【鬼ヶ城に「空海の風景」 皇統神話と熊野の旅-18】

　熊野探訪に復帰致します。
　熊野詣といわれたような古代から中世、江戸期などの地域ブームはやはりカルデラが生み出した奇岩が織りなす「この世と思われない」地域景観が人びとの神秘志向を刺激した側面があるのでしょう。
　そういう奇岩の景観として有名なのは「鬼ヶ城」。
　わかりやすい観光スポットのようで、行ったときにはほぼ日本語が聞こえない中国語オンリー状態（泣）。どうも最近ふたたび増えてきているようですね。いま日本人の嫌中率は爆増していて１年ほど前の調査では92%ほどの日本人は中国に対して悪印象を抱いているという報道。
　わたしは外国の方とはできるだけ会話したいと思うタイプなのですが、どうも中国のみなさんにはそういう気になりにくい。先日もタクシーの運転手さんから若い中国女性が乗り込んでいる間中「小国ニッポン！」と見る風景全体をけなし続けていたと嘆いていました。「そんなにキライなら来るなよ」と運転手さんは言っていましたが、共産党政権による反日教育の刷り込みは、まともな国民レベルでの友好の妨げになっているでしょうね。
　そういうことが影響してか、とにかく大声での傍若無人なふるまいは目に余る。先日も指定席を取っていた特急列車のわたしの席に勝手に座っている中国の方。簡単な英語でどいていただくように話したのですが、まったく通じていない様子。当方の指定券を示してから、ようやく団体旅行の他の中国人から言われたのか、席を立って行きましたが、その間にも目も合わせることもなく、エクスキューズのコトバもまったく聞けなかった。異常さが政治体制のトップたちばかりではないのがやりきれない。
　おっと、まったくの横道（笑）。
　写真はその鬼ヶ城の光景であります。
　わたしは四国が大好きでまた家の宗旨が真言宗でもあるので空海さんの事跡にはリスペクトの心を抱いています。高知・室戸岬の弘法大師・空海が開眼したパワースポット「御厨人窟」には一度は行ってみたいのですが、やや似た地質景観の熊野・鬼ヶ城でまったく似たような視覚体験であります。
　空海さんが座禅して、ある瞬間、悟りの境地に至ったとき、ふと目を開けるとそこには空と海だけの光景が広がっていた。自力で悟りの境地に至ったので僧号も自ら付けることにして「空海」と名乗ったという故事そのままの風景。
　馬齢を重ねるばかりでさっぱり悟りには縁遠い身ですが、いっときこの景色の中に佇んで、地球的な自然の鼓動感の一端がみえた。いや、気分だけは浸ることができました。たしかにこういう自然造形の中に没入すれば、熊野詣というもののパワーが多くのひとに迫ってきただろうことも同意できます。
　と、空海さんのことを想起していたのですが、考えて見れば空海さんは中国に行って最新の「密教」を日本に導入した。やはり可能な限り中国人のみなさんと友好努力はしていくべきだと、空海さんが生きていれば言ったでしょうね、反省。


English version⬇

Onigajo and the Scenery of Kukai: A Journey to Kumano and the Myth of the Imperial Family - 18
When I awoke from zazen, I must have had a sense of experience as if the sights of the natural world were seeping into my body. The sky, the sea, and the sight of his own personal "datsukan"? I don't know.

