら、それは天だった
罰するべきない人々はまたは彼を打ち倒した。 Legalists はどこで定規の力言わなかった
から来られて、しかしそれらこと最も強い意志の利益対立の力関係した。従って、強のLegalists の重点力の主権。 何も多くでない力の所有物より重要。 力に対する意志か行為ある慈悲のない法律の器械によって罰される。

結 局ハン王朝、国民主義として採用されたConfucianism。しかし練習、それは芸術のConfucianism そして合法主義の混合物、特にのだった支配。 すなわち、Confucianism が役人に似合うべきだったが州の哲学、それはハンのfei 、合法主義の最も重要な代表だった、よりもむしろ中国の定規が上の政治指導のためにに回したConfucius最後の2 千年間のコース。

1. Introduction

As far as the Chinese politics is concerned, particularly the modern Chinese politics,
we pay much attention to its communist system. However, we should also
realize that it has grown up in the soil of China. It has to be affected by the profound
Chinese political culture. The impact of the ancient Chinese
political philosophy is more placed on the contemporary politics. The reason is that
after the collapse of East European and Soviet communism, people in China began
losing their confidence in the communism, China Communist Party has to soften its
ideology, and rely on traditional value to regenerate moral and belief among the
people. Some scholars even argue that Communism was nothing but imported from
the Soviet Union to China. Chinese Communists today, embraced old Chinese ideas
with modern disguise.

2. An outline of Traditional Political Philosophy?

In ancient China, the political philosophy began to flourish in the sixth century B.C.,
paralleled with the Hellenic Age in the West. This was a time when the most
important Chinese philosophers produced their creative works. The galaxy of eminent
personages who flourished during this golden era of Chinese intellectual development
includes Confucius, Mencius, Lao Tsu, and the others. It was also the time of political chaos and constant warfare among

various contending states. This era, which was called Spring and Autumn periods and
the Warring States period. It was the time of intensified struggle for power in which
the feudal princes either conquered or were forced to submit. To gain the hegemony
over states it was necessary for the feudal prince to make his states strong and wealthy.
In this context, it offered a large stage to many intellectuals to present their
philosophy of politics. They lobbied the feudal state and claimed that their strategy
could make the state more powerful and wealthy. Among some Hundred Contending
Schools of philosophy during this era, most Chinese scholars agreed that only three
major schools exerted the significant influence on the China's intellectual
development: the Confucianism, the Daoism, and the Legalism. Each of these
schools has its own tenets and doctrines. Among them there is many irreconcilable
doctrinal differences, which have led to constant, heated controversy, however, they
had one of the common domains of interest among them, which was the art of
governance.

Daoist, represented by Lao Tsu, believed that a well ordered society must be in harmony
with the principle of nature, that is : Dao. They believed that nature dictates all and
the way to an orderly life is to do nothing contradictory to the nature. Striving for
power and material goods are not to be encouraged. Daoists were philosophical
anarchists. The ideal state in the mind of Lao Tsu was some kind of small-unit. People
settled in their own village, but never to visit their neighboring village even they were
very close. Rulers would accomplish everything by doing nothing, for they believed
that “the best form of action is inaction”. Inaction, however, doesn’t mean doing
nothing; rather, Daoists opposed action that is unnatural, strained, calculated, or
self-assertive. Of course, no emperors could accept this kind of strategy at that time,
some even resented it, Lao Tsu was forced to move to a remote place.
The value of Taoist political philosophy is the thought of “ inaction of ruler”,
less tolerance for arbitrary interferences in economic and personal affairs. This is
especially significant to Chinese government today, as we have known that
Government in China in the period of planned economy did absolutely contrary to the
principle of Dao, government governed everything in people’s lives, as a result, it
damaged their lives.

Confucianism and Legalism, which formed the main Chinese political culture, were
based on their different beliefs in human nature.

