Banko

A supernatural dog that appears in Chinese myths and legends. According to the 20-volume book "Soushenji," an old woman who was under the care of King Gao Xin (one of the Five Emperors) had an ear problem, and when she was treated, a cocoon-sized worm emerged from her ear and soon turned into a beautiful, five-colored dog. The worm was first placed in a gourd seed basket and covered with a wooden basin, so the dog was named Panhu. At that time, China was plagued by enemy invasions, so the king publicly proclaimed that he would give a princess as a reward to anyone who brought back the head of an enemy general, and when Panhu returned to the palace with the enemy general's head in his mouth, the king, as promised, had the dog accompany the princess. Panhu took the princess and went deep into the mountains in the south, where he gave birth to six sons and six daughters. Later, these children married and had many descendants, and became the ancestors of the barbarians. A nearly identical legend can be found in the Southern Barbarians section of the Book of the Later Han, which says that Panhu's descendants were the Wuling barbarians in what is now Changhe (Hunan Province). This legend is thought to have originally been the ancestral myth of the ethnic minorities living in southern China, and is still widely told today among the Miao, Yao, and Sheo peoples.

[Kiyoji Ito]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国の神話伝説に登場する霊異な犬。『捜神記(そうじんき)』（20巻本）によれば、昔、王の高辛(こうしん)氏（五帝の1人）のもとにいた老女が耳を患って治療をすると、耳の中から繭ほどの大きさの虫が出てきて、やがて毛並みのよい五色の犬に変わった。最初その虫を瓠(こ)（ユウガオ）の種子を入れるざるに入れ、槃(はん)（木製のたらい）をかぶせてしまっておいたことから、その犬は槃瓠という名をつけられた。また、ちょうどそのころ、中国は敵の侵入に悩まされていたので、王は敵の将軍の首をとってきた者に褒美として王女を与えようと公言したところ、槃瓠が敵将の首をくわえて王宮に戻ってきたので、約束どおり王は犬に王女を連れ添わせた。王女を連れた槃瓠は南方の深山の奥に分け入り、そこで六男六女をもうけたが、のちにその子供たちが夫婦となって子孫が繁栄し、蛮夷(ばんい)の祖となったという。これとほぼ同じ伝承は『後漢書(ごかんじょ)』南蛮(なんばん)伝にもあり、それによれば、槃瓠の子孫は現在の長河（湖南省）の武陵蛮(ぶりょうばん)であるという。この伝承は、本来中国南部に住む少数民族の族祖神話であったと考えられ、今日もミャオ（苗）、ヤオ（瑤）、ショオ（畬）族などの間で広く語られている。

［伊藤清司］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例