Is Godzilla a Daidarabotchi or Flame Giant Surtr?

5.29.2022

ゴジラはダイダラボッチか炎の巨人スルトか
Is Godzilla a Daidarabotchi or Flame Giant Surtr?

人智の及ばぬ世界の謎を解き明かすため、 かつて人々は巨人や巨神の存在を夢想した。ゴジラがその神話の延長線上に位置するとしたら、我々になにを訴えかけてくるのだろうか。

In order to unravel the mystery of the world beyond human intelligence, people once dreamed of the existence of giants and giant gods. If Godzilla is an extension of that myth, what is it bringing to our attention?

文/卯月鮎
Composition / Uzuki Ayu

『ゴジラ2000 ミレニアム』は、初代「ゴジラ」と同様に、洋上の船がゴジラに襲われるところから始まる。神話の時代から、 人智を超える力は海からやってくるのだ。

“Godzilla 2000 Millennium” starts from the place where a ship at sea is attacked by Godzilla, like the first “Godzilla”. Since the age of mythology, power beyond human wisdom comes from the sea.

世界各地で語り継がれる巨人・巨神伝説

Legend of giants and giant gods handed down all over the world

ゴジラは宇宙からやってきた地球外生命体でもなければ、マッドサイエンティストが生 み出した生物兵器でもない。もともとは太平洋上の大戸島付近に生息し、水爆実験がきっかけで東京湾に襲来した古 生物だ。この「巨大な存在が海から現れる」という登場の仕方は非常に神話的な文脈を持ち、多くの人々がゴジラに惹きつけられた、隠れた要因のひとつではなかったかと思う。

Godzilla is neither an extraterrestrial being from outer space nor a biological weapon created by a mad scientist. Originally inhabited near Odo Island in the Pacific Ocean, it is an ancient creature that was invaded Tokyo Bay after the hydrogen bomb test. This appearance of “a huge being emerges from the sea” has a very mythical context, and I think it was one of the hidden factors that attracted many people to Godzilla.

世界各地には天地創造に関海から巨大な生物が姿を現する巨人・巨神伝説が数多く残る。日本でいえば民俗学者・ 柳田国男も追った「ダイダラボッチ」が有名だ。ダイダラボッチは、「ダダ坊」「デイラボー」など、微妙に名前は異なるものの広い地域で語り継がれてきた。東京や神奈川のいくつ かの池は、ダイダラボッチの足跡だったという由来を持ち、柳田國男も「武蔵野は水源が西 北にある故に、ダイダラ坊はいつでも海の方または大川の方から、奥地に向かいて闊歩したことになる」と考察してい る(『ダイダラ坊の足跡』より)。

Many legends of giants and giant gods, in which giant creatures appear from the sea, remain in various parts of the world. Speaking of Japan, “Daidarabotchi,” which was followed by folklore scholar Kunio Yanagita, is famous. Daidarabotchi has been handed down in a wide area, such as “Dadabo” and “Daidarabotchi,” although the names are slightly different. Some ponds in Tokyo and Kanagawa have their origins in the footprints of Daidarabotchi, and Kunio Yanagita also said, “Since Musashino has a water source in the northwest, Daidarabotchi always heads for the hinterland from the sea or Okawa. It means that he has walked a lot” (From “Footprints of Daidara-bo”).

Daidarabotchi (ダイダラボッチ) was a gigantic yokai in Japanese mythology, sometimes said to pose as a mountain range when sleeping. (Source: Daidarabotchi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daidarabotchi)

Kunio Yanagita, Japanese author, was a Japanese author, scholar, and folklorist. He began his career as a bureaucrat, but developed an interest in rural Japan and its folk traditions. This led to a change in his career. (Source: Kunio Yanagita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunio_Yanagita)

Musashino (武蔵野市, Musashino-shi) is a city located in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. (Source: Musashino, Tokyo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musashino,_Tokyo)

“Footprints of Daidara-bo” was originally published in “Chuokoron-Shin” in April 1927 by Kunio Yanagita. It is an important essay mentioned as the basis of the theory that the place name of “Daita” is derived from Daidarabotchi. (Source: ダイダラ坊の足跡 https://wiki.shimokitazawa.tokyo/pedia/ダイダラ坊の足跡)

また、三重県志摩市の波切神社には、沖の大王島から浜に来て悪さをするダンダラ法師(ダンダラボッチ)に、大きなわらじを見せ、千人力の村主 がいると思わせて追い返したという話が語り継がれている。といった光景は、私たち人類の記憶に焼きついているのかもしれない。

In addition, at Nakiri Shrine in Shima City, Mie Prefecture, there is a story that Daidarabotchi, who came to the beach from Odo Island off the coast and did bad things, made some big straw and made him think that there was a village owner of a thousand people and turned him back. It has been handed down. Such a scene may be imprinted on the memory of humankind.

