Twenty-four Filial Piety

It refers to 24 representative filial sons from ancient China, as well as a moral book for children of the same name that contains their anecdotes. The names and order of the men vary depending on the version, but according to the "Twenty-Four Filial Piety" written by Guo Jujing of the Yuan dynasty, they are Yu Shun, Emperor Wen of Han, Zeng Shen, Min Shan, Zhongyou, Dong Yong, Yanzi, Jiang Ge, Lu Ji, Lady Tang, Wu Meng, Wang Xiang, Guo Ju, Yang Xiang, Zhu Fengchang, Yu Qianlou, Lao Laizi, Cai Shun, Huang Xiang, Jiang Shi, Wang Bao, Ding Lan, Meng Zong, and Huang Tingjian, and some versions include Zhang Xiao and Tian Zhen instead of Zhongyou and Jiang Ge. Among the ancient books that collect tales of filial sons is "The Filial Son" written by Liu Xiang of the Former Han Dynasty, but "The Twenty-Four Filial Piety Stories" discovered in Dunhuang and said to have been written by Yuanjian Master Yunbian of the Five Dynasties at the end of the Tang Dynasty, shows that the custom of counting 24 representative filial sons had been formed towards the end of the Tang Dynasty. The Twenty-Four Filial Piety Stories generally preach the one-sided devotion of children to their parents, and many of them are cruel, such as Lao Laizi of the Zhou Dynasty, who pretends to be a baby even at the age of 70 to please his parents, Guo Ju of the Han Dynasty, who tries to bury his own child alive to support his parents, Meng Zong of the Jin Dynasty, who cries in the harsh winter as he searches for bamboo shoots to satisfy his parents' appetite, and Wang Xiang of the Jin Dynasty, who tries to catch carp by lying on ice. "Twenty-Four Filial Piety" was translated into Japanese during the Edo period and has been incorporated into many performing arts, such as the joruri piece "Honcho Twenty-Four Filial Piety" by Chikamatsu Hanji and others.

[Junichi Yamazaki]

"A Study of the Collection of Tales of Filial Piety by Susumu Tokuda: Focusing on the Twenty-Four Filial Piety Stories, Medieval and Early Modern Editions" (1963, Inoue Shobo)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国古来の代表的孝子24人をいい、また彼らの逸話を収めた同名の幼童の教訓書をいう。その人と配列の順序には諸本で異同があるが、元(げん)の郭居敬(かくきょけい)の作といわれる『二十四孝』によれば、虞舜(ぐしゅん)、漢の文帝、曽参(そうしん)、閔損(びんそん)、仲由(ちゅうゆう)、董永(とうえい)、剡子(えんし)、江革、陸績、唐夫人、呉猛、王祥、郭巨、楊香(ようこう)、朱封昌、廋黔婁(ゆけんろう)、老莱子(ろうらいし)、蔡順(さいじゅん)、黄香、姜詩(きょうし)、王褒(おうほう)、丁蘭(ていらん)、孟宗(もうそう)、黄庭堅らであり、仲由と江革のかわりに張孝と田真を入れたものもある。孝子譚(たん)を集めた書には古く前漢の劉向(りゅうきょう)作『孝子伝』があるが、敦煌(とんこう)発見の唐末五代の円鑑大師雲辯(うんべん)の作といわれる『二十四孝押座文(おうざぶん)』によって、唐末ごろには孝子の代表24人を数える習慣が形成されていたことがわかる。二十四孝説話は、一般に親に対する子の一方的献身を説き、親の喜びのために、70歳になっても赤子のまねをする周の老莱子、親を養うためにわが子を生き埋めにしようとする漢の郭巨、親の食欲のために、厳冬に筍(たけのこ)を探して泣く晋(しん)の孟宗や、氷上に寝て鯉(こい)をとろうとする晋の王祥の話など、残酷なものが少なくない。『二十四孝』は江戸時代には日本でも訳され、近松半二(ちかまつはんじ)らの浄瑠璃(じょうるり)『本朝(ほんちょう)廿四孝』など芸能にも多く取り入れられている。

［山崎純一］

『徳田進著『孝子説話集の研究――二十四孝を中心に　中世編・近世編』（1963・井上書房）』

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