The Xilai Temple Incident (Tapani Incident), which was the biggest armed uprising during the period of Japanese colonial rule, revealed issues of a religious nature and led to the publication of the Taiwan shukyo chosa hokokusho (“Report of the investigation into religion in Taiwan”) in 1919. There was a tendency to consider the peasants involved in the insurrection as simple-minded and susceptible to superstitious beliefs. However, it is my opinion that a world view based on religious beliefs is an important attribute of secular society. Here I will discuss the social position and status of religious practitioners such as monks, Daoists, shamans, and jutsushi . This study examines this theme from the aspects of folk medicine, literacy, and class differences of professions. The categories of monk, Daoist, shaman and jutsushi used here are simply terms of convenience based on their professional skills, and many practitioners actually had multiple skills traversing different categories. During the early Japanese colonial period, the social standing of these practitioners was low. Most monks and Daoists did not belong to a temple or shrine but made their living in secular society and had no authority either in temples and shrines or among believers. During Qing dynasty rule, shamans were ranked as a lowly occupation along with prostitutes and actors. This class system was abolished under Japanese rule, but prejudice against these professions seems to have remained strong among the general populace. However, while the literacy rate in the early Japanese colonial period was extremely low, such religious practitioners (especially the jutsushi ) had some ability to read and write in Chinese characters and therefore possessed cultural capital. In addition, in the conditions of the times with a high mortality rate from disease, the common people depended on these religious practitioners to conduct rituals to cure illnesses. These practitioners also preached to the people about the concept of receiving the consequences of their actions in the present world and contributed to the maintenance of social order. In 1918, a survey on the ratio of monks, Taoists, shamans and jutsushi within the population found that their numbers were significantly higher in Penghu Island than in Taiwan Island (particularly in the western region), possibly indicating differences in the social circumstances between the two islands.
内容記述
論文
雑誌名
非文字資料研究 = The study of nonwritten cultural materials
号
17
ページ
125 - 149
発行年
2019-03-20
ISSN
2432-5481
書誌レコードID
AA12776889
著者版フラグ
publisher
その他の言語のタイトル
Monks, Daoists, shamans and jutsushi in the early Japanese colonial period and their relationship with the lives of the common people
植民地初期台湾民衆生活における宗教者の存在と社会的地位 －僧侶・道士・巫覡・術士といった職業者を中心に－
07 植民地初期台湾民衆生活における宗教者の存在と社会的地位 －僧侶・道士・巫覡・術士といった職業者を中心に－
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