A Comparative Study of Child-birth Gods in Korea and Japan

한일(韓日) 산육신(産育神) 비교 연구

This thesis comparatively looks into folklore faiths, expecially child-birth gods related to child-birth customs and aims to find out both nations' faith in child-birth gods and their features. It looks into birth gods protecting delivering mothers and babies by appearing at the delivery sites at time of delivery and child-rearing gods intervening in growth of babies after they are born. In both nations, many gods are believed in for selection of babies, safe delivery and their healthy growth but those appearing at delivery sites are only birth goddesses called Samsinhalmony and Obugami. What make this phenomenon appear in both nations' folklore faiths? Seeing the reason in the fact that common negative concept regarding childbirth exists in both nations' established faiths, the writer comparatively analyzed various cases of delivery-related defilement in both nations' delivery customs. Its result showed that Japan is stronger in delivery-related defilement concept than Korea is. For instance, Japan regard child birth-related defilement more horrible than that related to funeral. Pursuantly, in Japan stricter regulations on childbirth rooms and stricter taboos for babies have been passed down. Besides, in the process of its comparative study on both nations' divine images and appearances, the writer paid attention to the fact that unlike Japan's mountain gods and restroom goddesses appearing at delivery sites, they don't get involved in childbirth in Korea and discussed Japan's theory of reincarnation and its mountain goddess' marginal nature working behind the curtain. I also discussed the phenomenon that both nations' childbirth gods are passed down as Three gods, which means that their faith in childbirth gods has to be seen as a result of the faith in childbirth gods interacting with the faith in Three gods or the Three-gods theory, accordingly I indicated that it is worth re-consideration to see the Three-God Theory as the core of the faith in Samsinhalmoni. Lastly, though in both nations' childbirth faith underlies their fear for divine beings, the faith in childbirth gods, strongly coupled with death heritages, is distributed throughout the nation, which is because Japan's childbirth gods intervening in birth and growth of a new life also actually involve themselves deeply in the sphere of death as well.