For Confucians, the nature of human being is good, and they have potential of
becoming a moral man. A moral man can control his bad tendency by himself without
coercion, based on which, the best way of governing was inspiring people’s good
nature and cultivated it, therefore, people can self-regulate. Confucian political ideal
was a politico-ethical system : the king is sage-king, the kingdom is like a family with
the emperor as the father to his people. Confucius said : If you govern people by laws
and keep them in order by applying penalties, they will avoid penalties, but lose their
sense of shame. If you govern them by the principles of virtue, and keep them in order
by Li, they will retain their sense of shame and will become good.” Li signified
decorum, ritual, or rules of propriety. For example, there are two thousand pounds
here, two conditions that the money can’t be taken away, one is that those who have
moral can self-regulate and not to take the money which does not belong to him. The
other is that we don’t dare to take it because we are afraid of being punished by law.
First was Confucian’s way of considering people while the Second was legist way.
Confucianism were thought to be too idealistic to be foolish and unfashionable in
pre-Qin period. However, Confucianism has obvious advantages : its teachings emphasize humanity, justice, the
dignity of the man, love, charity, compassion, mercy, and hope. These are universal
values, which are shared by all peoples, regardless of their political and religious
orientations. Confucian’s humanism is in accord with popular sentiment,
Confucianism also thought people are the base of rule. Therefore, Confucianism has
great appeal for the ruler through its ethical values to promote political and social
stability.

In distinct contrast to Confucianism, Legalists argued that the nature of human being
is evil ; they believed human beings are selfish and only care for themselves. Legalists
didn’t think people can do good by themselves, but the ruler could make them not to
do wrong by use of rewards and punishments. Therefore, while the
Confucians thought that cultivation of virtue was the best way to achieve good
government, the Legalists believed in law and force as the only feasible policy. Law
was regarded as an instrument with which the ruler upholds his supremacy over
people and the sovereignty. If he is to consolidate his position as the supreme ruler, he
must have absolute power.
The significance of legalist doctrine is that the legalists not only formulated the course
of actions to be followed to establish and to maintain a strong ruler and a strong state,
but they also freed Chinese politics from moral and ethical considerations. Legalism
was adopted by the state of Qin, which eventually became strong enough to subdue
other feudal states, established a unitary government, and united China. Nevertheless,
Legalism didn’t advocate welfare of individuals nor compassion and mercy of the
people. Their politics was thought to be too inhumane and oppressive to be acceptable
in a stable state.

Despite their differences, Confucian and legalist politics shared same opinions in
some aspects : both emphasize the absolute authority of ruler and despotic rule. For
Confucianism, ruler’s authority came from Mandate of Heaven because of his perfect
virtue. Obeying the ruler was to obey Heaven. If a ruler lost his virtue, it was Heaven
not people to punish or overthrew him. Legalists didn’t tell where the ruler’s power
come from, but they implicated that the strongest will gain the power in the conflict.
Therefore, Legalists strongly emphasis the supremacy of power. Nothing is more
important than the possession of power. Any will or action against power will be
punished with the instrument of law without any mercy.

Eventually Han dynasty, adopted Confucianism as the national doctrine. But in
practice, it was a mixture of Confucianism and Legalism, particularly in the arts of
governance. In other words, although Confucianism was to become the official
state philosophy, it was Han fei, the most important representative of the Legalism,
rather than Confucius that Chinese rulers turned to for political guidance over the
course of the last two millennia.

oracle-bones in Shang dynasty

Shang 王朝の神託骨

神託骨: Shang の王朝の場合

神 託 の骨はカメが大抵に鎧 、あとで占いの前か後にどちらか、diviners divinatory 質問を演説した記したヤギのウシの大抵貝殻骨(ヒツジ) またであり、、先祖またいくつかの自然神。 、約中間点で、と垂直線から神への現在の漢字の意味' 占い' か' 質問に' 対応する垂直なライン成っている得るために組のひびをこれらの骨は熱された。 垂直なひびが20 度の内の縦のものへの直角に多くまたはより少し、すなわち、または90 度ポイントをおろせば、神託 の応答は肯定的考えられた。 ひびの角度がこの40 程度の範囲の内で(70 から110 から) 下らなかったら、応答は否定的だった。

Shang の神託の骨は宗教(儀式の) システムと同様、及び社会構成、政治Shang で知識の豊富なもとを私達に与える。 より少なく重要、範囲へ、中国の書記体系の起源そして投げるライト開発ででない。 特に関連している神託骨の銘刻文字、はるかに犠牲を取扱う多数は。 神託骨の活動が公共的支配へ高貴な特権、それ故に集中化および隷属状態だったことを私達が最初から心に留めておくことは重要である。

