龔鵬程x斯特格|日常生活的重建

〈本報特別報導〉

龔鵬程大學堂對話海外學者本次對話為

布麗吉特·斯特格教授(Dr Brigitte Steger)

劍橋大學現代日本研究副教

龔鵬程教授:您好。您發展的文化歷史和日常生活人類學,很有意思。過去,黑澤明拍戲時,為了確定古代武士吃飯的時間,很費了一番考證。因為不同朝代人吃兩餐還是三餐、什麼時候吃,還是很不一樣的。而這些生活細節,有時文獻記載反而不清楚。中國古代詩話經常考證詩人杜甫、白居易那時長安米價多少錢,即是如此。您研究睡眠時間,也具有這種意義,可就此聊聊嗎?

布麗吉特·斯特格:龔教授,您好。人們認為自己的飲食、睡眠和洗澡習慣是理所當然的,所以他們很少寫到這些習慣。這樣,從歷史資料中研究日常習慣就會非常費時費力。儘管每個人都認為它們是自然而然的,但在當代社會,而且在不同的歷史時段,這些習慣又是多種多樣的,它們在很大程度上揭示了每個社會的主要價值觀。

在許多社會中,家庭生活都是圍繞著廚房和用餐場所進行的。因此,在一千年前的日本文學名著中,如《枕草子》和《源氏物語》很少提到食物和吃飯的地方,多少有些令人驚訝。相反,正如我在即將出版的關於平安時代日本睡眠習慣的書中所論述的那樣,家庭其實是圍繞睡眠場所構建形成的。

在我的研究中,我發現貴族女孩在其成年儀式上會收到一張帷幔床(日語:幾帳)。這種床可以確認——或者在某些情況下提升——一個女孩的社會地布麗吉特·斯特格教授(Dr Brigitte Steger)

劍橋大學現代日本研究副教授。

龔鵬程教授:您好。您發展的文化歷史和日常生活人類學,很有意思。過去,黑澤明拍戲時,為了確定古代武士吃飯的時間,很費了一番考證。因為不同朝代人吃兩餐還是三餐、什麼時候吃,還是很不一樣的。而這些生活細節,有時文獻記載反而不清楚。中國古代詩話經常考證詩人杜甫、白居易那時長安米價多少錢,即是如此。您研究睡眠時間,也具有這種意義,可就此聊聊嗎?

布麗吉特·斯特格:龔教授,您好。人們認為自己的飲食、睡眠和洗澡習慣是理所當然的,所以他們很少寫到這些習慣。這樣,從歷史資料中研究日常習慣就會非常費時費力。儘管每個人都認為它們是自然而然的,但在當代社會,而且在不同的歷史時段,這些習慣又是多種多樣的,它們在很大程度上揭示了每個社會的主要價值觀。

在許多社會中,家庭生活都是圍繞著廚房和用餐場所進行的。因此,在一千年前的日本文學名著中,如《枕草子》和《源氏物語》很少提到食物和吃飯的地方,多少有些令人驚訝。相反,正如我在即將出版的關於平安時代日本睡眠習慣的書中所論述的那樣,家庭其實是圍繞睡眠場所構建形成的。

在我的研究中,我發現貴族女孩在其成年儀式上會收到一張帷幔床(日語:幾帳)。這種床可以確認——或者在某些情況下提升——一個女孩的社會地位,並為她的婚姻做準備。當一個男人追求一個女人時,他會在她的帷幔後面與她交談,經過三個晚上的交流與詩歌對答後,他們就會交換誓言。因此,女人的臥室是建立婚姻、生育孩子和度過大量家庭時間的地方。

這與其他文化中由新郎家庭提供嫁妝的習俗完全不同。這表明平安時代的日本貴族家庭有很強的母系因素。儘管有來自中國的父權制影響,可婚姻往往是由父母為家庭而不是為個人安排的。

您問到了睡眠時間。我們常常認為,在電燈發明之前,人們從黃昏睡到黎明,只在有日照的時間段內活動。但這並不是真實的情況。事實上,有證據表明,在整個歷史中,無論是為了工作還是為了娛樂,都有活躍的夜生活,也有許多關於白天睡眠的故事。

您可能知道,我曾研究過日本的小憩習慣(日語:居眠り)——就是在做著某件事情的時候打瞌睡,比如坐火車或參加商務會議——而且我發表在BBC未來頻道的一篇文章已經被翻譯成中文。

