☆ 中国の十二支 Chinese Zodiac

Спасибо за глядя на мой блог из России.

先日、大阪の天満宮に行った時に、ふと正門の天井を見上げると、十二支を描いた巨大なメダルのようなものが、貼り付けてあった。そのデザインと色使いに、しばし見とれていた。

Chinese Zodiac

十二支とは、子・丑・寅・卯・辰・巳・午・未・申・酉・戌・亥の総称である。いつ頃生まれた話かは不明であるが、十二支の動物に関しての逸話がふたつある。(Wikipediaより）

• お釈迦様のもとに新年の挨拶に来た順番に動物を割り当てた。
• 十二支の動物を指定日に挨拶に来た順番に決定する、というお釈迦様の招集により集まった。

そして次のような結果がもたらされたという話になっている。

• 牛は足が遅いので早めに行ったものの、一番乗りしたのは牛の背中に乗っていた鼠だった。
• 鶏が猿と犬の間になったのは仲の悪い両者を仲裁していたため。
• 鼠は猫に挨拶に行く日を尋ねられた際に嘘をつき、実際よりも一日遅い日を教えたため、猫は十二支に入ることができなかった。それを根に持った猫は鼠を追いかけるようになった。
• 猫は鼠の嘘を信じて一日遅れて挨拶に行ったため、お釈迦様から「今まで寝ていたのか。顔を洗って出直して来い」と言われ、それからよく顔を洗うようになった。

Main Gate of Tenmangu Shrine

Recently, when I went to Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka, I suddenly looked up at the ceiling of the main gate and found something like a giant and painted Zodiac medal were pasted.  The beautiful design and multi colors fascinated me for a while.
Chinese Zodiac is the generic name for Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.

* Narrative about the origin of Chinese ZodiacThe Chinese Zodiac is based on a twelve year cycle, each year being represented by an animal. Find the year you were born to determine your own sign.

When you talk about birth is unknown, there are anecdotes about the Zodiac animals. Let me introduce two stories about how did it.

☆Assigned to the animals came in order to greet for the New Year under the Buddha.

☆Determine the order came to greet on the specified date of the Zodiac animals gathered by the convocation of the Buddha.

The notion has been brought the following results.

☆     Although Ox can’t walk fast, so started earlier, but the first one was Rat to arrive, because the Rat was riding on the back of the Ox.

☆     Relation between Monkey and Dog were not good. While, Rooster arrived in between them, because the Rooster was in arbitration for them.

☆     The Rat told a lie to the Cat when he asked the Rat about the date to go to greet, but he was told one day later than it actually is.   Therefore, the Cat could not enter the Zodiac.  The Cat which got angry to it began to chase the Rat since then.

☆     Because the Cat went to greet one day later by believing the lie of the Rat, the Buddha told the Cat,” Were you sleeping till now? Come on again after washing your face.”  Since then, the Cat began to wash the face well.

                        http://www.chinatoday.com/culture/zodiac/zodiac.htm