ある 神託は殺されるべきであるかまたはいかに犠牲が大がま、等かかのそれらの沸騰によってヒツジが死に裁ち切りそれらの許可によって、提供されるべきであるか 尋ねた。 Shang はキビのよい収穫のための血の犠牲を提供した。 多くの神託骨の銘刻文字は先祖の神の浄化より他のどの犠牲的な目的も述べない。 時々、予言者 は動物か人間の犠牲の選択の神を示した。 Shang はまた戦争の結果を占った。 犠牲的な人の斬首の意味はけれども未知数ある。 どんな犠牲が回復のために提供されるべきであるか病気の結果を見つけるShang のまた行われた神託及び。 質問は最も頻繁に尋ねられたしかしShang 王朝の予言者 にあるかどれをどんな犠牲先祖の精神か自然神が状態に応じて好んだか、左の説明されていなかった、しかし、本当らしい、実質か推定の犠牲的な危機に答えて ほとんどの場合。


神託骨: 使用及び意味


ある明示されている"性質" の神は、川及び山の神のような、自身の犠牲を要求した。 他の古代農業の州とは違って、犠牲は太陽か月に提供されなかった。 その代り、川の神Ho は河岸で沈むか、または埋められた動物及び人間の犠牲の彼自身のセットを要求する古代中国の儀式の重要な役割を果した。 多分、農業の努力で、Shang は川の気まぐれな性質を太陽よりもっと恐れていた。 おそらくShang で、Ho はHo へsacrificed/married 儀式にだった選り抜き処女との年次犠牲的な結婚を要求した。 彼女はいかだに置かれ、浸った。 福利しか保障しないために彼女は他の人間の犠牲者と彼女が代用のメンバーだったこと、おそらく貴重な1 、コミュニティだった"犠牲になって喜んで" 異なった。 この練習は400 のConfucian "humanism" の圧力の下で紀元前に中断された。

Shang 王朝の犠牲は、少し範囲、ワインおよび食糧(キビで) に、人間および動物およびおよび日本、用具、武器および衣類で後で練習されるように時々、成っていた。 犠牲的な動物は追跡の間のそれらを助けるために伝統的に精神のためのガイドとして解釈される犬() 、およびまたヒツジ、ウシおよびブタを含んでいた。 百匹の犬にShang の首都の都市壁の下に埋められた。 絵画図表に従ってずっと考古学者は解読できる血及び食糧犠牲のShang に三十七の部門があった。 それらのいくつかは完全または部分的に燃えたりまたは埋められて。 犠牲の総燃焼は通常ずっと天の上で上る煙の形で精神に与える方法として解釈されている。 先祖の食欲を、満たしか、または、スケープゴートとして、悪からのコミュニティをexonerate ために人間は完全に燃えた。 さらに部分的な燃焼にコミューンに楽しむ目的があるかもしれない。 何人かの犠牲的な犠牲者は川の神の水に特に地球の神にまたは演説したときに、彼ら沈んだ埋められた。

人間の犠牲は農業の"高い文化" のillo のtempore で、後でだけ練習されなかった。 ある人々は従って人間の犠牲が農地の高い文化および中心にされた裁判所に属する比較的遅い練習であって、原始ローカル農業の設定で見つけられることができ ない信じる。 、紀元前の第10 世紀までに粘土及び木の取り替えと、次第に取替えられた人間のfuneral 犠牲のまた十分な証拠がある。 Shih-ching に従って、それらは公爵のMu 葬式の間の3 人の高い高官を含むすべての117 人で埋めた。 中国のこの特定区域では、そのような人間の犠牲は384 B にしか廃止されなかった。C.E. そして、粘土及び木図によって中国の心臓地帯でのように取り替えられて。

私達が他で観察できるように(e.g. Ch'iang のヒツジ上昇種族の原住民はだった誰またAztecs) 文化も、人間の犠牲のShang の共通のもと戦争の囚人及び、または、奴隷、多数の、Shang のための人間の犠牲の好まれたもとだった。 コミュニティはそれ自身の外の犠牲的な犠牲者を選びがちである; 社会のフリンジの捕虜、奴隷、こじき、身体障害者、および人々へ、好みの供給がある。 社会学的に、ただ社会順序反映されなかったそのような選択はしかしそれを作成した。 犠牲にされた戦争の囚人は時々(斬首される) 切断された、そのような切断の意味がまだ論じられているが。

せむし、もう一人の好みの犠牲的な犠牲者は、人間間の干ばつの精神であると信 じられた。 奴隷は罪の、脱走訴えられる、犠牲にされた、含まれていた人々殺害、等までの戦争の囚人、有用な労働者としてだけ理解されなければならない。 川の神の代用の花嫁以外、方法戦争の囚人は先祖の神社で犠牲になった: そのような犠牲者は最初にそれらを犠牲にする前にコミュニティに総に統合されなければならない。 コミュニティへの戦争の囚人の比較的大きい数を統合することは確かに危なく、uneconomical であろう。 それはそれら遅れずにより本当らしい殺された。

