Junshi - Death by martyrdom

Japanese: 殉死 - じゅんし

When a vassal or wife follows the death of a lord or husband, she is called suttee in English. This is named after the custom of widows immolating themselves, which was practiced in India until the British colonial period. The wife was placed on the pyre where the body of the deceased husband was burned, and was burned together with him. The background to this is the myth of Shiva. According to oral mythology in South India, Shiva married Sati, the daughter of a demon in the Himalayas, but her father, angry at this, locked her up in the mountain. Sati committed suicide and offered herself to Shiva, and both Shiva and Sati were saved. Before climbing onto the pyre to sacrifice herself, Sati removed her ornaments and gave them to those around her, becoming an example of a wife immolating herself. This speaks of the idea that a wife must die after her husband to save his soul. This idea is based on the Hindu view of life and death, which is the salvation of the soul through self-sacrifice and rebirth through the annihilation of the body, and is connected to the idea of the union of the body and the universe, and the connection between death and sexual intercourse. In India, it is also said that when a king died, his wife, concubines, courtiers, guards, and servants committed suicide.

[Tamura Katsumi]

Africa

The custom of committing suicide for the king also exists in Africa, and in the kingdom of the Jukun people in Nigeria, it is said that two slaves, a man and a woman, were once strangled to death and their bodies were left near the entrance to the king's tomb. The male slave was made to hold the king's spear in his right hand, and a horse halter and a grass-cutting sickle were placed next to his head. This was said to be so that the king's horses could be cared for in the land of the dead, and it is said that a water jar was placed next to the female slave's head. It is also said that the king's favorite slave would voluntarily or be selected to commit suicide, and that the queen and attendants were buried with the king. The former were called "attendants of grain" based on the idea that the king was the spirit of grain, and their souls after death were the subject of rituals when the weather was bad.

In the kingdom of Zimbabwe in southern Africa, the queen also followed the king when he died. In another legend from there, the parents brought the younger sister to the lake and gave her as a wife to save the older brother who went into the lake after his parents refused to marry her. Following the brother's request to come under the lake, the younger sister took off her clothes and accessories and walked into the lake, where her brother emerged from the water. The brother and sister returned to the village, got married, and he became the first king. Similar legends can be found in ancient Babylonia, but this series of legends and customs are said to belong to a series of cultural complexes related to royal culture. In particular, because the king's body is identified with the universe, it is linked to the custom of ritually killing the king for reasons such as his old age, poor health, violation of taboos, or disaster.

[Tamura Katsumi]

Inca

In the Inca Empire in South America, it is said that concubines and servants were sacrificed when a powerful person died, and in the Natchez society of North America, in the funeral of a noble chief, the cook, servants, and children who served the chief in the afterlife were killed. These were for the peace of the dead in the afterlife, and originated from the depiction of the afterlife as being the same as the present life, and are set against the backdrop of a hierarchical society.

[Tamura Katsumi]

China

This type of junshi was widely practiced in China throughout history. The Records of the Grand Historian records that in the 7th century BC, some people followed the death of Duke Wu of Qin. From then on, even up until the early Qing dynasty, many wives, concubines, attendants, and slaves were sacrificed upon the death of an emperor, king, or royal family member, along with ornaments, daily necessities, horses and carriages. The custom of burying a ceramic or other human figure (yong) in place of the living person was already practiced in the Spring and Autumn period, just like junshi. In Japan, the Gishiwajinden records that upon the death of Himiko, over 100 slaves were buried with the dead. The Nihon Shoki, in the entry for the 32nd year of the reign of Emperor Suinin, tells the legend of the origin of haniwa clay figures, in which an order was issued to abolish the practice of junshi, and at the suggestion of Nomi no Sukune, it was decided to bury clay figures of humans and horses in the tomb instead of people.

In China, it was also common for wives to sacrifice themselves after the death of their husbands. This was due to the idea that women were the property of their parents, husbands, or husbands' parents and clans, and that they were required to obey them with devotion, and the idea of chastity prevented them from remarrying. Therefore, such acts were recognized by the public authorities, who based their governance on Confucian morality, and sometimes inscriptions commemorating their acts were engraved on their tombstones or memorial gates were built. Or shrines (shrines of filial piety) were built to worship them, and they became objects of worship. And it was not at all uncommon for widows to commit suicide in front of government officials and the public. Women who sacrifice themselves in this way were not limited to married women, and there were cases where unmarried women followed their fiancés after their deaths, and there was also a custom of a woman tying the knot with her deceased fiancé and living forever in her husband's home as a single woman. The custom of widows and others living in cemeteries and being buried in the same grave or coffin as their deceased husband also stems from an idea that is common to junshi.