I will return to Kumano exploration.
　The regional boom in Kumano from ancient times to the Middle Ages and during the Edo period (1603-1868), known as the Kumano Pilgrimage, was probably due in part to the "out-of-this-world" local landscape of strange rocks created by the caldera, which stimulated people's desire to explore the mysteries of the area.
　Onigajo" is a famous example of such strange rock formations.
　It seems to be an easy-to-understand tourist spot, and when I visited there, I heard almost no Japanese and only Chinese (I cried). It seems that the number of Chinese tourists has been increasing again recently. According to a survey conducted about a year ago, 92% of Japanese people have a bad impression of China.
　I am the type of person who wants to talk with foreigners as much as possible, but I find it difficult to do so with Chinese people. The other day, a cab driver told me that while a young Chinese woman was getting into the taxi, he kept on belittling the whole scenery he was looking at, saying, "Small country, Nippon! She was lamenting the other day that a young Chinese woman kept belittling the whole scenery she was looking at while she was getting in the taxi. If you hate it so much, don't come here," the driver said. The imprinting of anti-Japanese education by the Communist regime must be an obstacle to friendship on a decent national level.
　Perhaps this has influenced them, but in any case, their loud and unmannerly behavior is too much to be seen. The other day, a Chinese person took my seat on an express train for which I had reserved a seat. I asked him to move aside in simple English, but he didn't seem to understand me at all. After I showed him our reserved tickets, he finally got up from his seat, as if he had been told to do so by another Chinese person traveling in a group. It's hard to believe that the abnormality is not limited to the tops of the political system.
　Oops, totally side-tracked (laugh).
　The photo is a scene from Onigajo.
　I love Shikoku and my family is a Shingon Buddhist, so I have a lot of respect for Kukai's legacy. I would like to visit the "Mikurinokutsu," a power spot in Cape Muroto, Kochi, where Kobo Daishi Kukai opened his eyes, but the visual experience is quite similar to that of Onigajo in Kumano, which has a somewhat similar geological landscape.
　When Mr. Kukai sat in zazen and reached a certain moment of enlightenment, he suddenly opened his eyes and saw only the sky and the sea. He was so enlightened on his own that he decided to name himself "Kukai," which is exactly what he did in the legend.
　Although I am not enlightened at all due to my horse's age, I was able to see a part of the earthly nature's heartbeat by standing in this scenery for a moment. No, I was able to immerse myself in the feeling. I agree that immersing oneself in such natural formations would have brought the power of the Kumano Pilgrimage to many people.
　I was thinking of Mr. Kukai, and if you think about it, he went to China and introduced the latest "esoteric Buddhism" to Japan. I would have said that we should still make efforts for friendship with Chinese people as much as possible, if Mr. Kukai were still alive, I reflected.

【温暖地リゾートホテルへ寒冷地人のおせっかい目線】

　本日、閑話休題。皇統神話シリーズは小休憩。
　高齢者になって来たので休暇の取り方についてはある程度自由度が高まってきております。正月の休暇をやや遅らせ、いま、温暖地をジャーニー中。旅行の訪問先についてはそれぞれ好みが反映されるものでしょう。海外もいいけれどわたしはやはり、日本語と文化的価値感を共有できる日本の温暖地が好きです。歴史など背景理解の深化もあって楽しみの奥行きが増す。同じ民族の昔人の思いというものがDNA的に「伝わってくる」ので海外旅行では得られない共感が、それぞれの地で感受できる。
　そうすると必然的にその地域の「冬場の」気候風土に触れることになる。
　とにかく建築が寒い（笑）。
　最近は温暖地域でも建物の断熱気密の進化が大いに叫ばれてきてはいますが、北海道人が真冬の温暖地に行くと、そのあまりの寒冷対応の認識格差に驚かされた。九州あたりのリゾートホテルで、朝目覚めたら「これでもか」とばかりに開放的な窓面がびっしりと結露してすごい結氷に驚かされた。真冬には九州でも最低気温が零下になることもあるので、単板硝子１枚・アルミサッシ、しかも眺望最優先で巨大な「パノラマビュー」を目指していることが逆に際だってしまう。ふるえて眠る。
　夏場の温暖蒸暑の気候条件にすべてがアジャストされていることは理解できるけれど、お正月という休暇時期は動かしにくいので、どうしてもこういうことになってしまう。
　で、上の写真の窓辺であります。
　コンクリート建築であって暖房は大型のエアコンなので、一定の室温制御はできている。駆体についてはまぁそこそこなのでしょう。で、窓・開口部も巨大開口ということもなく、ほどよい。昼間はそれでよかったのですが、夜間になってきて、硝子窓と障子建具（写真は引き戸の２枚が重なった状態）の間にブラインドが装置されていたので、そのブラインドを下げてみた。
　「あれ」であります。
　ブラインドが窓の下部までカバーできずに1/5くらいが単板硝子素通し。ブラインドもあったので、一応３重の開口部仕様で温暖地なりに温熱居住性には配慮しているのか、と思っていたわたしが甘かったようです（笑）。そしてよく確認したら、障子建具も上の1/3ほどは障子紙が張られていないで、木枠格子だけのスカスカ仕様。一応見てくれは「３重」の建具仕様ではあるけれど・・・であります。結局、３重の仕様ではあるけれど熱的には単板硝子からの冷気が入り込み放題（泣）。
　しかしそれにしても、ブラインド（ひょっとしてハニカムかと期待もしたのですがただの遮光だけのタイプ）の下1/5がカバーされていないのは、とナゾであります。
　普通に考えれば建築の側と発注先ブラインドメーカー間の連絡ミスで「まぁしょがないなぁ」ということでヨシとしたものか。しかしそれはいくらなんでもホテル発注側が承諾しないでしょう。
　そうすると、障子の1/3が素通しであることとの「関連性」が疑われる。
　３重の被覆構造が「やりすぎ」とでも考えて「余白を作る」みたいな設計趣旨だったものか。
　どうにも、疑問のタネがふくらんで、建築探偵団的な意欲ムクムクであります（笑）。
　あ、でもまぁ、１日だけのエトランゼなので「寝具爆使いと暖房エネMAX化」で対応して、健康を害するには至りませんでした。なんもさ、余裕のユーザーとしての対応。なお、ポリシーとして決してどこどこと特定できるようには表現致しません。あしからず。