それは上列挙された一種の犠牲がそれら動物を、それら間の人間、選択、または両方に提供し ている高貴な祖先に演説したこと十分に明確である。 神託の骨の銘刻文字がはっきり示すので頻繁に、これらの犠牲は祖先の聖名祝日に提供された。 高貴な祖先は天候および福祉(平和、ハーモニー、等を制御すると信じられた。) 州の。 それらは性質のコースに影響を及ぼす力を有した。 犠牲的な危機を克服するためには、動物及びか人間は先祖の神に高貴な先祖の祭壇で犠牲になった。 干ばつ、氾濫、および不満を抱かせられていた祖先から、または起きると、それらから農業及び人間残存に必要なclimactic 条件を得ると信じられた他の天災を終えるために犠牲の血は仮定された。 犠牲はまた戦争の勝利のための祈りとして提供された。 骨の銘刻文字に従って、捕虜は勝利のために祈りとして犠牲になった。

犠牲的な犠牲者の血は最も有効なapotropaic 考慮され、祭壇にこぼれるか、またはコンパスの4 つの地球ポイントの方に吹きかかった。 神託骨の銘刻文字は浄化する、カタルシスsacralizing 力よりもむしろ人間の暴力の汚され、恐れられた記号として肯定的の犠牲的なblood-letting の儀式をよりもむしろ否定的な感覚、すなわち、示す。

人間の犠牲が先祖の神に提供された一方、そのような犠牲はまた(子供及び女性のを含 むそれ) 建物の基礎(およびゲート(入口) 、堤防、堤防および他の水仕事を造る柱を) 増強すると信じられた。 彼が彼の王国に台なしを持って来た戦いでつかまえられた後、人間順序の創設者とその順序を支える公共のプロジェクトおよび重要な建物に犠牲間の可能な相関 関係を提案するダムを増強するためにTs'ai の王冠王子は、例えば、犠牲になった。 より重要構造、より多くの人間は犠牲になった。 何百もの馬車 及び馬が付いている人間の骨組は、時々高貴な宮殿の場所で、見つけられた。


神託骨制御及び政治影響:


Shang の"儀式の無視" の場合には州の連続的な福祉または、州に害を引き起こすことで棒があった他の神および高貴な祖先への特に提供された犠牲。 王室は王朝の創設者をので維持の興味があり続け、従って注意の中心であり続けた祖先崇拝した。 また、これらの祖先はよい天候および収穫と戦い、"感謝祭" の犠牲のすべての勝利に感謝された。 従って逆に、人間は干ばつ、悪い収穫、エリートのメンバーに加える悪態のための敵の侵入をそれらの、または、責任にした。 役割は祖先に帰因する中国人普遍的なパターンに続く。 社会的な病気が及び砕片への一族関係増殖し始めたときに、儀式が及びタブーの壊されて無視されたときに、祖先は生活と伝えられるところでは不快にされ、自 然災害、不快感、社会的なdisharmony および他の病気を引き起こした。 順序で棒を彼ら持っているリーダーの祖先、天災および社会的な押上げと確立したり、特に識別された。 従って天災を引き起こすために祖先により恐れられ、それらを制御するために崇拝された; 含まれていた暴力、また彼らは伝えられるところでは誘発した。 生成的な人類学の視点から、1 つは古いの"犠牲にすること" に基づいて新しい順序を作成した"最初" 激しい神として高貴な祖先を解釈できる。 あらゆる高貴な後継者の権限が王朝の創設者に左右されたと同時に、新しい体制の維持は、平時に高貴な子孫が提供した犠牲的な暴力の制御の下で、続いた基礎 の暴力に左右され続けた。

方法では犠牲は高貴な祖先に、私達発見する相互作用の本質的なシステムをつながる。 王の世俗的な権限は左右されることをただ、祖先の精神的な力に対応したようである。 従って、州の順序を維持する十分な力を持つ結合されたking/ancestor のための順序でそれらは栄養の犠牲と当然、未加工か調理された肉である、最も有効な食糧きちんと与えられなければならなかった。 Tso chuan に従って、それらを、彼らの生きている子孫のように強い保つために祖先、特に高貴な祖先は、与えられなければならなかった。 この得られた強さによって、それらは州の要求そして必要性に効果的に答えることができる。 下込めされたら、神は無駄になる、または他、彼はunexampled 残酷および獰猛性の彼の滋養物に人及び位置の要求の中で降りる。 この眺めは、Taoism 及び仏教の下であとで、神の食事療法が単語及びincense のより少なく激しいものに変わった限りにおいて中国の経験に関連している。 彼ら自身によく与えるには生活は、余りに、なった; 下込めされた人間の後ろに均等に下込めされた神はあり、meagerness はと同時に印取られるか、または干ばつの予表する。 犠牲は従って神力の共有であり、長寿を保障する。 これは早期死んだ精神の精神が、邪悪な祖先として、生活を罵倒し、病気を加えるために恐れられていた死者の世界にそれらの静かな活気に満ちた生きているエ ネルギーを運ぶために仮定されたので非業の死をなぜ恐れられていたかまただった。

