Linen weaver - Amafushokko

Japanese: 亜麻布織工 - あまふしょっこう

…Until the 11th century, textile production was generally carried out within households or by the labor of vassals of manors or monasteries, but from the 11th century onwards, weavers' guilds were formed and commercial production began. At the same time, however, wool and flax production competed with each other, and while wool producers came to occupy high positions in the cities, linen weavers were often considered outcasts in many areas and were not even allowed to form guilds. Even when linen weaving, which was originally mainly carried out in rural areas, moved into cities, they were forced to settle near the city walls because of the noise caused by beating the fibers, and linen weavers' children were often prohibited from apprenticing to other crafts. …

From 【Outcast】

...Gravediggers, bathhouse owners (who also served as surgeons), and night watchmen who lived in the world of night were all objects of fear and despise because they were connected to death, the equinox, and rituals for the dead. Linen weavers, millers, and prostitutes were all excluded from the community in the narrow sense and were looked down upon in the Middle Ages, but they too were connected to growth, fertility, and sex (eros). Weaving and milling are magical jobs linked to birth and growth, and prostitutes are connected to sex, something that is both inside the human body and yet beyond the human. In this sense, these people also lived on the boundary between the two faces of human life....

*Some of the terminology that refers to "linen weavers" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…11世紀にいたるまで織物生産は，一般に家内で営まれるか領主館や修道院の隷属民の労働によっていたが，11世紀以降になると織工の組合が生まれ，営利生産が行われるようになる。しかしそれと同時に羊毛生産と亜麻生産が競合し，羊毛生産者が都市内で高い地位を占めていったのに対し，亜麻布織工は多くの地域で賤民（せんみん）として組合結成の自由すら認められない場合が多かった。本来農村を主たる舞台としていた亜麻布織業が都市内に進出していった場合でも，繊維をたたく騒音などのために市壁の近くに定住させられ，亜麻布織工の子弟は他の手工業の徒弟となることも禁じられる場合が多かった。…

【賤民】より

…墓掘り人，浴場主(外科医を兼ねる)，夜の世界に生きる夜警などはみな，死，彼岸，死者に対する儀礼とかかわる点で怖れと賤視の対象となる存在であった。　亜麻布織工(アマ)，粉挽き，娼婦などはいずれも狭義の共同体から排除された存在として中世において賤視の対象であったが，これらの人々も成長，豊穣，性(エロス)などとかかわる存在であった。機織りも粉挽きも出生，成長と結びつく呪術的な仕事であり，娼婦は性という人間の内部にありながら人間を超えるものと結びついている点で，これらの人々も人間生活の二重の相貌の境界に生きる人々であった。…

※「亜麻布織工」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について | 情報

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