English version⬇

A cold-weather resort hotel in a warm-weather area with the nosy eyes of a cold-weather person
I thought it was a triple structure of blinds and shoji screens against a single-pane glass window, but, well.... It's a very strange finish, and I have my doubts...

Today, a quiet break. A short break in the Imperial Mythology series.
　As I am getting older, I have some more freedom in how I take vacations. I have delayed my New Year's vacation somewhat and am now on a warm-weather journey. I am sure that each person's preferences will be reflected in the places he or she visits. Overseas is fine, but I prefer the warmer climates of Japan, where I can share the Japanese language and cultural values. The depth of enjoyment is enhanced by a deeper understanding of history and other backgrounds. The feelings of the people of the past of the same ethnic group are "transmitted" to me in a DNA-like way, so I can feel empathy in each place that I cannot get when I travel abroad.
　This inevitably brings us into contact with the "winter" climate of the region.
　Anyway, the architecture is cold (laughs).
　Recently, there has been a great deal of talk about the evolution of building insulation and airtightness even in warmer regions, but when Hokkaido residents go to warmer regions in the middle of winter, they are surprised at the disparity in their perception of the response to cold temperatures. When I woke up in the morning at a resort hotel in Kyushu, I was surprised to see the open windows covered with ice and condensation. In midwinter, even in Kyushu, the minimum temperature can drop below zero, so the single sheet of glass with aluminum sashes and the huge "panoramic view" that is the top priority for the view is a real turn-off. Sleep in a shivering manner.
　I understand that everything is adjusted to the warm and humid climate in summer, but it is difficult to move during the vacation season of New Year's, so this is what I have to do.
　So, this is the window in the photo above.
　Since this is a concrete building and the heating is by a large air conditioner, the room temperature is under constant control. As for the building's exterior, well, it must be there. And the windows/openings are moderate, not huge openings. During the daytime, it was fine, but at nighttime, blinds were installed between the glass windows and shoji fittings (two sliding doors are overlapped in the photo), so I lowered the blinds.
　It is "that."
　The blinds did not cover the bottom of the window and about 1/5 of the window was bare single-pane glass. Since there were blinds, I was naive to think that the triple-opening specifications would take care of thermal habitability in a warm climate (laugh). (Laughs.) And when I checked carefully, I found that the top 1/3 of the shoji fittings were not covered with shoji paper, but only wooden latticework. Although the fittings were made to look like "triple-layered" fittings, they were not. After all, although it is a three-layered fixture, the cold air from the single-pane glass can enter the room as much as it likes (cries).
　But still, it is a puzzle that the bottom 1/5 of the blinds (which I expected to be honeycomb blinds, but they are just light-shielding type) are not covered.
　Normally, I would have thought that it was a miscommunication between the architect and the blinds manufacturer, and that it was "just as well. However, the hotel would not agree to that.
　If so, the "relevance" of the fact that 1/3 of the shoji screens are bare is questionable.
　Was the design intent to "create a blank space" because they thought that the three-layered cladding structure was "too much"?
　I am filled with questions, and I am very eager to be an architectural detective (laugh).
　But, well, since it was only a one-day etrangement, I was able to cope with it by "using the bedding explosively and maxing out the heating energy," and it didn't harm my health. I am a user with plenty of time to spare. As a matter of policy, I will never express the specifics of where I am or where I am going. Please understand.