相互"論理的な" 平行は犠牲的なシステムを定めるようである; より大きい災害、より大きい必須の犠牲; より大きい犠牲多分それは答えられた; そしてより大きい神の贈与された好意、より大きい感謝祭の犠牲生活提供したそれを。 Supernatural 力は犠牲にただ、量に左右されるようである。 より大きい量、より大きいの効果。 より大きい犠牲、より大きい演説した精神の対応する"魔法の" 力、仮定された育つこと。 これは本当らしい犠牲的な価値の階層の最終的な犠牲として多分あとで開発を"得た" ように人間の犠牲を、説明し。

儀 式の言語は、余りに、この相互状態を反映した; ' 復讐' 、' 償い' および感謝祭のために' 使用される同じ単語。 この相互作用は一種の"譲り合い" に支配した中国の社会的な理想をそれを、Confucianism の下でかなり貢献するかもしれない。 真の"取り引き" か厳密な譲り合いに基づく契約は祖先に生活を区切る。 は、犠牲演説した誰でも儀式の文脈で遂行される儀式として言うことがわかられなければならない。 学者的な意見は勤めたかだれがに関して儀式で分けられる。 Oracle 骨の占い及び、おそらく、神託骨の銘刻文字は"公式の" diviners の範囲だった。 機能が論争に応じてあるオス及びメスのシャーマンがまたあった。 一部は他"公共の" 興味"私用に" 役立つかもしれない。 ある神託骨の銘刻文字は干ばつの間のshamanesses を犠牲にすることの練習を、示す。

Oracle 骨の銘刻文字はShang 王が未来を踊り、予告したこと、多くの初期文化で、シャーマンの範囲だった2 つの活動を提案する。 しかしそれはそのようなレポートが王の制御の下の"専門の" シャーマンの活動に基づいていたこと可能である。 Shang 王がシャーマン偽りなく私達はまだシベリアのシャーマニズム対中国のシャーマニズムのもっともらしい定義を提供しなければならない。 実際は彼自身の政治端のための王の練習されたシャーマニズムか使用されたシャーマンのclairvoyants がはっきりと分けられるかどうかについて学者的な意見。 私達はこと合法性を要求し、競争相手を除去するために高貴な宮殿のまわりにそして連続の論争か競合の競争相手によって使用されるシャーマンの場合にはこと を、特に集中されるシャーマン知っている。 冤罪は日本でように、整然としたリーダーシップの連続の下を掘る魔法使い追跡で起因したにちがいない。 しっかりと確立されて、中国のリーダーは政治制御シャーマン の 予言を服従させることを試みた。 自由なシャーマニズムは確実に維持することが真剣に州の整然とした基礎を危難にさらす自発の神託を制御しないで州をので早いリーダーのためのありがた迷惑 であろう。 王が重要な政治及び社会的な問題の結果を予測することを自由に許可したらシャーマンを持ったら州は王彼自身が主なシャーマンであったかだけ、または彼が効 果的に神託 予告の配達を制御したら存続してもよい。 神託骨の占いは王とないシャーマンの政治制御の下に高貴な役人の範囲だった。


結論:


多 分、王ない全員は必要 なシャーマン の 技術を所有していた、すべてにシャーマン の傾斜、それにより必要条件になっている"専門の" シャーマンの使用があった。 、多分推定上から州の神へ普通の人々を犠牲になること落胆させると私達は彼らの政治制御の下にシャーマンを置いた王に照し合わせてShang のシャーマニズムが判断するべきである。 中央制御のような高められた私用犠牲が弱まったことを理解することは容易である。 犠牲及び政治は手に手をとって行った。 また、シャーマン の練習の政治制御の維持の難しさはより遅いTaoists を州に対する有害な効果に対して宇宙disharmony および地球の暴力(連続の苦闘) をもたらすことおよび警告のシャーマンを訴えるシャーマニズム及び犠牲に反対するために促すかもしれない。 それは国家統制された "シャーマン の" 官僚主義とシャーマン の 練習、および州のためにより有利考慮した長寿取り替えたいと思った及び"治療" に重点を置いて犠牲を。 彼の状態を維持するためには、王は彼の祖先(天) へのアクセスを制御しなければならなかった。


