幕末民衆の恐怖と妄想 : 駿河国大宮町のコレラ騒動

生命の危機にさらされたとき人々はどのようにこれに立ち向かうのか。日本歴史上人々は天変地異の大災害や即死病といわれる伝染病の大流行に直面した。文明の進歩、医学の革新等、人々の生命に関する恐怖感は遠のいたと一見思われがちの現代であるが、二〇〇三年のSARSの大騒動は未だ伝染病の脅威が身近に存在することを思い知らしめてくれた。本稿は安政五年（一八五八）突如大流行したコレラによって引き起こされた危機的状況、パニック状態を刻明に実証しようとしたものである。人々は即死病といって恐れられたコレラが襲って来る危機的状況のなかでどのようにこれに対拠したのか、本稿は駿河国富士郎大宮町（現富士宮市）を具体例として取り上げる。偶々大宮町の一町人が克明に記録した袖日記を解読することから始める。長崎寄港の米艦乗組員から上陸したコレラ菌は東へ東へ移動し次々と不可思議な病いを伝染させ、未曾有の多量死を現実のものとした。コレラに対するさまざまな医療行為が試みられるが、一方で多種多様、多彩な情報を生み出し、妄想をまき散らしていく。まさに、現実の秩序がくつがえる如く、人々を安心立命させていた精神（心）の枠組が崩壊し、人々はありあらゆる禦ぎ鎮魂の呪術を動員し救いを求めていく。コレラ伝染の時間的経過と空間的ひろがりに対応して人々の動きは活発化し、非日常の異常に自らを置く方策を腐心していく。コレラの根源を旧来の迷信の狐の仕業、くだ狐と見なして狐を払うため山犬、狼を設定し、三峯山の御犬を借りようとする動きやこの地域に特に根強い影響力を有する日蓮宗の七面山信仰がコレラを抑える霊力をもつとして登場する。極限状況の人々の動向にこそ時代と社会の精神構造があらわにされるのである。How do people confront life-threatening dangers when they strike? In Japanese history, people have faced repeated cataclysmic disasters and infectious epidemics ("diseases of instantaneous death"). With the scientific revolution and the advance of civilization in modern times, it is easy to think that people\u27s fear of death has receded. The stir caused by SARS in 2003, however, reminds us that mortal fear is still close by. This study attempts to demonstrate the dangers and state of panic caused by the sudden outbreak of cholera in Ansei 8/1858. Focusing on the concrete example of Omiyacho, Suruga Province (modern-day Fujinomiya City), the study asks how people responded to the dangers attending the attack of cholera, feared by people as a "disease of instantaneous death." The study begins with a reading of the meticulously recorded journal of an Omiyacho townsman.After coming ashore at Nagasaki with the crew of an American ship, the cholera bacterium spread further and further east, infecting people with a strange illness and producing an unprecedented number of deaths. Numerous medical efforts were taken against the disease, efforts which also generated a wide and diverse body of information that fed the spread of fanciful accounts of the disease. As if the world were turned upside down, people witnessed the destruction of the psychological frameworks that had offered them peace of mind. In response, they sought help through the use of pacifying magics of all kinds.As cholera spread across space and time, people became increasingly active as they struggled with the strategies of an nonquotidian, otherly world.Based on a traditional superstitious belief, people identified the source of the disease in the workings of the fabled kudagitsune fox. To keep the fox away, they installed wolves and, in particular, sought to borrow the famed dog of Mt. Mitsumine. Also, a strong local belief in the efficacy of Mt. Shichimen, a mountain associated with the Nichiren sect of Buddhism, also prompted people to climb the mountain for its reputed powers to inhib it the disease.It is in the actions of people under extreme conditions that the psychological structure of an era and society are laid bare