The practice of a wife committing suicide for her deceased husband is also seen among the ancient Germanic and Celts, and there are examples in Fiji in the Pacific Ocean, where there is a custom of a child cutting off his finger when his father dies, and in the Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean, widows cut off their fingers. These are based on the idea of sacrificing a part instead of the whole.

[Tamura Katsumi]

Japan

In Japan, it mainly refers to the act of a vassal who commits suicide following the death of a lord, but there are also cases where the vassal commits suicide before the lord dies. The former is called "oibara" and the latter "sakibara". This custom was mainly seen from the Sengoku period to the early Edo period, but the Edo Shogunate strictly banned it in 1663 (Kanbun 3). Therefore, it officially disappeared after that, but the case of General Nogi and his wife who committed suicide in 1912 (Taisho 1) in love with Emperor Meiji can be seen as an aftereffect of the samurai's junshi incident. Even when the emperor was the target, it has existed since ancient times, as Emperor Suinin prohibited it, saying, "Even if it is an ancient custom, why follow it if it is not good." However, the custom of a wife committing suicide to follow her husband in primitive society did not exist in Japan.

It has been reported that this kind of junshi existed among the Fijians and the Bailo people of Central Africa, and sati, which existed in India until about 150 years ago, was nothing other than this. Sati is a custom in which a woman is cremated alive along with her husband's body, and it was said that a wife who followed this custom would be able to live with her husband in the next life and would be given various privileges, but such privileges were not recognized in junshi during the samurai era in Japan. In the Edo period, there is a theory that there were three types of junshi: gibara, ronbara, and akinai, and akinai was indeed a case in which a woman committed junshi in order to receive various privileges, but there is little evidence that the descendants of those who committed junshi were given special treatment. However, there was a problem in which each domain competed with each other to see who could commit junshi, so the shogunate strictly prohibited it, and there were many cases in which Confucian scholars criticized it as "an unrighteous righteousness as Mencius said."

[Tetsushi Furukawa]

"The Origin of Funeral Customs" by Obayashi Taryo (Chuko Bunko)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

主君や夫の死後、後を追って臣下や妻が死ぬこと。妻が夫に殉ずることを英語でサティーsutteeという。これは、イギリス植民地時代に至るまでインドに行われていた、未亡人の焼身自殺の風習の名によっている。妻が亡夫の死体の焼かれる薪(まき)の山に置かれ、いっしょに焼かれる風習である。これには、シバ神の神話が背景にある。南インドの口承の神話によれば、シバ神は、ヒマラヤの山の悪魔の娘サティーと結婚するが、これに怒った彼女の父によって山の中に閉じ込められる。サティーが自殺して、わが身をシバ神に捧(ささ)げたため、シバ神もサティーも救われたという。サティーは、自らを犠牲にするため薪の上に登る前に、装身具を外して周りの者に与えたとされ、妻の焼身の見本となった。そしてここには、妻が夫の後を追って死に、夫の霊魂を救わねばならないとする観念が語られている。この考えは、自らを犠牲にすることによる魂の救済、肉体の消滅による再生というヒンドゥー教の死生観を背景とし、肉体と宇宙の合一、死と性交を結ぶ観念につながっている。インドではまた、王の死とともに、彼の妻妾(さいしょう)や廷臣、衛兵、召使いたちの自殺したことが伝えられている。

［田村克己］

アフリカ

アフリカにも王への殉死の風習が存在し、ナイジェリアのジュクン人の王国では、かつて男女2人の奴隷が扼殺(やくさつ)され、死体が王墓の入口近くに残されたという。男の奴隷の右手には王の槍(やり)が握らされ、その頭の側には馬の端綱と草刈り鎌(かま)が置かれた。これは、死者の国で王の馬の世話をするためといい、女奴隷の頭の側には水甕(みずがめ)が置かれたと伝えられている。また、王の寵愛(ちょうあい)した奴隷が自発的に、あるいは選ばれて殉死し、王妃や従者も王とともに葬られたといわれる。前者は、王＝穀霊の観念から、「穀物」の従者とよばれ、死後のその霊魂は、天候不順のときに祭祀(さいし)の対象となった。

　南部アフリカのジンバブエの王国でも、王の死にあたって王妃が後を追ったという。そこの別の伝説では、妹との結婚を両親に拒絶され湖の中に入った兄を救うため、両親によって妹が湖に連れてこられ、妻として与えられたという。湖の下にくるようにとの兄の要求に従い、妹は、着物や装身具をとり、湖の中に歩んで行くと、兄が水中から現れ、兄妹は村に帰って結婚し、彼は最初の王になったという。同様の伝承は古代バビロニアにもあるが、これら一連の伝承や習俗は、王侯文化的な一連の文化複合に属するとされる。ことに王の身体を宇宙と同一視することから、王の高齢・病弱・禁忌違反や災厄などの理由で、王の儀礼的殺害を行う習俗と結び付いている。