Oracle bones : Shang's dynasty's case

Oracle bones were mostly shoulder bones of oxen (also of goat and sheep) and, later, turtle plastron onto which, either before or after divination, the diviners inscribed the divinatory questions addressed to mostly ancestral but also a number of nature deities. These bones were heated to obtain a pair of cracks consisting of a vertical line plus, at about mid-point, a perpendicular line, corresponding to the present Chinese character meaning 'divination' or 'question to a deity'. If the perpendicular crack was more or less at a right angle to the vertical one, that is, within twenty degrees up or down the 90 degree point, the oracular reply was deemed positive. If the angle of the crack did not fall within this 40-degree range (from 70 to 110), the reply was negative.

The Shang oracle bones provide us with a rich source of knowledge on Shang political and social organization, as well as its religious (ritual) system. No less important is the light they throw on the origins and, to an extent, the development of the Chinese writing system. Particularly relevant are the oracle-bone inscriptions, by far the most numerous, which deal with sacrifice. It is important that we keep in mind from the very beginning that oracle-bone activity was a royal prerogative, hence its centralization and subjection to government control.

Some oracles asked how the sheep should be killed, by letting them bleed to death, or how the sacrifice should be offered, by boiling them in a cauldron, etc. The Shang offered blood sacrifice for a good harvest of millet. Many oracle-bone inscriptions fail to mention any other sacrificial purpose than the purification of an ancestral deity. Sometimes, diviners presented the deities with a choice of animal or human sacrifice. The Shang also divined the outcome of war. The meaning of the decapitation of sacrificial men is yet unknown. The Shang also performed oracles to find out the outcome of illness and what sacrifice should be offered for recovery. The questions the Shang dynasty diviners most often asked was, however, what sacrifice the ancestral spirit or nature deity preferred in response to a situation which is, in most cases, left unexplained, but, most likely, responded to a real or putative sacrificial crisis.


oracle-bone : use and meanings


Some well-defined "nature" deities, such as river and mountain deities, required their own sacrifice. Unlike other ancient agricultural states, no sacrifice was ever offered to the sun or the moon. Instead, the river god Ho played an important part in ancient Chinese ritual, requiring his own set of animal and human sacrifices which were sunk, or buried on the river banks. Perhaps, in their agricultural endeavor, the Shang feared the capricious nature of the river more than the sun. Probably in the Shang, Ho required a yearly sacrificial marriage with a select virgin who was ritually sacrificed/married to Ho. She was placed on a raft and drowned. She differed from other human victims in that she was a surrogate member, probably a precious one, the community was willing to "sacrifice" only to ensure its well-being. This practice was discontinued under pressure of Confucian "humanism" in the year 400 BC.

Shang dynasty sacrifice consisted in humans and animals and, to a lesser extent, wine and food (millet), and sometimes, as practiced later in Japan, tools, weapons and clothing. Sacrificial animals included dogs (traditionally interpreted as guides for the spirits, to help them during their hunts), and also sheep, oxen and pigs. Over one hundred dogs were buried underneath the city walls of the Shang capital. According to the pictographs archeologists have been able to decipher, there were in Shang thirty-seven categories of blood and food sacrifices. Some of them were completely or partially burned or buried. The total burning of sacrifice has usually been interpreted as a way to feed the spirits in the form of smoke climbing up the heavens. Humans were completely burned either to satisfy the ancestral appetite and, or, as scapegoats, to exonerate the community from evil. Partial burning may have had, in addition, the purpose of communal feasting. Some sacrificial victims were buried especially when they were addressed to an earth deity or, they were sunk into the water of a river deity.

Human sacrifice was not practiced in illo tempore, only later in agricultural "high culture". Some believe that human sacrifice was a relatively late practice belonging to an agrarian high culture and its centralized court and, therefore, cannot be found in more primitive local agricultural settings. There is also ample evidence of human funeral sacrifices which, by the tenth century BC, were gradually replaced by clay and wooden substitutions. According to the Shih-ching, they buried in all 117 men including three high dignitaries during the funeral of duke Mu. In this particular area of China, such human sacrifice was abolished only in the year 384 B.C.E. and replaced, like in China's heartland, by clay and wooden figures.

