橋迫 瑞穂

With the emergence of the “spiritual market,” contents that link pregnancy and childbirth with spirituality have attracted women’s attention. These contents seem to be in opposition to feminism in that they present a conservative view of the female body; however, they also have a high affinity with feminism in that they emphasize women’s physical nature. The reason for this is that feminism in Japan has developed an argument linking women’s embodiment and “nature,” and in this connection, feminism has been connected to spirituality. However, the positions within feminism are diverse, and while each position emphasizes the importance of connecting women’s physical entity with “nature,” differences can be found in various aspects, such as how “nature” is perceived and the nature of spirituality. It is reasonable to assume that this is reflected in the content of the “spiritual market.”

Discourse emphasizing “natural childbirth,” emerging at first in the 1980s in Britain, was welcomed to Japan, too, attracting high attention. The discourse in Japan has changed with the times and has gradually lost momentum, but is recently paid attention to again, which is shown by the fact that childbirth assisted by midwife has become more preferable than before. This kind of discussion tends to keep a distance from feminism although it gives holiness to childbirth, differently from trends overseas in which the discourse has a high affinity to feminism as well as spirituality.

type:P(論文) type:論文 type:Article

type:P(論文) type:論文 type:Article

type:P(論文) type:論文 type:Article

By concentrating on the process of making something by hand, this paper considers what kind of value handmade “charm-goods” had for girls in Japan's 1980s boom of “fortune-telling & charm.” It has been said that “charm-goods” in the 1980s “magic-religious popular culture” gave girls their own sense of identity with a world-view that was worthy of them, but with “charm-goods” the fact that they were made by hand has been regarded as being important. This second element seems to have demanded from girls a more active commitment to “fortune-telling and charm.” Through analyzing the articles of “My Birthday,” which is well known as a representative “fortune-telling & charm” magazine for girls, I clarify that “charm-goods” and their being made by hand helped girls to get involved in and improve their real-life communication skills.

本稿は、一九八〇年代に主として少女たちの間で流行した「占い・おまじない」が、特に学校で人間関係を築くさいに生じる軋轢に対応するための手段を与えるものであったことを、少女向けの占い雑誌『マイバースデイ』を分析することによって明らかにすることを目的とする。従来、「呪術=宗教的大衆文化」のなかでも「占い・おまじない」は、少女が自身の立ち位置や周囲との人間関係を推し量りながら自己を定位する「認識のための『地図』」としての役割を担うものとして彼女らに消費されたととらえられてきた。しかし、『マイバースデイ』を詳細に分析した結果、「占い・おまじない」は、少女たちが学校生活に適応する過程に神秘的な意味を与えることで、学校を人間関係構築のための修養の場に作り変える働きを有するものであり、さらには、彼らに緩やかな共同体を形成する場を提供する働きをも担っていたことが明らかになった。

"SPICON" (Spiritual Convention) is one of the most famous events in recent spiritual boom in Japan. In "SPICON" many people including both sponsors and customers enjoy approaching the sacredness through buying things and taking part in sessions which are related to spirituality. Although approaching the sacredness is often accompanied with danger, they seem to devote themselves to "dedication" and yet keep themselves from any trouble and violence. How can they do so? In this paper I intend to verify, by taking "SPICON" as an example, that a new type of safety device for approaching the sacredness is appearing in Japanese society.