Stone Battle - Ishigassen

Japanese: 石合戦 - いしがっせん

A large number of people split into two groups and threw stones together in a mock battle. They took place on riverbanks or in towns, and many of them were customary annual events with religious meanings. There are two theories about the origin of stone-fighting: the "native Japanese custom" theory put forward by folklorist Orikuchi Shinobu, and the "foreign origin" theory put forward by archaeological and ethnological research, which says it was introduced from around Japan, especially China or the Korean peninsula. The latter theory is now considered to be the more likely. Stone-fighting in Japan appeared in documents and records as early as the 11th century, and was also called "inji" in ancient times. From the late Heian period onwards, stone-fighting took place as an annual event on New Year's Day and the Boy's Festival, and was particularly popular from the end of the Heian period to the Kamakura period as it was believed to have religious meaning related to the will of gods and Buddhas. Although the government and temples and shrines of the time repeatedly banned stone-fighting due to the risk of frequent injuries and deaths and the disruption of public order, the sport continued even during the Muromachi period as it stirred up the blood of the common people. The scale and number of these ancient customs began to shrink from the end of the 16th century, when the world began to move from chaos to stability. In the midst of this trend, a nationwide ban was issued during the reign of the third Tokugawa Shogun, Iemitsu, who brought about a period of peace, and the number of stone-fighting events further decreased, and the participants shifted from adults to children. Stone-fighting events continued to be scattered throughout the country even into the Meiji period, but after World War II, they almost disappeared except in some areas of Kagoshima. Looking at the world, stone-fighting events are common in East Asia and Southeast Asia, and the stone-fighting events in these regions are closely related to those in Japan, and are said to offer many hints about their original meaning and lineage.

Source : Heibonsha Encyclopedia About MyPedia Information

Japanese:

大勢の人びとが２組に分かれ，集団で石を投げて行う模擬的な戦闘。河原や町中などで行われ，その多くは宗教的な意味をもった年中行事としての習俗であった。石合戦の起源については，民俗学者の折口信夫が出した〈日本在来の習俗〉説と，考古学や民族学の研究から出された，日本周辺，特に中国や朝鮮半島から伝わったとする〈外来起源〉説があるが，現在では後者の方が有力な説とされている。　日本における石合戦は，すでに11世紀から文書や記録の中に現れ，古くは〈いんぢ（印地）〉とも呼ばれていた。平安後期以降，正月や端午の節句の年中行事として行われ，特に平安末から鎌倉期にかけての石合戦は，神仏の意思と関わる宗教的な意味をもつものとして盛んに行われた。石合戦は，怪我(けが)人や死者が頻繁に出る危険性や公秩序の破壊といった理由から，時の政府や寺社からもその禁止令が何度となく出されたが，室町期においても庶民の血を湧き立たせるものとして続けられていた。　こうした古くからの石合戦の習俗がその規模を縮小し，数を減らしていくようになるのは，世の中が混乱から安定へと向かい始める16世紀末ころからである。そして，そのような流れの中で，太平の世となった徳川第３代将軍家光の時代に全国規模の〈御禁制〉が出されたことにより，いよいよその数を減らし，その主体も大人から子供へと変わっていった。石合戦は，明治期になってもなお各地で散在していたが，第２次世界大戦後は鹿児島の一部地域を除いてほぼ姿を消していった。　世界的にみると，石合戦は東アジアと東南アジアでよく見られ，この地域の石合戦は日本の石合戦とも関係が深く，その原義や系譜に関して多くのことを示唆しているといわれている。

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