Tamamo-no-Mae

Japanese: 玉藻前 - たまものまえ

A legendary beauty who is said to have been the favorite of Emperor Toba in the late Heian period. She is the incarnation of a demon fox that came to Japan after destroying the royal and Buddhist laws in India and China, and was called Tamamo-no-Mae because of the demonic light that emanated from her body. Her true identity was discovered by the onmyoji Abe no Yasunari, and she was shot to death by the samurai Miura-no-suke in Nasuno (Tochigi Prefecture), and turned into a killing stone. The story is set in the war-torn era from the Hogen Rebellion (1156) to Minamoto no Yoritomo's uprising (1180), and explains the theme of the crisis of royal authority and how to avoid it through the appearance of a demon fox and the samurai's defeat of it. The idea that the fox = Dakini-ten (a Buddhist deity) is an ambiguous deity that determines the survival or demise of royal authority is seen in the enthronement laws of Toji Temple and the Tendai sect, and the fox is considered to be a sacred animal that houses a wish-granting jewel in its body. The Noh play "Satsusho-seki" is a sequel in which the priest Gen'o appeases Tamamo-no-Mae's vengeful spirit, but there is another legend that Miura-no-suke, who is said to have removed the jewel from Tamamo-no-Mae's corpse, was cursed by Tamamo-no-Mae for generations to come. The original form of this story can be reinterpreted as a tale told in the ritual context of possession by evil spirits and their exorcism. <References> Minobe Shigekatsu, "Thoughts on Tamamo-no-Mae" (Perspectives on Traditional Literature)

(Kazuhiko Komatsu)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

平安後期に鳥羽上皇の寵愛を受けたとされる伝説上の美女。天竺や中国で王法や仏法を破壊したのち,日本に渡来した妖狐の化身で,体から妖光を発することから,玉藻前と呼ばれた。陰陽師の安倍泰成に正体を見破られ,那須野(栃木県)で武士の三浦介に射殺され,殺生石となる。この物語は,保元の乱(1156)から源頼朝の挙兵(1180)に至る戦乱の時代を背景にし,王権の危機とその回避というテーマを,妖狐の出現と武士による退治という形で説明している。狐=荼吉尼天(仏教系の神)が王権の存亡を左右する両義的な神であるという観念は,東寺や天台宗系の即位法にみられ,狐は如意宝珠を体に宿す霊獣であるとされている。謡曲の「殺生石」は,源翁和尚が玉藻前の怨霊を鎮める後日譚であるが,玉藻前の死体から玉を抜き取ったとされる三浦介は,子孫の代まで玉藻前に祟られたという別伝がある。悪霊憑きと悪霊祓いという儀礼的なコンテクストで語られた物語として,この物語の原型を再解釈することができる。<参考文献>美濃部重克「『玉藻前』考」(『伝承文学の視角』)

(小松和彦)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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