View of life and death as a factor of the longevity -structure and function in Okinawa-

本文的建议是考虑我们的假设：冲绳特有宗教支持的生死观有助于冲绳人缓解压力，进而成为冲绳人长寿的一个因素。我们采取了各种方法；社会心理学、老年心理学和心理健康。我们在养老院进行问卷调查，在社区进行实地调查，对冲绳萨满“玉塔”笔记进行内容分析，对冲绳文学作品进行内容分析。由此得出以下关于生死观的结论。冲绳的老人并不认为自己的死亡导致了与家人的关系破裂。主要原因是人们相信以祖先崇拜为基础的宇宙论，来生的人与家人在这个世界上的关系是通过“乌查托”（一种日常工作，向来生的人提供茶和祈祷）和各种年度活动来维持的。因此，老年人需要在这个世界上得到家庭的承诺来祈祷。这应许是对死无所忧虑和责任的要求。祭祖活动对冲绳人，特别是老年妇女，缓解压力和保持精神健康很有帮助。敬老院老人对自己的死亡存在着心理冲突和观念冲突，存在着理想与现实的差距。从整体上考虑了冲绳特有的宗教作为冲绳人长寿的因素和老年人的实际问题。

The propose of this paper is to consider our hypothesis : a view of life and death supported by Okinawan peculiar religion has been useful for Okinawan people in relaxing stress, and further been a factor of the longevity of Okinawan people. We adopted various approaches ; social psychology, gerontological psychology, and mental health.We carried out questionnaire researches in homes for the aged, field work in community, content analysis of notes of Okinawan shaman "yuta", and content analysis of Okinawan literary work. And thus the following results about the view of life and death were obtained. Old people in Okinawa did not think that their own death resulted in the breaking off the relation with their family. The main reason was that people has believed the cosmology based on ancestor worship, the relation of a person in the next world with his family in this world was maintained by "uchato" (a daily work, offering tea and praying to person in the next world) and various annual events. Therefor it was need for the aged to get family's in this world promise to pray. This promise was a requirement to death without worry and a duty. Doing events of ancestor worship was useful for Okinawan people, especially old women, to relax their stress and maintain their mental health. Old people in the home for the aged have felt psychological conflict and their idea, and there was the gap between the ideal and the real about their own death.As a whole Okinawan peculiar religion as a factor Okinawan longevity and actual problems for the aged were considered.