【古代のヤタガラス族との種的共存 皇統神話と熊野の旅-17】

　熊野探訪篇から本筋の「神武東征」篇への岐路にはヤタガラスという重要キャラ。
　わたしは率直に言って、カラスに対して好印象を持つということはありません。最近のヤツらは子育て時期の凶暴なふるまいが問題視されてきている。札幌の市街地で人間を攻撃する場面が多く報告されているし、わたし自身も昨年、かれらからの攻撃にさらされてしまった。
　いつもの散歩道でギャーギャー威嚇的な鳴き声を響き渡らせていた。しばらくぶりの遭遇だったので「バンザイ」スタイルでの防御を忘れていたら、不意にキック攻撃を浴びてしまったのですね。
　子育て時期に由来していることは理解はしているけれど、どうにも嫌悪感を持つ（笑）。まぁこれも現代・人新世での野生動物との共存ルール確立までのプロセスなのでしょうか？
　現代では人類は都市という環境を生成し、そこからおびただしい生活廃棄物をまき散らしてきている。その「必殺掃除人」として本来野生だったカラスたちが共存関係になってきた。毎朝、憎々しげなかれらの鳴き声には悩まされるけれど、そのエサは人類が自然を汚し続けているものでもある。
　「オレたちがこんな暮らし方になって来たのは、オマエたちの足らざるを補ってやっているのだぜ」というかれらの「主張」がこだましても来る（笑）。いまのところは、人間の側で「バンザイ」ポーズでの折り合いを付けながら、共存していくべきなのでしょう。
　しかしそう考えると、都市集住がそれほど進んでいなかった古代、神武東征の時代には当然人口規模もまばらであって、かれらカラス族も現代とは違った生活スタイルだったことが想像できる。かれら本来の森での暮らし方を生きていたのだろう。
　いやむしろ共生可能な動物種として人類を見ていて、人類の増加がかれらにとっても種の利益になると信じて、ヘルプを試みていたとも考えられる（笑）。それが人間の側にも伝播して、生物種的な親和性表現としてこのような八咫烏神話というものは生成したのかも知れない。
　神武帝が東征し国家を形成して集住様式が列島人類の普遍スタイルになれば「オレたちの縄張りも一気に拡大が図れるぜ」という妄想。・・・たしかにまったくの妄想ですが、古代に於いて人類はカラス族に対して現代とはまた違う感受性を持っていただろうことは間違いがない。


　熊野三山ではそれぞれで異なるヤタガラスのシルシを形象化している。
　どうもこの文化圏を考証してきて、熊野というのは縄文由来の自然信仰が色濃く感じられる。そういった自然観が反映しているのが熊野信仰と考えると、かれらカラス族との「共生関係」というものが心理のベースにあるようにも思える。キトラ古墳壁画にもヤタガラスが描かれているとも言われるし、たぶん現代とは相当違う対カラス認識が、列島人類社会には根付いていたのだろう。
　そう考えるとあんまり憎しみの対象とばかり見てはいけないのだろうか。う〜ん、でもやっぱりあのヤツらの攻撃は憎たらしい！


English version⬇

Species Coexistence with the Ancient Yatagarasu Tribe: Imperial Mythology and Kumano Journey-17
Why are ravens, the objects of hatred that attack humans even when they are raising their young, friendly in the mythology of the imperial lineage? ...

At the crossroads from the Kumano expedition to the main story, "Jinmu's Eastern Expedition," there is an important character named "Yatagarasu" (raven).
　Frankly speaking, I do not have a favorable impression of ravens. Recently they have become a problem because of their ferocious behavior when they are raising their young. There have been many reports of them attacking humans in the urban area of Sapporo, and I myself was subjected to an attack by them last year.
　Last year, I myself was attacked by one myself. It was on my usual walking path, and it was making a menacing noise that echoed through the air. Since it had been a while since I had encountered them, I had forgotten to defend myself in the "banzai" style and was unexpectedly subjected to a kicking attack.
　I understand that it stems from the child-rearing period, but I can't help but feel disgusted (laughs). Well, is this also the process of establishing rules for coexistence with wild animals in the modern/humanocene era?
　In the modern age, human beings have generated the environment of cities and have scattered an enormous amount of waste from their daily lives. Crows, which were originally wild, have come to coexist with humans as "cleaners. The crows' hateful cawing annoys me every morning, but their food is the same thing that humans have been polluting nature with.
　Their "insistence" that "the reason we have come to live this way is to compensate for your deficiencies" (laughs). For the time being, we humans should coexist with them while making peace with them by adopting a "banzai" pose.
　However, when we think about it, we can imagine that in ancient times, when urban settlements were not so advanced and the population was sparsely populated during the Jinmu expedition, the Crow tribe had a different way of life from that of today. It is likely that they lived their original way of life in the forest.
　They may have seen humans as a symbiotic animal species, and they may have believed that the increase in the number of humans would be beneficial to their species and tried to help (laugh). This may have spread to the human side, creating this yatagarasu myth as an expression of species affinity.
　If the Jinmu Emperor conquered the east and formed a nation, and the residential style became the universal style of the human race in the archipelago, "We can expand our territory at once," was the delusion. It is true that this is a total delusion, but there is no doubt that humans in ancient times would have had a different sensitivity to the Crow tribe than they do today.

