本日はやや風邪気味で、のんびりした話題。
写真は兵庫県福崎町を探訪していたときに見かけた「家形石棺」。
Wikipediaを引用すると以下の記述。〜家形石棺（いえがたせっかん）とは、古墳時代にみられる石棺の一種。蓋石が屋根形で、身は刳抜式または組合式の箱状の石棺である。蓋石の四方の傾斜部に断面長方形の縄掛突起がある。古墳時代中期後半～終末期まで長期間用いられた。末期には身に格狭間を施したり、縄掛突起に蓮華文を彫ったものもみられる。身の前面や側面に入り口を設けた横口式石棺もある。〜
人間ってだんだんと個人の嗜好とかの世界に「帰っていく」存在ではないかと思っています。わたしの場合、加齢とともに古民家とか、昔人と対話できる機縁のようなものに強く惹かれてきている。
最後は石だ、みたいに俗に言われますが、そういう志向性からすると石棺というものに目を奪われるのはそれなりに符合するなぁと思っています。
飛鳥の石舞台は古墳の中身が土で被覆する前の状態でそのまま放置されたもので、蘇我氏の古墳であって、血生臭い権力抗争の残滓だとも言われるけれど、遺跡としては非常に好きであります。こんな個人的嗜好性が、刺激されるのですね。
この写真のものは、古代での「工場生産」的なニオイが強く感じられる。強大な権力者とかの場合には大型の石棺が注文生産されて、埋葬現地近くで加工されたのだろうと想像できるのですが、それ以外の一般人たちは、このような「大量生産型」の石棺にふつうに入っていたのではないか。
説明の文章からも「群衆墓」と記載されているので、庶民階級のひとびとの「終の住み処」になったものなのでしょう。火葬の習慣化はまだ進んでいない時期なので、こういう石棺に死者は葬られた。その人数が積層するにつれて、墓域もより広大に必要になっていった。そういう「過密化」ということもなにごとか、歴史の必然のひとつの側面でしょうね。
こういった石棺に加工するのに適性のある石材は、たぶん生産地が限られただろうから、必要性の高い人口集積地域との間で、頻繁な情報と物流がやり取りもされたでしょう。電話やWEBのな時代、そういうことがどのように伝播したのか、興味深い。
「今度、●ムラの誰それが死んだので」「了解しました。何日に間に合うように届けます」
こういうコミュニケーションがどう成立していたのか、主に情報の世界で仕事してきた人間からすると、そういう臨場感が、この石棺を見ていて興味として立ち上ってきていました。ふむ。

English version⬇

A Dialogue with the Ancients
A quiet word. Traditionally, people are housed in stone houses at the end of their lives. A sarcophagus is a kind of “factory production” in ancient times. The information and logistics of this process is a source of fantasy for me. …

Today’s topic is a bit more leisurely, as I have a bit of a cold.
The photo is of a “house-shaped sarcophagus” I saw while exploring Fukusaki Town, Hyogo Prefecture.
To quote Wikipedia, the description is as follows 〜A house-shaped sarcophagus is a type of sarcophagus found in the Kofun period. The lid stone is roof-shaped, and the body is a box-shaped sarcophagus of the gouged-out or union type. The four sides of the lid stone are sloped with rectangular rope-hanging protrusions. It was used for a long period of time from the latter half of the Kofun period to the end of the Kofun period. In the later period, the body was decorated with a narrow space between the case and the body, and some of them were carved with a lotus flower design on the rope-hanging projection. There are also side-gate sarcophagi with entrances on the front and sides of the body. 〜The first two coffins were made in the late 19th and early 20th century.
I believe that human beings gradually “return” to the world of personal tastes and preferences. In my case, as I age, I am becoming more and more attracted to things like old houses and the opportunity to talk with people from the past.
It is commonly said that the last thing you need is a stone, and from this orientation, I think it is fitting that I am attracted to sarcophagi.
The Ishibutai in Asuka is a tomb of the Soga clan, and I like it very much as an archaeological site, even though it is said to be a remnant of a bloody power struggle. I like them very much as ruins, though they are said to be remnants of bloody power struggles.
The one in this photo has a strong “factory production” smell in ancient times. I can imagine that in the case of a powerful person, a large sarcophagus would have been made to order and processed near the burial site, but other ordinary people were usually placed in such a “mass-produced” sarcophagus.
The explanatory text also describes it as a “mass grave,” so it must have been the “final resting place” of the common people. Since cremation had not yet become a custom, the dead were buried in these sarcophagi. As the number of people buried there increased, the graveyards became more spacious. Such “overcrowding” must have been one of the inevitable aspects of history.
Since the production of stone suitable for processing into sarcophagi was probably limited, information and logistics would have been frequently exchanged between the populated areas where the need for such materials was high. In the age of telephones and websites, it would be interesting to know how such things were transmitted.
In the age of the telephone and the Internet, it would have been interesting to see how such information and logistics were transmitted. I will deliver it in time for what date.
As someone who has worked mainly in the world of information, I was interested to see this sarcophagus and feel the presence of such communication. Hmmm.

Posted on 11月 23rd, 2023 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 歴史探訪