［田村克己］

インカ

南アメリカのインカ帝国では、有力者の死にあたって側妻や従僕が犠牲になったといわれ、北アメリカのナチェス人の社会でも、かつて高貴な首長の葬儀において、来世で首長に仕える料理人や従者、また子供たちが殺された。これらは来世における死者の安寧のためであり、死後の世界を現世と同じように描くことからきており、階層化された社会を背景にしている。

［田村克己］

中国

こうした殉死が歴史を通じて盛んに行われたのは中国である。紀元前7世紀に秦(しん)の武公の死に従った者のあったことが『史記』に伝えられており、以後、ときに禁令が出されたにもかかわらず、清(しん)朝初期に至るまで、皇帝や王、王族の死にあたって、装飾品、日用品、車馬などとともに、多くの妻妾や従者、奴隷が犠牲にされた。生きた人にかわって、陶製などの人像（俑(よう)）を葬る風習も、殉死と同じく、春秋時代にはすでに行われていた。日本においても『魏志倭人伝(ぎしわじんでん)』に卑弥呼(ひみこ)の死にあたって奴婢100余人の殉葬されたことが記され、『日本書紀』垂仁(すいにん)天皇32年条に、殉死廃止の命令が出され、野見宿禰(のみのすくね)の建議によって、人のかわりに土製の人馬を墓に埋めることにしたという埴輪(はにわ)の起源伝説が語られている。

　また、中国では妻が夫の死に対し殉ずることも広くみられた。これには、女性が親や夫、あるいは夫の両親、一族の財産であり、献身的に従うことの要求される道徳や、貞節を重んじる観念から再婚を防ぐ考えを背景としていた。それゆえ、儒教道徳を治政の基本とする公的権力から、こうした行為は認知され、ときにその行為を顕彰する文が墓石に刻まれたり、記念の門がつくられた。あるいは彼女たちを祀(まつ)る祠(ほこら)（節孝祠(せつこうし)）が設けられ、礼拝の対象ともなった。そして未亡人が官吏や公衆の見守るなかで自殺することも、けっしてまれではなかった。このように殉ずる女性は既婚に限られず、未婚の女性も婚約者の死の後を追う例があり、また彼女が亡くなった婚約者と婚姻の儀式を取り結び、実際上独身のまま婚家で永久に過ごす風習もあった。未亡人などが墓地に住む風習、亡夫と同じ墓や棺に葬られるのも、殉死に共通する考えが背景にある。

　妻の亡夫への殉死は、ほかに古代のゲルマンやケルトの間にみられ、太平洋のフィジーにも例がある。フィジーでは、父の死にあたって子供が指を切る風習があり、インド洋のニコバル諸島でも未亡人が指を切り落としたという。これらは、全体にかえて一部を犠牲とする考え方によっている。

［田村克己］

日本

わが国では主として死んだ主君の後を追って自殺する家臣の行為をいうが、主君の死ぬ前に自殺する場合もある。前者を「追腹(おいばら)」、後者を「先腹(さきばら)」という。この風習は、主として戦国時代から江戸初期にかけてみられたが、江戸幕府は1663年（寛文3）これを厳禁した。そのため、表向きはこれ以後なくなったが、1912年（大正1）明治天皇の後を慕って自殺した乃木(のぎ)将軍夫妻の場合も、武家の殉死事件の余韻とみてよい。そのように天皇が対象となった場合も、垂仁(すいにん)天皇が「其(そ)れ古(いにしえ)の風と雖(いえど)も良からずば何ぞ従わむ」と禁止したように、古代からあった。しかし、原始社会における、夫の死に殉ずる妻の自殺という風習はわが国にはなかった。

　この意味での殉死は、フィジー人や中央アフリカのバイロ人の間にあったことが報告されており、150年ばかり前までインドにあったサティーもこれにほかならなかった。サティーは、生きながら夫の死体とともに火葬になる風習であるが、この風習に従う妻は、次の世でも夫と連れ添うほか種々の特権に恵まれるとされたが、わが武家時代の殉死にはその特権は認められていない。江戸時代には殉死に義腹(ぎばら)、論腹、商(あきない)腹の3種類があるとする説があり、商腹はまさに種々の特権を目当てに殉死する場合であるが、殉死者の子孫がとくに優遇された事実はあまりない。しかし、各藩で殉死者の数を競うような弊害があったので幕府は厳禁したのであり、儒者も「孟子(もうし)のいえる不義の義」として非難した例が多かった。

［古川哲史］

『大林太良著『葬制の起源』（中公文庫）』

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