The Muramatsu-Gear (Le Sacre du Printemps)

The "Muramatsu-Gear" is said to be one of the traditional events held by Russian aborigines, GIYACK, who lived in the east side of Hokkaido (the northern part of Japan, called Ezo in those days) until the middle of the Meiji era (the late nineteenth century). The strange custom was named after Yusaku Muramatsu (being called Yuta in his childhood) in the fief of Matsumae, who engaged in the aborigines' field survey.

In the village of GIYACK, on every January 8 (according to the present calendar), the "Muramatsu-Gear" is said to be held as a festival to invite spring. For them who lived on the severe land, it was the most important festival that symbolized a rebirth from death (winter), a birth of new life, and a new generation.

Seventeen females formed a circle (large circle) facing toward the center and five males formed a circle (small circle) inside the large circle turning round inscribing the large one like two meshing gears. The large circle symbolized the only living area formed in the dead cosmos extending infinitely and the small circle symbolized humans and animals who enjoyed their transitory life in the small cosmos protected by the large one, which is commented as a moving mandala expressing GIYACK's vision of the universe symbolically.

Yusaku Muramatsu reported that the elder chose seventeen females and five males who took part in this rite. See the below instructions to play "Muramatsu-Gear."

According to the record, other than the sound made by men's bells and castanets (a musical instrument for making sound by striking two pieces of wood together), there was voice sound made by women; each of women had her specific pitch and sang her own pitch at the state of "earth" (together with the sound of castanets), which sounded like a femal chorus as a whole. At present, there is no clue to further details.

One theory holds that the changes of the states of "man and woman forming a point of contact by being inscribed" show the consensus of heaven and earth (the area of life and death), a reconciliation, sexual union, or the exchange of genes. Actually, GIYACK is known as being polygamous.

Such movement by men who go around like butterflies among many women (3.4 times as many as men in this rite) seems to us immoral and funny, but it is said that it tells their everyday life of the minority race in a harsh nature, and their severe history of the men who were always in short in number in the village, not only because of conflicts among tribes, but also the later invasion by the Yamato race (today's Japanese).

Photo (please see the end of this page): Reproduction of "Muramatsu-Gear"
by the members of the Society for Researching Local Customs in Hokkaido (at Hokkaido Unversity of Education Sapporo).


Let's Play The Muramatsu-Gear !

Players: 17 women and 5 men
Instruments: 5 jingle bells and 5 castanets

Instructions:

The women should form an evenly-spaced circle formation, facing towards the center.

Men are to form a smaller circle, which is to be enclosed by the larger women's cirlce. Men are positioned so that there is only one man facing one of the women.

All male players hold castanets in their left hands and small bells in their right hands.

Participants choose whether they are "heaven" or "earth". Those who are "heaven" raise their right hand to the sky.

The man-woman couple facing each other change their status according to the following rules:
If both are "heaven", they remain "heaven".
If one of them is "earth", they both become "earth".
If both of them are "earth", they both become "heaven".

The two players raise their hands accordingly and they both ring the man's bell if their new status is "heaven" and his castanets if it is "earth".

The smaller circle moves so that the man to the immediate right of the male player becomes face to face with the woman immediate left to the female player.

These new players change their status according to the rules above, and the game moves on by repeating the subsequent steps.


村松ギヤ(春の祭典)

「村松ギヤ」は、明治中期まで北海道北東部一帯に居住していたと伝えられるロシア系
先住民ギヤック族によって行われていた祭事と言われ、幕末期に北海道
(当時の蝦夷地)で先住民族の現地調査を行っていた松前藩の村松勇作(幼名、勇太)の
報告によって現在に伝えられている奇習である。

ギヤックの村では毎年欠かさず1月8日(現在の暦による)に、春を呼び寄せる行事として
この「村松ギヤ」が行われていたと伝えられ、極寒の大地に生きる彼らにとって、それは
死(=冬)からの再生、そして生命の誕生と躍動を象徴する最も重要な祭りであった。

円の中心に向かって並んだ17人の女達の輪(大円)の内周を、歯車のようにかみ合わせながら
回転しつつ移動する5人の男達の輪(小円)はそれぞれ、無限に広がる死の宇宙にぽっかりと
形成された生の領域(大円)と、その大円に守られた小宇宙の中で束の間の生命を謳歌する人間や
動物たち(小円)の様子を象徴しているものと言われ、それはギヤック人達の宇宙観を象徴的に
表した、いわば変化し続ける曼陀羅だと評されている。


「村松ギヤ」の演奏法(村松勇作の記録による)

●長老に選ばれた17人の女と5人の男がこの祭儀に参加する。
●女は等間隔に並んで輪を作り輪の中心に向って立つ。
●すべての女と男はひとりひとりが最初にふたつの状態、「天」と「地」の状態のどちらかに
 決め、「天」の状態に決めた男女は右手を上げて天を示す
●男達はそれぞれ、鈴を右手に、カスタネット(木片を打ち合わせる楽器)を左手に持ち、
 女達の輪の内側に小さな円を作り、その中のひとりの男だけが女達の輪の決められたひとりの
 女と向かい合うように立つ。(内接する接点の男女)
●女の輪(大円)に内接するこの男の輪(小円)にいる一組の男女(内接する接点の男女)は
 二人の状態によってそれぞれの状態を以下のように変える。

出会った時の状態> 新しい状態
女=天 男=天 > 女=天 男=天
女=天 男=地 > 女=地 男=地
女=地 男=天 > 女=地 男=地
女=地 男=地 > 女=天 男=天

●内接する接点の男女は互いの手を合わせて、新しい状態に従い「天」ならば鈴、
「地」ならばカスタネットを一回一緒に打ち鳴らす。
●すぐに男の左隣の男が左隣にいる(女からみれば右隣の)女と一緒に同様の行為を行う。
●それらを順次いつまでも繰り返す。


残された記録によると、男達が受け持つ鈴とカスタネットの音の他に、女達はそれぞれが
固有の音階音を受け持ち、「地」の状態になると(カスタネットを鳴らすと同時に)
その音程を歌い、全体として女声合唱のような響きを生みだした、と村松は伝えているが
現在、その詳細を知る手がかりは失われている。

「内接する接点の男女」の状態変化は一説によれば天と地(生と死の領域)の交感、和解、
さらには男女の交合、或いは遺伝子の交換を表しているものだと言われ、実際にギアック族では
一夫多妻制であったことが知られている。
一見、多数の女性(この儀礼では男に対して3.4倍)の間を蝶が舞うように渡り歩く少数の
男性の動きは現代人にとってあるいは非道徳的で面白おかしくも見えるが、それは厳しい大自然に生きる
少数民族の日常、部族間の抗争はもとより後の大和民族の侵略まで続く村の恒常的な男性不足という
民族の過酷な歴史を物語るものだという。

北海道郷土民俗研究会のみなさんによる「村松ギヤ」再現の様子
(北海道教育大学札幌校にて)

Download simulation software of The Muramatsu-Gear
(788Kb only for MacOS 8.x-9.x ..sorry)
Please load 3 sound files manually before clicking the start/stop button.

NEW! : Sounds of the Muramatsu-Gear a la Hiroshima (mp3)

About Reverse-Simulation Music (Email-Bulletin "METHOD" #20)

村松ギヤ拡張版:波動昇降/鈴掛マタリ by 村松ギヤ・エンジン

広島風波動昇降/鈴掛マタリ by 村松ギヤ・エンジン
プレーヤーズ・マニュアル
(志賀有希子さん作)

ギヤック(逆)シミュレーション音楽、なんちて・・