As we can observe in other (e.g. the Aztecs) cultures as well, the most common Shang source of human sacrifice was war prisoners and, or, slaves, many of whom were natives of the sheep-raising Ch'iang tribe, the preferred source of human sacrifice for the Shang. A community tends to choose its sacrificial victims outside itself ; prisoners of war, slaves, beggars, cripples, and other people at the fringe of society, being the favorite supplies. Sociologically, such selection not only reflected the social order, but created it. Sacrificed war prisoners were sometimes mutilated (beheaded), although the meaning of such mutilation is still being disputed.

The hunchback, another favorite sacrificial victim, was believed to be the drought spirit among humans. Slaves must be understood not only as war prisoners, but useful laborers until sacrificed, but included people accused of crime, desertion, murder, etc. Other than the surrogate bride of the river deity, the way war prisoners were sacrificed at the ancestral shrine : such victims must first be totally integrated into the community before sacrificing them. Integrating a relatively large number of war prisoners into the community would surely have been dangerous and uneconomical. It is more likely they were killed without delay.

It is sufficiently clear that the kinds of sacrifice enumerated above were addressed to royal ancestors, offering them animals, humans, a choice between them, or both. Often, as the oracle bone inscriptions clearly indicate, these sacrifices were offered at the ancestor's name day. Royal ancestors were believed to control the weather and the welfare (peace, harmony, etc.) of the state. They had the power to influence the course of nature. To overcome a sacrificial crisis, animals and or humans were sacrificed at the royal ancestral altar to an ancestral deity. The blood of the sacrifice was supposed to end drought, flooding, and other natural calamities believed to originate from dissatisfied ancestors, or, to obtain from them the climactic conditions necessary for agriculture and human survival. Sacrifice was also offered as a prayer for victory in war. According to some bone inscription, prisoners of war were sacrificed as a prayer for victory.

The blood of a sacrificial victim was considered the most potent apotropaic, and was spilled upon an altar or sprayed towards the four earthly points of the compass. Oracle-bone inscriptions refer to sacrificial blood-letting ritual in its positive rather than negative sense, that is, as a purifying, cathartic and sacralizing force rather than a polluted and dreaded symbol of human violence.

Whereas human sacrifice was offered to ancestral deities, such sacrifice (including that of children and women) was also believed to strengthen the foundation (and pillars) of buildings, building gates (entrances), dikes, embankments and other water works. After he was caught in a battle that brought ruin to his kingdom, the crown-prince of Ts'ai, for example, was sacrificed to strengthen a dam, suggesting a possible correlation between sacrifice to the founders of the human order and to important buildings and public projects that uphold that order. The more important the construction, the more humans were sacrificed. Hundreds of human skeletons, sometimes with chariots and horses, were found at the site of the royal palace.


oracle-bone control and political influence :


The Shang especially offered sacrifice to the royal ancestors and other deities who had a stake either in the continuous welfare of the state or, in case of "ritual neglect", in causing harm to the state. The royal family worshipped the founder of the dynasty as an ancestor who continued to have an interest in its maintenance and, therefore, continued to be the center of attention. Also, these ancestors were thanked for good weather and harvests and for victory in battle, all in "thanksgiving" sacrifice. Conversely, the humans therefore blamed them for droughts, bad harvests, enemy invasions, or, for the curses they inflict upon the members of the elite. The role the Chinese attributed to their ancestors follows universal patterns. When social ills began to proliferate and clan relationships to crumble, when ritual was neglected and taboo broken, the ancestors were allegedly displeased with the living and caused natural disasters, nightmares, social disharmony and other ills. The leaders' ancestors, who have a stake in the order they had established, were particularly identified with natural calamities and social upheavals. Thus the ancestors were feared to cause natural calamities and worshipped to control them; they allegedly provoked as well as contained violence. From the viewpoint of generative anthropology, one can interpret the royal ancestor as the "first" violent deity who created a new order on the basis of "sacrificing" the old. As every royal successor's authority depended on the dynasty's founder, the maintenance of the new order continued to depend on the violence of its foundation which, in peacetime, was continued under the control of the sacrificial violence offered by the royal descendants.

