「仁」と「子」

取り敢えず、Guardianの記事を貼り付けておく;


Japanese prince born ending royal heir crisis

Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Thursday September 7, 2006

Guardian
Japanese royalists were celebrating yesterday after Princess Kiko, the wife of the emperor's younger son, gave birth to a baby boy who will one day become the 128th emperor of Japan.

The rest of the country greeted the prince's arrival with relief that a boy had been born into the imperial family for the first time in more than 40 years, thereby averting a succession crisis that had threatened to bring one of the world's oldest monarchies to the brink of extinction.

The 2.55kg (5lb 10oz) baby and his mother were both said to be doing well following the delivery, by caesarean section, at a private hospital in Tokyo.

The baby's arrival is expected to put on hold talk of reforming Japan's succession law to allow females to inherit the chrysanthemum throne. The prince, who will be named in an ancient ceremony in a week's time, is the first male to be born into the imperial family since his father, Prince Akishino, in 1965.

Akishino, 40, has yet to speak publicly about the birth but was quoted as thanking his wife for "a job well done" as she emerged from the operating theatre. "I'm back," was her reported response.

"That's great," said the prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, who withdrew plans to introduce a bill allowing the emperor's first child to ascend the throne, regardless of gender, days after Kiko's pregnancy was announced in February.

The prince's birth has boosted the cause of conservatives who believe that allowing females to ascend the throne would destroy a lineage that, according to royalists, can be traced back 2,600 years to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Omikami.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329570556-108018,00.html

この記事のようにアマテラスのジェンダーを自明なものとすることはできないのだが。

『東方早報』(9月6日付)も1面を使って報道していた。その中で注目したのは、王〓*1「男孩呼“仁”女孩叫“子”」という記事。先ず日本の皇室の伝統によれば、出生して7日後に「命名儀式」を行わなければならないとして、次のように述べる;


一般来説、日本天皇的直径子孫名字最後有“仁”這個字、意為“最崇高的男子”;女性皇族則通常会在名字裏放個“子”、 意為“貴婦人”。男女尊称裏則都有“宮”字。這是公元858年清和天皇即位以来一直保留下来的伝統。現任天皇和皇太子的名字分別是“継宮明仁”和“浩宮徳仁”。
為男孩子取名“仁”在日本平民中依然很罕見、不過為女孩子取名“子”近年来已漸趨流行。不過、無論日本皇室最終確定為這個新血脈取甚麼名字、可以預見的是、它都必将引領日本新生児的取名風潮。
この記事は、「日本國學院大学古典文学教授大原康男」に依っているようなのだけれど、あのパンチ・パーマの先生って、「古典文学」専攻でしたっけ?
それから、「日本皇室家譜」というのが載っているのだが、そこには「公元前660年、神武天皇是日本第一位天皇」とある。

*1:jing4. 青+見。GB8606.