海というわけではないが、 世界の巨人というと、スケールが大きいところでは北欧神話のユミルが思い浮かぶ。ニヴルへイムの霜とムスペルヘイムの熱風がぶつかった滴から生まれた巨人ユミルは、オーディンら三神に殺された。神々はユミルの肉から大地を、骨から岩を、血から海をつくったという。他にも、千頭・千眼・千足を持つインド神話の原人プルシャなど、例をあげたらキリがない。イギリスのストンヘンジや北アイルランドのジャイアンツ・コーズウェも巨人がつくったとされる。

It’s not the sea, but when it comes to giants in the world, the Norse mythology Ymir comes to mind in large scale areas. The giant Ymir, born of the frost of Niflheim and the hot air of Muspelheim, was killed by the three gods, including Odin. It is said that the gods made the earth from the flesh of Ymir, the rocks from his bones, and the sea from blood. Other than that, there is no end to the example, such as Purusha, the original man of Indian mythology who has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, and a thousand legs. Stonehenge in England and Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland are also said to have been created by giants.

Aurgelmir, also called Ymir, in Norse mythology, the first being, a giant who was created from the drops of water that formed when the ice of Niflheim met the heat of Muspelheim. Aurgelmir was the father of all the giants; a male and a female grew under his arm, and his legs produced a six-headed son (Source: Aurgelmir https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aurgelmir)

Niflheim: In Norse cosmology, Niflheim or Niflheimr is a location which sometimes overlaps with the notions of Niflhel and Hel. (Source: Niflheim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niflheim)

In Norse cosmology, Muspelheim, also called Muspell, is a realm of fire. The etymology of “Muspelheim” is uncertain, but may come from Mund-spilli, “world-destroyers,” “wreck of the world.” (Source: Muspelheim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muspelheim)

Odin is a widely revered god in Germanic mythology. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet, and depicts him as the husband of the goddess Frigg. (Source: Odin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin)

Purusha was a cosmic being whose sacrifice by the gods created all life. (Source: Purusha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purusha)

Captions

妖怪の一種・海坊主もまた海から現れる人ならざる存在。江戸時代の日本においても恐れられていた。 (『東海道五十三対』より「桑名」/国立国会図書館所蔵)

Umibozu, a kind of yokai, is also a person who appears from the sea. It was also feared in Japan during the Edo period. (“Kuwana” from “Fifty-three Pairs of Tokaido” / National Diet Library Collection)

Umibozu (海坊主, “sea priest”) is a paranormal phenomenon or yōkai from Japanese folklore. Other names include Umihōshi (海法師, “sea priest”) or Uminyūdō (海入道, “sea priest”). (Source: Umiboz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umibōzu)

“Fifty-three 對 Tokaido” / “Fifty-three pairs of Tokaido” is a large-sized vertical painting by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige Utagawa, and Toyokuni Utagawa in the late Edo period. (Source: Fifty-three pairs of Tokaido https://www.bloges.wiki/wiki/ja/東海道五十三對)

東海道五十三對
Fifty-three lords of Tokaido

北欧神話では、神々に殺された巨人ユミルの肉体から大地や海ができたとされる。はたしてゴジラが生み出す・・・・・・ もしくは破壊するものとは。

In Norse mythology, it is said that the earth and the sea were created from the body of the giant Ymir, who was killed by the gods. What does Godzilla produce … or destroy?

伝説の延長線上に存在するゴジラ
Godzilla that exists on the extension of the legend

どうして山ができたのか、だれがここに大きな岩を運んだのか。そうした考えてもわからない疑問の答えを巨人や巨大生物に求めるというのは、太古からの普遍的な考え方なのだろう。もしかしたらゴジラもその延長線上にあるかもしれない。ただし、どちらか というと天地創造主よりも破壊神に近いだろうが……。

Why was the mountain formed and who brought the big rock here? It is a universal idea from ancient times to ask giants and giant creatures for answers to questions that cannot be understood even if they think about it. Maybe Godzilla is also an extension of that. However, he would be closer to the God of Destruction than the Creator of Heaven and Earth …

初代『ゴジラ』がつくられた終戦直後、そして冷戦が続いた昭和の時代、核戦争が起これば、街のひとつやふたつは 簡単に消滅してしまう。「終末 思想」として流行した、そんなそこはかとない破滅の予感が、ゴジラという怪物を生み出したという考え方もできる。思えば、北欧神話に予言された世界の終末、ラグナロクでは炎の巨人スルトや巨人の軍勢が神々の国へ侵攻し、スルトの火によってすべてが滅んだ。

Immediately after the end of the war when the first “Godzilla” was created, and in the Showa era when the Cold War continued, if a nuclear war broke out, one or two of the cities would easily disappear. It is possible to think that Godzilla, a monster, was created by the premonition of ruin that was popular as “end-of-life thought.” If you think about it, at the end of the world predicted by Norse mythology, in Ragnarok, the fire giant Surtr and the army of giants invaded the land of the gods, and everything was destroyed by the fire of Surtr.

In Norse mythology, Ragnarok is a series of events, including a great battle, foretelling the death of a number of great figures (Source: Ragnarok https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnarök)

In Norse mythology, Surtr is a jötunn, a type of supernatural being in Germanic mythology. (Source: Surtr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surtr)

ゴジラは人間になにかを気づかせて、人類が新たな一歩を踏み出すきっかけとなる創世の巨神なのか。はたまた驕り高ぶる人類を滅亡に導く破 壊神なのか。ゴジラが海に帰る日、地球の姿とは……。

Is Godzilla a giant of creation that makes humans aware of something and triggers humanity to take a new step? Is he a destructive god that leads to the destruction of the arrogant human race? The day Godzilla returns to the sea, what is the appearance of the earth?

Source: ゴジラ完全解読 (宝島社, p 96-97)