Each of the three mountains of Kumano has a different yatagarasu shirushi symbol.
　After studying this cultural area, I feel that Kumano is strongly influenced by Jomon-derived nature beliefs. If we consider the Kumano beliefs to be a reflection of this view of nature, it would seem that a "symbiotic relationship" with the raven tribe is at the base of the psychology of the people. It is said that ravens are depicted in the murals of the Kitora burial mound, and perhaps a perception of ravens that was quite different from that of today took root in the human society of the archipelago.
　Considering this, I wonder if we should not see them only as objects of hatred. But I still hate their attacks!

【明治の日本語創造と古語「記紀」 皇統神話と熊野の旅-16】

　昨日、素戔嗚尊（スサノオ）のことを書きましたが読者の方からご意見もいただきました。その内容に触発されて「日本語の書き言葉」について少し触れたいと思います。
　わたしは「芥川荘」の取材時に自分は日本のコトバ表現にメッチャ思い入れがあることを再認識させられた。芥川荘は千葉県・九十九里の宿館・一宮館に遺される茅葺きの「離れ」。芥川龍之介がそこで妻になった女性に送ったラブレターを書いたことで知られる。そして芥川がその当時（東大卒業したて）恩師の夏目漱石から、日本文学の将来を託されていた諸事情、背景の事実などを掘り起こしてみたのですが、そのとき調査しつつ、わたし自身が文章の世界に強い数寄・こだわりを持っていることを強烈に知らされた。
　わたしは司馬遼太郎や埴谷雄高という作家の作品群に惑溺した時間を持っているのですが、自分自身でも気付かないほど強く影響されて生きてきていたことを正面から指摘されたように感じた。そしてその現場・建築が残っていればそこで「空気感」という証拠が感じられることも確信できた。仕事人生に一定の区切りを付けたこともあって、そんなことにライフワーク感も感じています。
　そんなわたし自身の今現在に、刺さってきた（笑）。以下最初のテーマへの感想。
　古代の「コトバ」それ自身がどのようなものであったのか、まだまったく未解明だと思います。最近、明治初期、現代の言文一致体の日本語を作り上げた子規や夏目漱石などの事跡に触れるのですが、これについての司馬遼太郎の論考のようにそこには非常な格闘、創造があったと思います。
　コトバはただ単に自然的に発展してきたのではないでしょう。いわんや、書き言葉が存在しない段階の古代の「原日本語」。後世、中華王朝との外交関係の必要性からまとめられた記紀の執筆時に、どういった人物たちが、どのような判断基準で古語からこの列島社会の人類史を「書き言葉」にしていったのか、あまりにも手掛かりのない深みに落ちてしまう。明治に於いておや、であります。
　まずは、民俗としての側面からアプローチするしかないのでしょう。その意味では世界で類例がない深層を持った日本の「神社」信仰・習俗は、非常に重要な傍証人にはなるでしょう。ただ、その記述内容について完全な解釈統一は現状難しいでしょう。
　まずはそれが神代の「神話」なのか、実在性のある人物による「事跡」なのかの分化が必要になってくる。やはりアマテラスもスサノオも、もちろんイザナギ・イザナミも「神話」であることは疑いようがないと思います。しかし、そういう神話が広く人びとの精神を規定し続けたのも事実。
　むしろ、その「信じられた事実」のほうが列島史としては重要だと考えます。


English version⬇

The Creation of the Japanese Language in the Meiji Era and the Ancient Language "Kiki": The Myth of the Imperial Lineage and the Kumano Journey-16
The Japanese language was established as a result of a great deal of wisdom and effort. We can relive the struggles of the Meiji period, but the hardships of the compilation of the "Chronicles" are unimaginable. ...