In the way sacrifice is linked to royal ancestors, we discover an intrinsic system of reciprocity . The king's worldly authority seemed not only to depend upon, but to correspond to the ancestors' spiritual power. Therefore, in order for the combined king/ancestor to have sufficient power to maintain the state order, they had to be fed properly with nutritional sacrifice, the most potent food being, of course, raw or cooked meat. According to the Tso-chuan, ancestors, especially royal ancestors, had to be fed to keep them strong, like their living descendants. By this acquired strength, they could respond effectively to the demands and needs of the state. If underfed, the god would waste away, or else, he will descend among men and lay claim to his nourishment with unexampled cruelty and ferocity. If we understand the deities, like Girard did, as initially a "sacrifice" then the offer of sacrificial flesh and blood would mean feeding the god with his own "originary" substance. This view is relevant to the Chinese experience insofar as, later, under Taoism and Buddhism, the deities' diet was changed to the less violent one of words and incense. The living, too, had to feed themselves well; behind an underfed human was an equally underfed deity and meagerness was taken as a sign or presage of a drought. Sacrifice was therefore a sharing of divine powers, ensuring longevity. This was also why the spirits of those who died premature, violent deaths were feared because they were supposed to take their still vibrant living energies with them into the world of the dead where, as evil ancestors, they were feared to curse the living and inflict illness.

A reciprocal "logical" parallelism seems to have determined the sacrificial system; the greater the calamity, the greater the required sacrifice; the greater the sacrifice the more likely it was answered; and the greater the bestowed favor of the deity, the greater the thanksgiving sacrifice the living offered it. Supernatural power seems to have depended not only on sacrifice, but on its amount. The greater the amount, the greater its effect. The greater the sacrifice, the greater the corresponding "magical" power of the spirit, to whom it was addressed, was supposed to grow. This perhaps explains human sacrifice as the ultimate sacrifice in the hierarchy of sacrificial values, and, most likely, as a later "derived" development.

The ritual language, too, reflected this reciprocal state; the same word being used for 'revenge', 'atonement' and thanksgiving'. This reciprocity may have contributed considerably to the kind of "give-and-take" that, under Confucianism, dominated Chinese social ideals. Veritable "deals" or covenants, based on a strict give-and-take, bound the living to their ancestors. Whoever it addressed, sacrifice has to be understood as a ritual, carried out in a ritual context. Scholarly opinion is divided as to who officiated in ritual. Oracle-bone divinations and, most probably, oracle-bone inscriptions were the domain of "official" diviners. There were also both male and female shamans, whose functions are subject to controversy. Some may have served "private", others "public" interests. Some oracle-bone inscriptions, refer to the practice of sacrificing shamanesses during droughts.

Oracle-bone inscription suggest that Shang kings danced and foretold the future, two activities which, in many archaic cultures, were the domains of shamans. It is possible, however, that such report was based on the activities of "professional" shamans under the king's control. If Shang kings were truly shamans we would still have to offer a plausible definition of Chinese shamanism versus, say, Siberian shamanism. Scholarly opinion as to whether the king in fact practiced shamanism or used shamanic clairvoyants for his own political ends is sharply divided. We know that shamans concentrated around the royal palace and that, especially in case of succession disputes or rivalries, the contenders used shamans to claim legitimacy and eliminate rivals. False accusations must have resulted, as in Japan, in witch hunts, undermining orderly leadership succession. Once firmly established, Chinese leaders tried to subject shamanistic predictions to political control. Uncontrolled shamanism would undoubtedly have been a mixed blessing for the early leaders because maintaining the state without controlling spontaneous oracles would seriously jeopardize the orderly foundations of the state. If the kings would have let shamans freely predict the outcome of important political and social issues, the state could only survive if the king himself was the chief shaman, or if he effectively controlled the delivery of oracular foretelling. Oracle-bone divination was the domain of royal officials under the political control of the kings and not of the shamans.


Conclusion :


Conceivably, not all kings possessed the necessary shamanistic skills, nor did all have shamanistic inclinations, the use of "professional" shamans thereby becoming a sine qua non. Perhaps we should judge Shang shamanism in light of the kings who placed the shamans under their political control, presumably to discourage ordinary people from sacrificing to state deities. It is easy to understand that such private sacrifice increased as central control weakened. Sacrifice and politics went hand in hand. Also, the difficulty in maintaining political control over shamanistic practice may have prompted the later Taoists to oppose shamanism and sacrifice, accusing the shamans of causing cosmic disharmony and earthly violence (succession struggles) and warning against its harmful effects on the state. It wanted to replace shamanistic practice with a state-controlled "shamanistic" bureaucracy, and sacrifice with an emphasis on "healing" and longevity, which it considered more beneficial for the state. To maintain his state, the king had to control access to his ancestors (heaven).