近世アジア比較文学の提案

―『水滸伝』の近世的変容を例にして

抄録

　“Sui-Hu-Zhuan” has many variants throughout East Asia including Japan. “Sui-Hu-Hou-Zhuan” is the one, which was written after 1661 in Qing dynasty of China. This story begins from where “Sui-Hu-Zhuan” story ends, and tells the continuation of the latter. The remaining gangsters of “Sui-Hu-Zhuan” reassembled again to fight with Nuzhen Race. After the fight, the story tells, the gangsters went out from China and arrived in Thailand.

　Then in Thailand, they had to fight with Tibetans, Myao Race, and then with a group of Siamese Subjects who employed the Japanese mercenaries for taking aim at the throne. In this story, some images permeated with historical characteristics of the different ages appear. One example of these can be found in the image of Japanese warriors. It reflects behaviors of the Japanese during 14th to 17th century. The other example can be found in the mixed images of Southeast Asian Countries engaged in successive wars to the throne, which involved overseas Chinese merchants together with some Chinese Subjects of fallen Han Race Dynasties. This is to say, that the story reflects, using the framework of “Sui-Hu-Zhuan”, the Asian recognition and sentiment toward the Era of the Great world Trade and Navigation.

　Similarly, early modern Japan had “Onna-Suiko-Den” written after “Sui-Hu- Zhuan”. According to this story, Japanese male and female gangsters went to Persia, where they attempted to do business. But male gangsters were captured by both Persians and Japanese, so women fought and helped them. This story also reflects the Era and the change of economy from agriculture to commerce. Generally speaking, we often find in Japanese variants the themes related with commerce, and replacement of male characters by the female.

　Early Modern Korea also had a variant of “Sui-Hu-Zhuan” It was named “Hong-Gil-Dong-Jong”. Hong-Gil-Dong was an illegitimate child. He was about to be killed, and escaped from home. Then he became a leader of gangsters and went out of the country to an uninhabited island, where he made a utopian country. Finally, he became a king of another larger and civilized island.

　The author of this story Ho Gyun, who was an anti-confucianist, was killed because of suspicion of a revolutionary plan. “Hong-Gil-Dong-Jong” has the inclination to the idea of Korean Jitsugaku (a school of pragmatic thought) in 18th century. This also can be understood as reflecting the progress of commodity circulation and the growth of commerce, which Confucianism had prohibited. All of these cases of China, Korea and Japan were the products of change in economic basis and consciousness in Asia in the Era of Navigation.