最古の歌垣歌集『大島の歌集』の基礎的研究一

抄録

The custom which was called "Utagaki" or "Kagai" was practiced in ancient Japan. The practice of "reciprocal singing between men and women" has declined in Japan. At the present time, we can't even track its trace. Even in "Hitachinokuni Fudoki"(A Description of the Natural Features, Culture and History of the Hitachi Region)(8the century), it is only mentioned "There was such a custom" in some papers, and there is not enough information that can make us envision the scene of "Utagaki". We can get a glimpse of it in Man'yoshu, but the number of the tanka recorded in it is so few that we cannot get its general view. It is the same with some other old documents. Under such circumstances, there is only one place in Japan, which tells about the custom of "Utagaki". It is the Amami Islands. Singing of songs in Amami proceeds basically with reciprocal singing between men and women. "The Collection of Songs in Amami Oshima" which I discuss here in this paper is the oldest collection of songs in Amami Oshima. The characteristic of this collection of songs is that it doesn't record each of the songs separately, but records the songs in the continual flow of reciprocal singing between men and women. We can clearly see that songs were nurtured in the scene of reciprocal singing between men and women. Naturally, this is the first-rate material for folklore research and linguistic studies.