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류쿠 왕조의아마미코 신화와 현대 구비전승

  • Korean Language and Literature
  • 2007, 42(42), pp.71-100
  • Publisher : 국어문학회
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature

정진희 1

1세종대

Candidate

ABSTRACT

This research focuses on the myths of Amamiko in okinawa. Today, Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. But it was a kingdom Ryukyu in the past. So, this research is what about the myths of not only Okinawa but also Ryukyu dynasty, that is, the oral traditions of today and the records of the past. First, I made a survey of the myths of Ryukyu dynasty. In that mythology, Amamiko figured out the sacred of creation. The islands of Ryukyu was made by Amamiko. Amamiko was the riser of rice-farming, too. The rituals of each village organized into the control of Ryukyu dynasty, chanted the Amamiko who had braught the first seed rice and started the rice-farming.Some times, Amamiko was related to origin of man, particularly the royalty or ruling class. Ryukyu dynasty stressed that their ancestor came from the Heaven to emphasis their sacred origin and power. But I have to add that this figure of Amamiko is not usual one.We know the myth of origin of man, that is what was introduced by Iha-fuyu, the famous savant of Okinawan studies. We can see many versions in oral traditions of okinawa like as that a young pair became the common ancestor of human beings. On rare occasions, Amamiko is to be the name of that pair. I think that it was caused by the dominated character of Amamiko, the sacred of creation. Creation means the creating of universal, culture, and human beings.In oral traditions of today okinawa, we can see the origin of rice-farming myth related to not Amamiko but bird. In spite of ritual performances chanting the rice-farming riser Amamiko, the other different myth has been told in oral traditons. I dare say that the rice-farming riser Amamiko was figured and announced by official routes of Ryukyu dynasty. The past and the present, the literal records and the oral traditions, and the official and the popular, we have to think these aspects and their interaction to understand the myths of okinawa.

Citation status

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