熊祭の歴史民族学的研究 : 学史的展望

• Main Authors: 大林 太良, Taryo Obayashi
• Format: Report
• Language: Japanese
• Published: 国立民族学博物館 1985
• Subjects: Sakhalin; Tundra
• Online Access: https://minpaku.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=4413; http://hdl.handle.net/10502/2893; https://minpaku.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=4413&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

Bear ceremonialism is widespread in North Eurasia as wellas in North America [HALLOWELL 1926]. It is a culture traitcharacteristic of forest hunters [BIRKET-SMIT1H9 62], although it islargely lacking or undeveloped among tundra hunters. Whereasbear rituals coexist by and large with shamanism in the northernhemisphere, shamans as such participate rarely in the bearceremonials. While Findeisen [1939] interprets this incongruencyof the two traits in terms of different culture strata towhich they belong respectively, the author prefers anotherpossibility, that bear ceremonialism as a group festivity does notrequire the active cooperation of shamans, who are in theirelement in dealing with such private matters as curing, necromancyand others.A subtype of bear rituals is located in the area covering thelower Amur Basin, Sakhalin and Hokkaido, where a bear cubcaught in the mountains is fed and raised in a village and thenceremonially killed. As Watanabe [1966] and Paproth [1976]contend, this subtype could develop only in an area with a sedentarylife style and stable food supply. The author suggests thatthe ecological base of this area can be defined by deciduousbroad-leaved forests, including various kinds of oak. On theother hand, farming cultures with domestic animals in Manchuriaand China presumably gave impetus to the emergence of the practiceof keeping bear cubs, a practice which is essential to thissubtype.