18/01/2024
What is the origin of Mt. Wakakusa's mountain yaki? A traditional feature that heralds early spring in the ancient capital of Nara and the flowers on the ancient tomb
若草山の山焼きの起源は？ 古都・奈良の早春を告げる風物詩と古墳のハナシ
After the New Year's festival, Yamayaki is held in Nara. This is "Yamayaki from Mt. Wakakusa." Every year, not only people from Nara Prefecture but also tourists from all over the country come to enjoy the one-night festival of flames. This time, I would like to talk about this traditional event and the Uguisuzuka Tumulus located at the top of Mt. Wakakusa. ■Mt. Wakakusa, the stage for traditional events, and the ancient tomb that towers over its summit Yamayaki of Mt. Wakakusa begins with a Shinto ritual. A huge altar called ``Otondo'' has been built in Tobino. Surrounded by bamboo, a large amount of last year's amulets, hamaya, charms, etc. are kept there, and the daytime Shinto ritual begins, when the pure sacred fire (goshinka) brought from Kasuga Taisha Shrine is moved. and a magnificent flame rises. The flame is lit and carried in a procession to Mizutani Shrine and Nogami Shrine, where it is further divided into torches after sunset. The members of the fire department climb Mt. Wakakusa with these many torches in their hands. Mt. Wakakusa is a three-tiered mountain and is also known as Mt. Mikasa. It has the same sound as ``Mt. Mt.'' which is also nearby, but the letters are different. On Mt. Wakakusa, new buds sprout in the spring and the grass that has grown large has withered, covering the mountain surface in brown color. Before the fireworks are lit, hundreds of fireworks are set off, and once they are finished, it is time to ignite the fireworks. Posters and photographs of mountain burning depict the entire mountain covered in bright red flames and large fireworks dancing directly above it, but these are composite photographs. It will never actually look like that. Fireworks start → ignite → A slow streak of flame slowly spreads toward the top of the mountain. If you are expecting such a beautiful and flashy scenery, you will be surprised by the gap. Wakakusa, which overlooks Nara City from the east, is a small three-tiered mountain with an altitude of 342 meters, and at the top of it is a keyhole-shaped tumulus. Uguisuzuka Tumulus is believed to have been built between the late 4th century and the 5th century. In the past, it was once said to be the tomb of Iwanohime, the empress of Emperor Nintoku, but it is a splendid kofun with a total length of 103 meters, and was probably an ancient tomb whose territory was in present-day Nara City. It is thought to be the tomb of a powerful king. This tomb appears to have appeared in Sei Shonagon's ``The Seventeenth Stage of the Pillow Book,'' so its existence must have been known since ancient times. However, for more than 1,000 years, Nara's sacred deer and humans walked freely on the mound, resulting in its shape as a keyhole-shaped mound being severely damaged. When a graduate student studying archeology at the University of Tokyo's graduate school used a drone to accurately measure the mound, he discovered a rectangular island at the front of the mound. This can be seen in tombs built in the 4th century, and this style of imagining the moat surrounding the tomb as a sea or pond, and decorating it with clay clay figures of waterfowl to create islands, is also seen in other tomb groups. You can Three waterfowl haniwa were excavated from the Tsudoshiroyama burial mound in Fujiidera City, Osaka Prefecture. It seems that waterfowl were regarded as spiritual birds that could freely travel between this and the other worlds. Unfortunately, not even a single fragment has been recovered from the Uguisuzuka burial mound, which has fallen into disrepair for a long time, but the discovery of the island shape is valuable. In fact, the truth is that we don't know when and why mountain burning in Mt. Wakakusa began. However, there are various theories, and it was said that it started as a territorial dispute between Todaiji and Kofukuji, but this has now been denied. The theory that I found interesting is that ``the ghost of Uguisuzuka Tumulus appeared, so they started burning down the mountain to console and ward off the ghost.'' But isn't it actually a remnant of the slash-and-burn festival that is thought to have continued since the Jomon period? I think so too. Mt. Wakakusa, which is always burned every year, is covered with a grass called ``noshiba'' that is unique to Japan, and the area around Mt. Wakakusa is said to be one of the few in the Kinki region that grows naturally. Noshiba seeds are protected by a hard shell, but when a deer eats them, their body heat and gastric juices melt the outer shell, which is then scattered in their droppings to facilitate germination.This is also a regeneration cycle unique to Nara. Shin. In the end, it is not clear when it started, but it seems that no matter how many bans are put in place, the mountains are still burned every January. Then, in the Meiji era, it became an official government event, and from 1908 it was held by the prefecture at night. Today, Kasuga Taisha Shrine, Kofukuji Temple, Todaiji Temple, and Kinpusenji Temple have all cooperated to pass this down as a Shinto ritual, and it is carried out safely with the help of the fire brigade, who are experts in putting out fires and monitoring. This year, depending on the weather, the Wakakusa Mountain Burning will be held on Saturday, January 27th. After the beautiful and spectacular fireworks, let's look forward to the peaceful mountain burning.
