越後のマタギ

抄録

Matagj is the traditional hunters group in the North-East region of Japan. The original home of Matagi is said to be either Akita or Dewa District. They live in a moutainous region, practise special rituals and observe certain taboos and hunting traits. In the past they wandered seeking game from mountain forest to mountain forest all over the eastern half of Japan. As professional hunters they hunted almost every kind of wild animal and bird in the mountains, sometimes even fishing in the rivulets. But their best game was bear, and the next was antelope. As people of the mountain they worshipped the mountain god (Yamanokami) and observed some rituals and kept taboos when they went hunting. While hunting, ordinary daily words were strictly prohibited and special terms (Yamakotoba; mountain words) were used. Etigo, a distrct neighboring Dewa, in about 300 kms from the center of Matagi country. The Etigo Matagi are not professionals, but have special hunting rituals, taboos and other customs. Now they hunt only bears, but formerly sometimes antelopes. No other game was traditionaly hunted. Recently the observation of old traditional rituals, taboos and hunting traits has gradually gone out of fashion and only a few have survived. From my recent research, I was able to reconstruct the total process of the old rituals and determind two rules concerning their preservation. 1) the more dangerous the hunting course, the more traditional the hunting methods. 2) the remoter the Matagi village, the better preserved the old traditions. I could find no direct relations between the Matagi rituals and the bear festival of the Ainos (Iomante). Behind the habit of using special words while hunting, there may be something common in the way of thinking between the Matagi and the peoples of Siberia.