南北源流交匯處：沖繩與那國島人群起源神話傳說的比較研究

A Confluence of Southern and Northern Cultural Currents: A Comparative Study of the Origin Mythology of Yonaguni, Okinawa

琉球與臺灣雖然在自然地理位置上密切相連，然而人群互相往來所留下的歷史記載十分闕如，其民族間的關聯性猶如「失落的環節」，迄今尚無有力的學說加以解釋。尤其是位處臺灣東北近海的八重山群島，其民族學研究多偏向與北方日本民族的比較研究，欠缺與臺灣各族群的比較觀點。筆者於九○年代以後進入八重山群島中距離臺灣最近的與那國島進行田野調查工作，發現今日與那國島有關人群起源的數則神話傳說具有由北南下的傳說，與從南方北上的傳說二者並存的狀態。本文首先將說明筆者於田野中所見與那國島神話傳說在社會生活脈絡中的傳承狀況，之後將焦點置於與那國島四則有關人群起源傳說神話的比較研究上：（一）人群從南方起源的「太陽所」（Tidan Duguru）神話，論證該起源傳說，應當屬盛行於臺灣北海岸與東海岸族群的「Sunasai傳說圈」之一；（二）有關浩劫餘生傳說二則－－「得那達縱穴」（Donada-abu）傳說中的「同胞配偶型」要素，與另一則「仲間曾根」（Nagama-suni）傳說中的母系繼承的要素常見於臺灣東部諸族群，而這二者卻未見於八重山諸島以北地區；（三）人群從北方漂流至此的「犬婿」（Inugang）傳說，福田晃曾闢文分析這則神話的傳播情形。筆者經由與臺灣及華南的類似神話相比較分析的結果，得出不同結論。筆者認為這個傳說與日本各地二十九例較為相近，應該是由北往南傳播的傳說。透過與那國島人群起源傳說的兩個源流之解讀，亦即南下與北上的傳說並存的狀態，筆者試圖在臺灣與沖繩之間的關聯性課題上，提出從與那國島引發的一些思考，裨有助於釐清東臺灣海域島嶼文化的特性。

Even though Okinawa and Taiwan are very close in terms of geographicalpropinquity, their ethnic compositions are distinct, being Okinawan and(speakign of the aborigines only ) Austronesian respectively. The historicalrecord leaves a lacuna with regard to the interactions between these twopopulation groups, and their ethnic affinity remain a 'missing link,' yet to beaccounted for any convincing explication. The Yaeyama Archipelago, locatedwithin a short distance from the northeastern coast of Taiwan, presents anespecially significant case. Ethnological research of these islands has tendedto study their populations in relation to ethnic groups of Japan to the north,failing to make any in-depth comparative investigation of the ethnicrelationship between Yaeyama and Taiwan. In two papers published in 1952 and1972, Toichi Mabuchi tries to trace this relationship through oral tradition,but without definite result. During the 90's I conducted fieldwork on YonaguniIsland, which is the nearest to Taiwan geographically. In my research I havegathered some myths and legends related to ethnic origin, and these narrativesindicate both a north-to-south and a south-to-north trajectory of populationmovement. This paper presents, first, the social context within which thefolklore has been transmitted on Yonaguni Island. Subsequently, the discussionwill be focused on a comparative analysis of four Yonaguni Island narrativesabout population origin. 1)The myth titled Tidan Dugurn speaks of a place of theislander's origin far away to the south. I try to demonstrate that this originmyth is a version of the Sunasai complex, which is prevalent among the ethnicgroups of Taiwan's north and east coasts. The most important evidence for myargument comes from Nenozo Utsushikawa's (1936) account of the Sunasai mythrecorded among the Kavalan people,and the Sunasai myth in Kavalana languagegathered by Jun Shimizu (1985), also among the Kavalan people. 2)A prominentfeature in Donada-abu legend of disaster-and-survival adventures is 'siblingmarriage, ' which is frequently encountered in Taiwan. Also, martilinealinheritance, a topic occurring in a Nagama-suni legend, is quite common amongthe ethnic groups of eastern Taiwan. These two features, significantly, are bothabsent in the mythologies of the islands north of Yaeyama Archipelago. 3)thecourse of transmission of the legend that Yonaguni Islanders' ancestors havedrifted to the islands from north, as given in Unugang stories, has beenanalyzed by the Japanese mythologist Akira Fukuda. With regard to this, I cometo a different conclusion through a comparison of this legend and similarstories from Taiwan and southern China. I will maintain that this legend is moreclosely related to 29 versions from various locations of Japan, thus indicatingit has taken a north-to-south route of transmission. With this explication ofthe different sources for Yonaguni Island's mythology of ethnic origin, myintention is to elucidate, from the vantage point of Yonaguni Island, theaffinity between Taiwan and Okinawan, in the hope that this will help shed lighton the cultural characteristics of the islands off Taiwan's east coast. Thequestion still remains, however:How are we deal with the fact that various andcontrasting types of origin myth come to co-exist on an island less than 30square kilometers in size ﹖ This may well be a cultural characteristic of theislands off the east cost of Taiwan. I would conclude that this archipelago hasbeen a point of confluence for myths and legends originating from differentsources, which results in a state seeming discordance and inconsistency. In sucha circumstance, therefore, culture elements from various historical periods canco-exist within the same space and at the same time. This is quite distinct fromthe stage-by-stage development model of the continental type, and it behoovesour attention in our study of island cultures in the circum-east Taiwan Sea.