正月行事が終わると、奈良では山焼きが行われます。「若草山の山焼き」です。例年、奈良県の人はもちろん、各地から観光客が訪れて一夜の炎の祭典を楽しみます。今回はそんな伝統行事と、若草山頂上にある「鶯塚（うぐいすづか）古墳」についてお話ししていきたいと思います。
■伝統行事の舞台・若草山とその頂上に聳える古墳
若草山の山焼きはまず神事から始まります。飛火野には「大とんど」という巨大なお焚きあげの祭壇が築かれています。竹で囲まれたそこには、去年のお札や破魔矢、お守りなどが大量に納められていて、昼間に行われる神事が始まり、春日大社から運ばれた清らかな御神火（ごしんか）が移されて、壮大な炎が立ち昇ります。その炎から採火した火を、行列で水谷神社・野上神社に運び、日が暮れてからさらに松明に分けられます。このたくさんの松明を消防団の人たちが手にして若草山に登るのです。
若草山は三段になった山で、別名を「三笠山」ともいいます。同じく近くにある「御蓋山」とは音は同じですが字も違います。若草山は春に新芽が萌え出して大きく育った草々が枯れて、茶色く山肌を覆っています。
火をつける前に数百発の花火が打ち上げられて、それが終わるといよいよ着火です。山焼きのポスターや写真などには、全山が真っ赤な炎で覆われ、その直上に大輪の花火が舞っている様子が使われますが、あれは合成写真なのです。実際にあのような景色になることはありません。
打ち上げ花火→着火→じわじわと炎の筋が山頂に向かって静かに燃え広がるのです。あの美しく派手な景色を期待していくと、そのギャップに驚くことでしょう。
奈良市内を東から見下ろす若草山は標高342ｍの三段になった小高い山なのですが、その頂上には前方後円墳があります。４世紀後半から５世紀に造られたとみられる「鶯塚古墳」です。
昔は仁徳天皇のお后だった磐媛（いわのひめ）の墳墓だといわれたこともあったそうですが、全長が103ｍの立派な古墳で、おそらく今の奈良市内を領地とした古代豪族王の墳墓だと思われます。
清少納言の『枕草子十七段』にも登場する古墳らしいので、大昔からその存在は知られていたのでしょう。ところが1000年以上にわたって奈良の神鹿（しんろく）や人間たちが自由に墳丘を歩いたせいで、前方後円墳としての墳形はかなり荒らされています。
そこで、東京大学大学院で考古学を研究する院生が、ドローンを使って正確に墳丘を計測したところ、前方部の先に、四角形の島型を発見したのです。
これは４世紀に築造された古墳にみられるもので、古墳を囲む周濠を海、または池と考えて、そこに水鳥の埴輪を飾り、島をつくるという形式が他の古墳群にも見られます。大阪府藤井寺市の津堂城山（つどうしろやま）古墳から水鳥埴輪が三体出土しています。
水鳥はあの世とこの世を自由に行き来できる霊鳥だと位置づけられていたようです。残念ながら長い間に荒れてしまった鶯塚古墳からはそのかけらも出てきませんが、島型の発見は貴重です。
実は若草山の山焼きがいつからどういう理由で始まったのかというと、「わからない」というのが正直なところのようです。しかしながら説はさまざまありまして、東大寺と興福寺の領地争いが発端だったといわれていましたが、今は否定されています。
私が面白いと思った説は、「鶯塚古墳の幽霊が出るので、これを慰め封じるために山を焼き始めた」という話です。でも実際のところは、縄文時代から続くと思われる焼き畑祭の名残ではないか？ とも思います。
毎年必ず焼かれる若草山は「ノシバ」という日本固有の芝で覆われていて、近畿地方では若草山周辺が数少ない自生地だそうです。ノシバの種は硬い殻に守られていますが、鹿が食べるとその体温と胃液で外殻が溶けて糞に混じってバラまかれ発芽を容易にしているらしく、これも奈良ならではの再生サイクルなのですね。
結局いつから始まったのかははっきりしませんが、いくら禁止令が出ても毎年１月には焼かれた山だそうです。そして明治になって行政の正式な行事となり、明治33年から県による夜間の開催となったそうです。
現在は春日大社、興福寺、東大寺、そして金峯山寺も協力しての神事として受け継がれ、火消しの専門家である消防団の皆さんの点火と監視で安全に行われているのです。
今年も天候にもよりますが、１月27日（土）に若草山の山焼きが開催されます。美しく壮大な花火の後に、静かに燃え広がる山焼きを楽しみにいたしましょう。
