Pangu - Banko

A god who appears in ancient Chinese mythology. Pan Gu is said to be the creator of this world, and there are two different legends about the creation of the world. One is called the separation of heaven and earth type, according to which the world at the beginning was a muddy state with no top or bottom, and Pan Gu was born from it. Later, when heaven and earth were pushed open, the pure yang energy of the two energies of yin and yang became the heavens, and the murky yin energy became the earth. He continued to support both heaven and earth, but the heavens grew taller by one meter each day, and the earth grew thicker by one meter each day, so Pan Gu's height also grew by one meter each day, until heaven and earth were separated forever. The other legend belongs to the corpse-transformation type, according to which Pan Gu existed at the beginning of this world. When Pangu died, various parts of his body changed into the things that make up the world: his eyes into the sun and moon, his body into the earth, his blood into rivers, his muscle fibres into the folds of the earth, his skin into fields, his hair and beard into stars, his body hair into plants, and his teeth and bones into rocks. It is not clear whether these two world creation myths originally belonged to the same lineage, or whether completely different legends came to be told under the same name of Pangu.

[Tota Kirimoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国の古代神話に登場する神。盤古はこの世界を創造した造物主であるとされ、その世界創造については二通りの異なる伝承が残されている。一つは天地分離型とよばれ、それによれば太初の世界は上も下もないどろどろした状態で、盤古はそのなかから生まれた。そののち天地が押し開かれると、陰陽二気のうちの清らかな陽の気が天に、濁った陰の気が地になった。彼は天と地の間で双方を支え続けたが、天は日に一丈ずつ高くなり、また地は日に一丈ずつ厚くなったため、それにつれて盤古の身長も一丈ずつ伸びて、ついに天と地は果てしなく隔たることになったという。もう一つの伝承は死体化生(けしょう)型に属し、それによると、この世の初めに盤古があった。そして盤古が死んだときにその体の各部が変化して、世界を形づくる諸物になり、両眼は日月に、体は大地に、血液は川に、筋肉の筋(すじ)は大地のひだに、皮膚は田畑に、髪や髭(ひげ)は星に、体毛は植物に、歯や骨は岩石に、それぞれ変化したという。この2種の世界創造神話は、本来同一の系統に属すものなのか、あるいはまったく別の伝承が同じ盤古の名によって語られるようになったのか、明らかではない。

［桐本東太］

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