Badmouthing - Akko

Slander has played various social functions, such as a means of attack in battles and other physical acts, a technique for personal confrontation, or a part of social sanctions. Article 12 of the Goseibai Shikimoku (Courtesy of the Kamakura Shogunate) prohibited slander as a "basis for killing," and slander also appeared as a point of contention in Shogunate court documents. Looking at these documents, apart from general slander such as "thief" and "villain," there are many words that belittle the status of the other person, such as "commoner" and "non-vassal." This is thought to be because the samurai class, which was subject to Shogunate law, had a strong sense of honor and were sensitive to the designation of their status, and there were many disputes over this. Discussing medieval slander using only Shogunate historical materials may be biased. Words such as "oyamaki," which appears in the Kokin Chomonshu, and "bokai," which remains in documents from the Kamakura period, are presumed to be slanderous words referring to incest, but we should think that there was a much wider variety of slander, including these sexual slanders. In addition, events known as abusive language festivals, such as the Iwama Akutsu Festival and the Saishoji Akutsu Festival, were held all over Japan; these festivals are considered to be a type of fertility ritual, and it can be assumed that the social function of abusive language includes its role in fertility rituals.

[Yamamoto Koji]

"Your Mother..." by Hiroshi Kasamatsu (included in "Crime and Punishment in the Middle Ages" by Yoshihiko Amino et al., 1983, University of Tokyo Press)" ▽ "The Culture of Badmouthing" by Koji Yamamoto (2006, Heibonsha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

悪口は、合戦などの実力行使に伴う攻撃手段、個人的な対決の技術、あるいは社会的制裁の一環など、いろいろな社会的機能を果たしてきた。鎌倉幕府の御成敗式目第十二条は悪口を「闘殺の基」として禁止しており、幕府の裁判文書にも悪口が争点として登場する。それらを見ると「盗人」「外道」などの一般的な悪口以外は、「凡下(ぼんげ)」「非御家人」など相手の身分を実際より低く貶める言葉が多い。これは幕府法の対象となる武士階層は名誉心が強く、身分呼称に敏感だったので、それについての争いが多かったからだと考えられ、幕府史料だけで中世の悪口を論じると偏る恐れがある。『古今著聞集』に見える「おやまき」や、鎌倉期の文書に残る「母開(ぼかい)」などの言葉は、近親相姦を意味する罵言と推測されるが、これら性的な悪罵を含めて、もっと広範な種類の悪口が存在したと考えるべきだろう。また岩間悪態祭、最勝寺悪口祭など悪口祭・悪態祭と称される行事が、日本各地に行われていたが、これらの祭は豊饒儀礼の一種と考えられ、悪口の社会的機能には豊饒儀礼における役割も含まれるものと考えることができる。

［山本幸司］

『笠松宏至著「お前の母さん…」（網野善彦ほか著『中世の罪と罰』所収・1983・東京大学出版会）』▽『山本幸司著『〈悪口〉という文化』（2006・平凡社）』

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