The Home of Kumano

This is one of the Otogi-zoshi (Fairy Tales). There are many old manuscripts and picture scrolls from the Muromachi period, and it was completed in the 15th century. It is the origin story of the gods and Buddhas of Kumano Sansho Gongen (Sansho Gongen), and a story with the same content was included in the Shintoshu (Shinto Collection) from the Northern and Southern Courts period, so the original form can be seen. The story has a similar development to this one in the Chandaekoku Okyo (Senda Ekko Koku Okyo) (included in Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo 14), and there is also a story memo in the Todaiji Fujumonko (Todaiji Fujumonko), written in the early Heian period, that is partially similar. It is thought that the story took on the form of a medieval Suijakuengi (suijaku engi) narrative based on the tales and traditions found in such sutras and ancient documents. These stories played a part in spreading the Kumano faith, and were managed and disseminated by the mountain ascetics and nuns of Kumano.

King Zenzai of Makada country in Tenjiku had 1000 wives, but one of them, Gosuiden, was favored by the king and became the envy of the other wives. Gosuiden, who was pregnant, was abandoned in the mountains, where she gave birth to a boy and died. The prince survived, protected by animals, and was eventually found and raised by a saint living at the foot of the mountain. At the age of seven, the saint arranged for him to meet the king and confide in him everything that had happened up to that point. The prince cured his father's illness, and then traveled to Japan on a flying carriage with his mother, who had been revived by a secret technique. After wandering in search of a place to settle down, he settled near the Otonashigawa River in Kii Province, where he manifested as the gods of Kumano. This is the story. Overall, it can be said to be a story of women's salvation.

[Tokuda Kazuo]

"Otogi-zoshi, Japanese Classical Literature Series 38, edited by Ichiko Sadatsugu (1958, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "Research on Medieval Religious Arts and Literature 1" (Chikudo Reikan Collected Works 3, 1976, Serika Shobo) ▽ "Takanobu Matsumoto, 'Research on Honjimono in the Middle Ages 1'" (Collected in The Collection of the Do Bunko 9, 1971, Keio University)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

御伽草子(おとぎぞうし)の本地物の一つ。室町時代の古写本や絵巻などが数多くあり、15世紀には成立していた。熊野三所権現(さんしょごんげん)の神仏の由来物語で、同内容の物語が南北朝時代の『神道集』に載り、原型がうかがえる。この物語と展開のよく似たものに『旃陀越国王経(せんだえっこくおうきょう)』（『大正新修大蔵経』14所収）があり、また部分的に類似するものに平安時代初期筆録の『東大寺諷誦文稿(ふじゅもんこう)』の物語メモがある。こうした経典や古文献に載る説話伝承をもとに、中世的な垂迹縁起(すいじゃくえんぎ)の物語体裁をとるようになったと考えられる。熊野信仰の教宣に一役買った物語で、熊野の修験山伏(しゅげんやまぶし)や熊野比丘尼(びくに)が管理し伝播(でんぱ)させたものである。

　天竺(てんじく)の摩訶陀(まかだ)国の善財王には1000人の后(きさき)がいたが、そのうちの1人の五衰殿(ごすいでん)は王から寵愛(ちょうあい)されたため、他の后たちに妬(ねた)まれる。懐妊の身の五衰殿は山中に棄(す)てられ、そこで男児を産み、そのまま果てる。王子は動物たちに守られて生き延び、やがて、麓(ふもと)に住む聖人によって尋ね出され養育される。7歳のとき、聖人の計らいで大王に会い、それまでのできごとを打ち明ける。王子は父王の病悩を治し、秘法でよみがえった母后とともに飛車(ひしゃ)に乗って日本に渡った。安住の地を求めてさすらったのち、紀伊(き)の国の音無川(おとなしがわ)のあたりに定着し、熊野の神々となって顕(あらわ)れた、という物語。総じて女人救済の物語といえよう。

［徳田和夫］

『市古貞次校注『日本古典文学大系38　御伽草子』（1958・岩波書店）』▽『『中世・宗教芸文の研究1』（『筑土鈴寛著作集3』1976・せりか書房）』▽『松本隆信「中世における本地物の研究　1」（『斯道文庫論集9』所収・1971・慶応義塾大学）』

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