Crucifixion - Crucifixion

A punishment in which a criminal is tied to a pillar and stabbed to death with a spear. Crucifixion has been practiced since ancient times in the West, including Judaism, ancient Greece, and Rome. It was mainly used to persecute Christians, and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is well known. Emperor Constantine, who officially recognized Christianity in 313, abolished this practice, and after that the crucifixion was used for strangulation.

In Japan, it was popular during the Sengoku period, but it also took place in the Edo period. Under the shogunate system, the places for crucifixion were Asakusa (Kozukahara in Senju) and Shinagawa (Suzugamori), but if a crime was committed in the province, it could be carried out at that place, and in the case of breaking through a checkpoint, crucifixion was to be carried out at that place. Parade was sometimes added and sometimes not. When the criminal arrived at the execution ground, he was taken off his horse and made to lie on his back on a pole for punishment, his legs and arms were tied to the crossbars, the pole was raised, and the roots were buried in a hole. First, the spears were crossed on the left and right in front of the criminal. This is known as a show spear. Then, shouting "Arya Arya" from both sides, they drew their show spears, immediately thrusting the tip of the spear from the left side of the corpse to his shoulder, twisting it once and drawing it out, then stabbing him with 20 to 30 spears each from the left and right, one after the other, and finally stabbing him in the throat from the left with the "final spear." The body was left exposed like that for three days and two nights.

[Ryosuke Ishii]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

罪人を柱に縛り付けて槍(やり)で刺し殺す刑罰。磔は西洋でもユダヤ、古代ギリシア、ローマなどで古くから行われた。おもにキリスト教の迫害に用いられ、イエス・キリストの磔が有名である。313年キリスト教を公認したコンスタンティヌス帝はこれを廃止し、この後は架柱は絞殺用に使用された。

　日本では、戦国時代に盛んであったが、江戸時代にも行われた。幕府の制度では、磔の刑場は浅草（千住(せんじゅ)の小塚原(こづかっぱら)）と品川（鈴ヶ森）であったが、在方で悪事をした場合には、その場所で行うこともあり、また関所破りの場合には、その場所で磔に処する定めであった。引廻(ひきまわ)しは付加するときと、しないときがあった。科人(とがにん)が刑場に到着すると、馬から降ろし、罪木にあおむけに寝かせ、両足と両腕を横木に結び付け、罪木をおこし、根を穴の中に埋めた。初めに科人の面前で左右から槍先を交える。いわゆる見せ槍である。そして左右から「アリャアリャ」と声をかけて、見せ槍を引き、ただちに科人の左脇腹(わきばら)から肩先に、槍の穂先一尺余を突き出し、一つひねって槍を抜き、そのあと左右から、かわるがわる20から30本ぐらい突き、最後にのどに左から「止(とど)めの槍」を突いた。死体はそのまま三日二夜晒(さら)された。

［石井良助］

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