Aritooshi Myojin Shrine

Japanese: 蟻通し明神 - ありとおしみょうじん

...General term for insects belonging to the Formicidae family of ants in the order Hymenoptera (bees). They live in family colonies centered around a queen (female) ant. They are characterized by the existence of a wingless caste of worker ants, the presence of a small, independent body segment called the petiole, which has one or two segments between the thorax and abdomen, and the antennae of female and worker ants, in which the first segment (stalk) is elongated and connected to the second and subsequent segments in an elbow-like shape. In principle, there are three castes: males, females, and workers. Male ants develop from unfertilized eggs, and somatic cells have half the chromosomes of the female. ...

From Ki no Tsurayuki

… Because of Tsurayuki's honest character, there are very few legends about him. There is an anecdote about him being cursed by the god Aritsushi and falling on his horse on his way back to Kyoto from Funamori Shrine, which he had founded in Izumi Province with imperial permission, and he dedicated a waka poem to it (Fukuro-Zoshi, Noh play Aritsushi, etc.); Fujiwara no Kinto debated with Prince Kohira about the relative merits of Hitomaro and Tsurayuki (Fukuro-Zoshi); Emperor Juntoku wrote in Yakumo Gosho that "I have heard some people say that Tsurayuki is no good. He is the first demon of poetry"; and Masaoka Shiki, who tried to break the conceptual style of poetry of the Keien school in modern times, was unable to understand Tsurayuki, who valued the improvisational nature of waka, and went so far as to say in A Letter to a Poet, "Tsurayuki is a poor poet, and the Kokinshu is a worthless collection." …

*Some of the terminology that refers to "Aritoshi Myojin" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…膜翅目(ハチ類)アリ科Formicidaeに属する昆虫の総称。女王(雌)アリを中心に家族的な集団(コロニー)で生活する。働きアリという無翅の階級が存在すること，胸部と腹部の間に1節，または2節の腹柄節という小型の独立した体節があること，雌アリと働きアリの触角は第1節(柄節)が長くのびて第2節以下とはひじ状に接続するなどの特徴をもつ。　原則的に雄アリ，雌アリおよび働きアリの3階級(カースト)がある。雄アリは無精卵から発生し，体細胞の染色体は雌性の半数。…

【紀貫之】より

…　貫之にはその誠実な人柄から，伝説はきわめて少ない。勅許を得て和泉の国に創建した船守神社から帰京の途中，蟻通し明神の祟りを受けて馬がたおれたときに和歌を奉納した逸話(《袋草紙》，謡曲《蟻通》など)，藤原公任が具平親王と人麻呂･貫之の優劣を論争したこと(《袋草紙》)，順徳院が《八雲御抄》に〈貫之さしもなしなどいふ事少々聞ゆ。歌の魔の第一也〉と記していること，近代になって桂園派の観念的な歌風を打破しようとした正岡子規が，和歌の即興性を重んじた貫之を理解しえずして《歌よみに与ふる書》で〈貫之は下手な歌よみにて，古今集はくだらぬ集に有之候〉と極論したように，歌人としての貫之の評価にかかわるものばかりであった。…

※「蟻通し明神」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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