日本人經常以如下方式向我解釋小憩的普遍性:在日本的生活是如此繁忙,以至於我們經常疲憊不堪,白天只要有安靜的時刻就會忍不住打瞌睡;我們能夠通過這種方式來彌補晚上的睡眠不足,是因為日本是一個特別安全的國家。然而,通過對睡眠的歷史研究,我們發現,自古以來,在旁人在場的環境中打瞌睡是很常見的,而且從來都不限於生活方式繁忙或生活在安全環境中的人。

在流行文化中,只有武士被認為能夠在睡覺時保持警惕。在黑澤明的電影《七武士》中,同名的英雄們保護著一個農民村莊,並在晚上輪流守夜。菊千代自稱是武士,但實際上他是農民出身。其中一個橋段是他陷入了沉睡,而他的兩位同袍證明了在真正遭遇危險時,他是多麼不堪一擊。另一方面,作為武士美德的縮影,久藏則常以坐姿擁劍而眠。當他察覺到了危險的來臨,就迅速消失在樹林中,在其他一直醒著的人察覺到聲音之前擊殺襲擊者。這與先前談到的小憩習慣類似,皆為一種以不完全昏睡的方式獲得睡眠的方式。

People take their eating, sleeping and bathing habits for granted, so they seldom write about them. This makes it very difficult and time consuming to research everyday habits from historical sources. Even though everyone thinks of them as natural, there is great diversity in such habits in contemporary society as well as historically and they reveal much about the key values in each society.

In many societies family life revolves around the kitchen and the dining place. Thus it is somewhat surprising to discover that food and the eating place are seldom mentioned in well-known works of Japanese literature from a thousand years ago, such as The Pillow Book and The  Tale of Genji. Instead, as I argue in my forthcoming book on sleep habits in Heian-period Japan, families were constituted in and around the sleeping place. In my research I discovered that aristocratic girls received a curtained bed on the occasion of their coming-of-age ceremony. Such a bed served to confirm – or in some cases to elevate – a girl’s social status and prepare her for marriage. When a man was courting a woman, he would visit her behind her curtains, and after three nights followed by an exchange of poems they would exchange vows. Thus, a woman’s bedroom was the place in which a marriage was established, children created and much family time was spent. This is quite different from the custom of a dowry given to the bridegroom’s family in other cultures. It shows that there was a strong matrilineal element to aristocratic families in Heian Japan, despite the patriarchal influence from China and the fact that marriages were often arranged by parents for the sake of the family rather than the individual.

You asked about sleep times. We often assume that before the invention of electric light people slept from dusk to dawn and stayed awake throughout the hours of daylight. But this is not the true picture. There is, in fact, evidence of an active nightlife throughout history, both for work and for pleasure, and also many stories about daytime sleep.

You may be aware that I have studied the habit of inemuri in Japan – dozing off while officially doing something else, such as riding on a train or attending a business meeting – and that one of my articles which was published on BBC Future has been translated into Chinese. Japanese people have often explained the prevalence of inemuri to me in the following way: Life in Japan is so busy that we are constantly exhausted and cannot help dozing off during the day whenever there is a quiet moment; we are able to make up for lack of sleep at night in this way because Japan is such a safe country. However, through studying sleep historically, it has become evident that dozing off in the company of others has been common since ancient times and has never been restricted to people with busy lifestyles or those living in a safe environment.

In popular culture, it is only the samurai who are believed to be able to stay alert while asleep. In Kurosawa’s film ‘The Seven Samurai’ the eponymous heroes protect a peasant village and take turns to keep watch at night. Kikuchiyo, who claims to be a samurai but is actually of peasant stock, falls into a deep sleep and two of his comrades demonstrate how easily he could be overcome in the event of a real attack. Kyūzō, on the other hand, as the epitome of samurai virtue, sleeps in the sitting position while embracing his sword. He senses approaching danger and quickly disappears into the woods and kills the attackers before the others, who have been awake, have detected a sound. Inemuri is a way to catch some shut-eye without withdrawing completely.

龔鵬程教授:我覺得中國人和日本人的文化歷史,和日常生活是息息相關的。例如吃飯,三餐性質不同,會分開處理,吃的東西不一樣。睡覺,早、午、晚也不同。吃藥,尤其慎重,早或晚、飯前還是飯後,都不同。也就是要考慮生活之物的“時間性”。

一天如此,擴大到一月或一年,那就更講究,以至於非常強調“月令之學”。令,就是生活的號令、規律。事實上,這也是瞭解中國和日本人日常生活的總綱領,目前日本比中國保存得還好。您在這方面,有何觀察?