Yesterday, I wrote about Susanoo-no-Mikoto (Susanoo-no-Mikoto) and received some comments from readers. Inspired by this comment, I would like to touch on the "written Japanese language.
　When I visited Akutagawa-so for the interview, I was reminded of my strong attachment to the Japanese written language. Akutagawa-so is a thatched-roof "detached house" that remains in Ichinomiya-kan, an inn in Kujukuri, Chiba Prefecture. It is known that Ryunosuke Akutagawa wrote a love letter there to the woman who became his wife. I then dug up various circumstances and background facts about Akutagawa, who at that time (having just graduated from the University of Tokyo) had been entrusted by his former teacher Natsume Soseki with the future of Japanese literature.
　I have spent a lot of time absorbed in the works of authors such as Ryotaro Shiba and Yutaka Hani, and I felt as if someone had pointed out to me from the front that I had been so strongly influenced by them in my life that even I was unaware of it. I was also convinced that if that site/architecture remained, I could feel the evidence of "atmosphere" there. Having reached a certain point in my working life, I also feel a sense of life's work in such things.
　I am now in the present, and it has stuck in my mind (laugh). Here are my thoughts on the first theme.
　I think it is still completely unexplained what kind of "words" were used in ancient times. Recently, I have come into contact with the traces of Shiki and Natsume Soseki, who created the modern Japanese language in the early Meiji period, and I believe that there was a great deal of struggle and creation, as in Ryotaro Shiba's discussion of this.
　Kotoba did not simply develop spontaneously. The ancient "original Japanese" was at a stage when no written language existed. In later times, when the Chronicles were written, compiled out of the necessity of diplomatic relations with the Chinese dynasties, what kind of people and what kind of criteria they used to make the human history of this archipelago society from the ancient language into a "written language" is too deep to have any clue. In the Meiji era, oh, my.
　I guess we have to approach it from the aspect of folklore first. In this sense, Japanese "shrine" beliefs and customs, which have a depth unparalleled in the world, would be a very important bystander. However, it is difficult to completely unify the interpretation of the content of the description.
　First of all, it is necessary to differentiate whether they are "myths" of the Shinto period or "events" by actual persons. After all, there is no doubt that Amaterasu, Susanoo, and of course Izanagi and Izanami are "myths. However, it is also true that such myths continued to define the psyche of the people at large.
　Rather, I believe that the "fact that they were believed" is more important for the history of the archipelago.

【素戔嗚尊（スサノオ）主祭神の本宮 皇統神話と熊野の旅-15】

　熊野を歩き始めたわたしの動機は、生来の歴史好きが高じて「皇統」について、その起源とされる初代の神武帝の「行軍路」についての身体的体験を得たいということ。また日本の建築文化というものを総合的に理解するためにもこうした知見はきわめて有用だと考えます。
　それは日本人の「精神性」が端的に表現されると考えるからでもあります。そういう皇統の精神文化のなかの神話部分で、イザナギ・イザナミは別格としてもっとも著名な祖先神として、アマテラスとスサノオの「姉弟」の説話が非常に影響度が大きい。
　太陽神とされ皇祖神として伊勢に祀られるアマテラスはいわば源流になるのだと思いますが、弟の「荒ぶる」神であるスサノオは、皇統神話のなかで特異な存在だと思います。アマテラスはこの弟の天上界での悪行の数々に、最初は鷹揚に対応するように命じていたけれど、それがどんどん増長するに及んで怒りを爆発させて、天の岩戸に隠れてしまって世界から太陽の光が消えてしまったという有名な神話エピソードを生成させた。
　この熊野本宮にはじめて詣らせていただいて、その主たる祭神としてスサノオが祀られ、アマテラスもさらにイザナギ・イザナミにも優先するトップ順列で祀られることに内心驚かされた。
　３枚目の説明看板「参拝の仕方と順番」であきらかなように、スサノオの別名・家津御子大神（ケツミコノカミ）がトップと位置づけられている。同説明では、アマテラスはスサノオと同列の神格が建築表現され、国生みのイザナギ・イザナミの夫婦神はひとつの建築に仲良く鎮座されている。そして最後に八百万の神々が整列鎮座されている。


