スンバ島における時・空間表象

抄録

Symbolic representation of time is a frame of reference to include past into present, and symbolic representation of space is one with which a society can distinguish itself from other societies. Further, these two sorts of representation tend to be interrelated to each other. This paper aims to illustrate in abstract terms this interrelation between them with special reference to the people on the island of Sumba. Eastern Indonesia. Division of the day is analyzed first. Sumbanese people divide the day according to the place of the sun. Apart from this, they divide the day into two parts, morning and afternoon (when the sun appears) being one and night (when the sun disappears) being another. Between them there is a liminal period called rudung. As in other cultures, it is the dangerous period, when monsters roam about. Division of the month, and that of the year have much the same framework. The remarkable fact is that liminal periods are marked by redundancy/absence of prescriptions and/or redundancy/absence of noise. Division of a man's life has almost congruent structure, too. It is also repetetive and divided into two parts : the period when he is alive and the period when he is dead. Marking points which differenciate these two phases of life are birth and death. Furthermore, the period when he is alive is divided into two parts by circumcision. These three rites de passage are also accompanied by redundancy (or absence) of prescriptions and/or redundancy (or absence) of noise. Such representaion of time is, as I said before, interrelated with that of space. For example, in the division of a man's life, three liminal periods were named, birth, circumcision and death. Birth takes place within a village community, circumcision out of it, and finally death (mortuary rites) within it again. Consequently, we must deal with representation of space before proceeding the analysis any further. Katodas are taken into consideration first. These stone alters are erected at places which are topographically significant ; in a sawah (wet rice field), in a garden, by a spring or in a village etc. Village structure needs special mentioning. According to the ethnographies available, there are three types of village structure. I call them, following LEVI-STRAUSS'S terminology, 'diametrical dualism', 'concentric dualism' and 'tripartition'. As for liminality, there are a number of intermediary terms between the outside and the inside of village. One is called pamangahu (below-garden), another kambata (before-village) , another katoda pindu (gate way) etc. These terms function without redundancy, that is, in one context one term is pertinent and in another, another is so. As for house structure, the above-mentioned three types of dualism are also found. Further-more, the intermediary terms between outside and inside of a house are corresponding to those of village structure. Essential spacial oppositions are outside and inside of a village and outside and inside of a house. These oppositions appear in the context of repetitive time, a year, a man's life. If LEACH'S assumption of there being two sorts of representations of time, repetetive and irreversible, is accepted, there must be two in Sumbanese cultute. Irreversible time is expressed, in Sumba, by the opposition of tana mema (original land) /tana dawa (foreign land, literally, Java) . This opposition develops itself in a series of stories. In the stories, three sorts of foreign lands are mentioned in the context of irreversible time. According to this type of concept of time, time has its beginning in the primeval period and has influence upon the present situation.