布麗吉特·斯特格教授:在七世紀,日本政府引進了基於中國唐朝法律和法典的律令管理制度。這包括引入一套日曆和時間系統,以十二生肖與陰陽五行的干支組合為基礎。因此,日本成為中國宇宙論的一部分,基於時間計算的占卜對宮廷中人們的日常生活產生了重大影響。此外,文官必須學習中國的經典,以及數學、天文學和曆法學。

然而,在實踐中,日本的行政管理模式很快就與更嚴格的中國制度產生了分歧。日本貴族對科學沒有表現出極大的熱情,往往把掌握這種技能的工作留給下層。相反,他們更喜歡對美的追求,他們經常在詩歌中表達這種追求。吃飯和睡覺等日常活動很少按照官方公佈的十二時辰來安排,人們更關注其他的報時信號。

例如,早晨的第一聲雞鳴標誌著一天的開始,也標誌著與情人過夜的男人應該回家了。人們喜歡在一年中觀察自然界——無論是花、雪還是螢火蟲——並根據季節變化更換他們的衣服。

In the seventh century, the Japanese government introduced the ritsuryō system of administration based on the laws and codes of Tang China. This included the introduction of a calendar and time system based on a sexagenary cycle of zodiacs and basic elements. Thus Japan became part of the Chinese cosmology with divination based on time calculations exerting a significant influence on people’s daily lives at court. In addition, civil servants had to study the Chinese classics, as well as mathematics, astronomy and calendar science.

However, in practice the Japanese model of administration soon came to diverge from the  more rigorous Chinese system. Japanese aristocrats displayed no great enthusiasm for science and often left the mastery of such skills to the lower ranks. Instead, they preferred the pursuit of beauty, which they often expressed in their poetry. Everyday activities such as eating and sleeping were rarely scheduled according to the officially announced zodiac hours and people paid more attention to other time signals. For instance, it was the first cock’s crow in the morning that signalled the start of the day and the time when a man who had spent the night with his lover should return home. People loved to observe the natural world throughout the year – be it blossoms, the snow or fireflies – and they adjusted their clothes to the changing seasons.

龔鵬程教授:您提到:災難之後,可以通過重構傳統家庭組織和日常活動來恢復心理正常。這也是很有趣的。因為擴大到社會也常這樣,例如戰爭、社會劇烈轉型,都常引生傳統倫理的回歸。例如中國改革開放以來,經濟生活愈來愈好,老一輩人愈不滿,期待倫理回歸愈甚。

可是,這從個人說,可能是要經由重建傳統威權秩序以“恢復正常”。從國家或社會說,卻可能是重新強化了威權組織與秩序。您覺得我們該為此擔憂嗎?

布麗吉特·斯特格教授:撇除災難或戰爭等突如其來會威脅生命的情況之外,無法知曉未來的生活狀態是會產生極大的不安全感的。人們有強烈的願望建立確定性,並經常表達了對“恢復正常”的期許,即使這種 "正常 "並不那麼盡如人意。也顯然,人們似乎回到了更古樸、更保守的傳統或美德體系中,這是事實。

例如,性別不平等在危機中往往會變得更加明顯。2011年3月日本發生海嘯災難後,女性失去工作的比例高於男性,因為她們傾向於在當地工作,而她們的工作場所被摧毀。

政治強化了這一趨勢。清理廢墟和開始重建城鎮創造了新的工作機會,但這些工作主要是為男性提供的,而女性則主要從事照顧家庭和社區的無償工作。

同樣的情況也可在新冠疫情期間看到,"在家工作 "的婦女在照顧不能上學的孩子方面往往比她們的丈夫發揮更大的作用。

衛生/清潔/整潔與社會秩序之間總是存在著密切的關係。當我研究海嘯疏散庇護所的日常生活時,我觀察到正是清潔與烹飪等這類日常程式説明人們重新掌控他們的生活;這些活動並沒有使他們的房屋和城鎮恢復原狀,但它們讓人們知道如何戰勝生活中的小挑戰。

在疫情中,衛生習慣主要用於保護人們的健康和維護社會秩序,但它們也有可能被當局濫用,成為對人們的生活施加更大控制的手段。我們必須對此保持高度警惕。

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