　わたしは別に神道研究しているわけではありませんが、普通の日本人として習俗習慣としての神社信仰には素直な心理を抱いております。もっと言えば日本人の大きな精神文化としてのリスペクトは持っている。
　そういうなかでスサノオさんをこのように正視できたのはここだけ。ケツミコノカミというのは、熊野権現の中心的な神であり平安時代から修験道で崇拝され,熊野信仰の広がりとともに各地に祭られるようになったとされる。ケツミコは「木津御子」で樹木の神の意であって、木の国紀州に植樹していったという神代の伝承に基づくとされている。
　いろいろな皇統神話のなかでも異彩を放つスサノオというのはオモシロい。正統と異端というような仕分けで考えればあきらかに異端に属するのに、この熊野本宮では堂々たる主祭神。そして木の神とされるのであれば、日本建築がもっとも敬愛すべき神とも思える。
　そんな妄想をたくましくさせられながら、内心、楽しい探索のきっかけを与えられたよろこびを感じさせていただいた次第です。それにしても皇祖神の大スターたちが一同に整列されている様は、さすがに熊野信仰の中心たる雰囲気を醸し出していますね。　


English version⬇

The main shrine of Susanoo-no-Mikoto, the main deity of the Imperial lineage Mythology and Kumano Journey-15
Susanoo, who was abhorred in the heavenly realm for his evil deeds and rough behavior, became the main deity as the "God of Trees". He took precedence over Amaterasu, Izanagi and Izanami. The strangeness of the Kumano faith.


　My motivation for walking in Kumano was to gain physical experience of the "marching route" of the first Jinmu Emperor, who is said to have been the origin of the "imperial lineage" due to my innate love of history. I also believe that such knowledge is extremely useful for a comprehensive understanding of Japanese architectural culture.
　This is also because I believe it will give a clear expression to the "spirituality" of the Japanese people. Aside from Izanagi and Izanami, the most prominent ancestor deities in the mythological part of the spiritual culture of the imperial lineage are the highly influential "sister and brother" stories of Amaterasu and Susanoo.
　Amaterasu, who is considered the sun goddess and is worshipped at Ise as the ancestral god, is, so to speak, the origin of the myth, but her younger brother Susanoo, the "rough" god, is unique in the mythology of the imperial lineage. Amaterasu had initially ordered her brother to deal with his many misdeeds in the heavenly realm in a hawkish manner, but as they grew worse and worse, he exploded in anger and hid in the Iwato of Heaven, causing the famous mythological episode of the disappearance of the sun's rays from the world.
　When I visited the Kumano Hongu Shrine for the first time, I was surprised to see Susanoo enshrined as the principal deity and Amaterasu in the top order of precedence over Izanagi and Izanami.
　As the third signboard explains, "How to worship and the order of worship," Ketsumiko no Kami, another name for Susanoo, is positioned at the top of the list. In the same explanation, Amaterasu is represented as being on the same level of divinity as Susanoo, and the couple Izanagi and Izanami, the birth of the nation, are seated together in a single structure. Finally, the eight million deities are seated in a row.

I am not a Shinto researcher, but as an ordinary Japanese, I have an honest psychological attachment to shrine worship as a customary practice. More specifically, I have respect for Shinto as a major spiritual culture of the Japanese people.
　This is the only place where I could look at Susanoo in such a positive way. Ketsumiko-no Kami is the central deity of Kumano Gongen and has been worshipped in Shugendo since the Heian period (794-1185), and as the Kumano faith spread, he came to be worshipped in various places. Ketsumiko means "Kizumiko," the god of trees, and is said to be based on the legend of the Kami period that trees were planted in Kishu, the land of trees.
　Among the various myths of the imperial lineage, Susanoo, who is unique, is interesting. Although he is clearly a heretic in terms of orthodoxy and heresy, he is the main deity at Kumano Hongu, and is regarded as the god of trees. And if he is regarded as the god of trees, he seems to be the most revered deity in Japanese architecture.
　While being inspired by such delusions, I was inwardly feeling a sense of joy at having been given the opportunity to enjoy an enjoyable exploration of the area. The presence of all the great stars of the Imperial Ancestral Gods in one place was indeed the center of the Kumano faith.