『今鏡』 における観音信仰 : 歴史の語り手は観音の化現か

Abstract

In this paper, I consider the faith in Kannon and the position of the narrator on the Imakagami. In according to the Hokekyo, the Kannon has thirty-three shapes depending on persons led. The fact that there are many references to the Hokekyo and that the content of the Imakagami has thirty-three chapters might indicate the Imakagami’s interest in the Hokekyo. On the text of the Imakagami, Murasaki Shikibu is written as an incarnation of Kannon, that is, she let people have the faith, with the Genji-Monogatari. The narrator said “I want to talk about the Buddhism in the next world as these stories,” which is just as a phrase in the Hokekyo. So the narrator is also thought as an incarnation of Kannon. The Imakagami says that leading stories are those showing the vanity of the world or the feelings of merciful persons. Thus, the Imakagami itself has the qualification for a leading story with talking the relationship between the Tennou and the Buddihism.