古代中国の射礼

抄録

Among the materials of ancient China, especiary among the Inscriptions of Bronze Vessels (金文) of Western Chou Dynasty (西周), we have found a number of records that tell us that the Emperor of China (天子) often shot water-birds and fishes personally at the Holy Pond (辟雍) in the suburbs of the capital. (〓〓Yu-Kuei;麦尊Mai-Tsun;礼記・月令Li-Chi・Yueh-Ling etc.) This custom originally came from the religious belief that spring would come earlier if game were offered af the end of winter. In国語・魯語(Kuo-Yu・Lu-Kuo) it states, "In the end of the coldest season, the officers of fushery hunted big fishes and water-birds and prayed to gods sacrificing them for easier coming of spirng". People thought water-birds and fishes were spirits of spring, as they would appear with the coming of spring. And this belief was connected with the divination which foretold whether the year would be abundant or meager by the amount of game. In Shih-Chin (詩経) people sang, "Men divine by fishing to see whether they will have an abundant harvest or not." (小雅・無羊; Hsiao-Ya・Wu-Yang) By the Inscriptions of Bronze Vessels of Western Chou Dynasty, we know that the rites of the personal cultivation (籍田) and of shooting were performed together by the Emperor. (令鼎, Ling Ting) And when the Emperor, the supreme ruler of the whole country, performed this shooting ritual, the year's crop for the whole country was forecast at the same time. So, the ritual was a very responsible business for him, and was performed very impressively. Hence we know that the shooting ritual as an annual act of divination came to be related with the agricultural ritual. But later it was celebrated not only with the agricultural ceremony but also with various kinds of rituals and the game which had been shot down then were dedicated to gods. The shooting ritual had gradually lost its original meaning and changed into a kind of symposium for praying gods with offering game. Often there people ate the offerings and swore each other by gods. On the other hand, people also prayed to the gods by shooting wild beasts, such as bears, deers and tigers etc., above the ground. We have already noted that there was such a ceremony in Yin Dynasty (殷代) on the Inscriptions of Bone (甲骨文) and I think that its significance was similar to the above-mentioned. Keeping step with the change in the meaning, the shooting ritual had changed greatly in its form. In the later half of Western Chou Dynasty, it became obsolete for the Emperor to shoot personally at the Holy-Pond. It was performed at some shooting range (〓,〓,序) which was set near by the Pond. And there the Emperor himself did not shoot game any longer, but his subjects competed in the shooting with each other for the prize which would be given by His Majesty. (〓曹鼎,Hsi-Ts'ao-Ting;師湯父鼎, Shih-T'ang-Fu- Ting;礼記・射義, Li-Chi・She-I) In this competition, however, we heve found some traces of the old custom. They used the target of canvas with the hide or the picture of a bear, deer or tiger on it. In some cases, people called the target by the name of Hu (鵠) or Hou (候). Hu (鵠) is the name of a water-bird. But Hou (候) means usually a feudal lord (候). Therefore some people have said that the purpose of the Shooting ritual was to punish the bad feudal lord and that the Emperor made his subjects shoot the target which represented the evil lord and therefore the target was named after候(Hou). (cf.陳槃"候与射候"; Ch'en-P'an "Hou and Shooting the Target") But I believe候was originally the name of a bird 鴻(Hung) and then the target (Hou) itself was modelled after the bird that was a object to be shot in the early period.