@article{oai:minpaku.repo.nii.ac.jp:00004428,
 author = {中山, 和芳 and Nakayama, Kazuyoshi},
 issue = {4},
 journal = {国立民族学博物館研究報告, Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology},
 month = {Mar},
 note = {This paper describes and analyses social change which
occurred on Ponape, Micronesia, from the late-1820s to 1886,
with special reference to the reception of Christianity among 
the Ponapeans.
 Ponape was divided into five autonomous chiefs. The head of the
two sets were the Nahnmwarki (paramount chiefs) and the Nahnken
(ministers).
A man of the two lines was encouraged to marry his father's
sister's daughter. Since descent and succession were matrilineal,
a son of the Nahnmwarki, or high chief in the Nahnmwarki's line,
by a woman in the Nahnken's line would be classified as a member
of the Nahnken's line, and could become the Nahnken, and vice
versa. The Nahnmwarki and the Nahnken were, therefore, frequently
related by blood. Sometimes the latter was the son of the
former. The myth on the origin of titles relates that the first
Nahnken was the son of the Nahnmwarki. Based on this type of
marriage and also the myth, the Nahnken was regarded as the
son of the reigning Nahnmwarki, even if there was no blood
relationship between them. This fictive-kin relationship sometimes
was extended to whole lines, and, further, all subjects stood
in the fictive relationship of child to the Nahnmwarki.
In the pre-colonial period all land was owned by the
Nahnmwarki and the Nahnken. People were obliged to pay tribute
to them on many occasions, in return for land use. By contributing
yams, pigs, and sakau (kava) to a feast a man could obtain
prestige and a. title. Men competed with each other to produce
and present the best offerings at the feasts. The Ponapeans
emphasized achievement as well as ascription to enhance political
status. Therefore, loyality to the Nahnmwarki and the Nahnken,
expressed in competitive feasts, provided the opportunity for
promotion in the rank system.
On Ponape initial contact with Europeans began in the late-
1820s. From the 1830s onward, Ponape attracted a number of
white residents. Most were deserters from whaling ships or
escaped convicts from Australia. During the rise of the Pacific
whaling industry, in the 1840s and 1850s, frequent stopovers
by whalers resulted in numerous desertions. The population of
beachcombers on Ponape grew steadily from about 50 in 1840
to 150 in 1850.
Since first contact with foreign cultures Ponapean society
was exposed to European influence and became dependent on
world markets to procure European goods. The Ponapeans
keenly desired to obtain such Western artifacts as clothes,
blankets, muskets and axes, among other things.
With few exceptions, these beachcombers lived with
Ponapean chiefs and were integrated into indigenous society.
Under this arrangement the chiefs entrusted most of the responsibility
for the conduct of trade with visiting ships to the
whites, who obtained Western goods for their Ponapean patrons.
The Ponapean had control over, contact with the West. Tra-
ditional social structure played an important role in the changing
situations resulting from European impact. The Ponapeans
retained their social structure while adopting a wide array of
technical changes.
The foreign residents adopted behavior patterns different
from the Ponapeans. They violated Ponapean taboos, such as
eating eels, the clan totem. European reprobates like Thomas
Boyd disregarded the chiefs' authority. Nevertheless, they
remained secure. The Ponapeans thought that the whites were
protected by a different God than the indigenous deities, and
the superiority of European civilization and techniques led the
Ponapeans to appreciate the power of the Western God.
In 1852, American Congregational missionaries came to
Ponape. At first Ponapean chiefs welcomed them, expecting an
increase in trade with foreign ships. Unlike the beachcombers,
the missionaries remained independent from indigenous authority.
Soon the chiefs learned that Christian teachings were contradictory
to chiefly privileges, and so withdrew their support of
missionary work.
The smallpox epidemic brought by a whaling ship in 1854
had the most significant effect on Ponapean society. In a short
time smallpox spread throughout the island and killed half the
population. The death of chiefs provided many opportunities
for commoners to obtain high titles, and people vied with each
other for promotion in the title system. If a person could not
obtain a higher title he simply left his tribe and moved to the
other. The chiefs who survived lost power and control over
the subjects. Successful inoculation against smallpox given
by the missionaries caused the Ponapeans to wonder about the
efficacy of their own deities and to appreciate the power of the
Christian God.
The late-1850s saw a marked decline in the visits of whalers
to the island. This resulted in a reduced flow of trade goods
and a decline in the number of beachcombers. All these factors
gave the missionaries a virtual monopoly of influence and trade,
at least temporarily. Interest in the church among the islanders
increased. The missionaries worked especially among the
commoners, and in 1860 they had formally received into the
church their first converts. Church membership grew during
the following years.
Some chiefs were converted to Christianity so as to be able
to utilize the increasing power of the "Missionary Party," whereas
others remained opposed to the missionaries. However, as
the church members had become predominant, those chiefs
who wished to keep control over the people had no choice but to
accept Christianity. Eventually, by 1886, four of the five paramount
chiefs on Ponape had become baptized. The adoption
of Christianity occurred because conversion seemed advantageous
to the paramount chiefs as well as to the commoners in their
continuing efforts to cope with changing situations.
The missionaries did not attempt to destroy the native
political system, nor did they always attempt the complete
destruction of Ponapean religion. They thought they could use
the order maintained under the chieftainship and the concept
of gods in indigenous religion for their purposes. Thus they
exploited the traditional institutions to gain converts.
Ponapean society accepted Christianity through its traditional
institutions. The church organization was formed
hierarchically. It placed the Christian God at the top, and then
in descending order Christ, foreign missionaries, ministers, preachers,
deacons, and finally the laymen. By putting the Nahnmwarki
and the Nahnken above the ministers, the congregation was grafted
upon the traditional authority system. As mentioned above,
the Nahnmwarki was regarded as the father of all his subjects.
The Christian God was also addressed as our Heavenly Father.
The Nahnmwarki is to his subjects what the Western God is to
mortals. In that way the new forms of social stratification could
be connected easily to indigenous society.
Many elements of Ponapean chieftainship were introduced
into the mission activities. Ponapean-style feasts were celebrated
at the church, with minor modification. And church collections
sometimes appeared similar to paying tribute to the chiefs.
Many Ponapeans identified the traditional supreme deity
and the clan gods with the Christian God. Traditional spirits
harmful to the people was regarded as the Evil Spirit or the
biblical Satan. Thus the people thought that the existence of
the traditional spirits was authorized by Christianity. The
Christian God was incorporated into the Ponapean pantheon,
and Ponapeans succeeded in manipulating Christianity to serve
the preservation of the existing order on the island.
Chiefly authority extended to the beachcombers living on
the island who conducted trade with foreign ships. Later the
Ponapeans came to accept Christianity on their own terms.
The procurement of Western goods through the beachcombers
and the acceptance of Christianity did not constitute a revolutionary
departure from the traditional, way of life. Ponapean society
responded to the new situations through existing values and
institutions. Therefore, belief in the traditional gods and
spirits remained important in native life, as did the authority of
the Nahnmwarki and traditional political systems.
Cultural continuity was preserved under the impact of
foreign influence during the period referred to above. The
strength of Ponapean chieftainship remains essentially alive,
even today.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful for a grant from the East-West Center, which
made possible my field work on Ponape and archival work in
Honolulu. I thank Dr. Samuel Price of the Pacific Studies Institute
in Guam, who accepted me as a Research Associate and
granted me use of the Institute's facilities on Ponape. I am
indebted to Drs. Douglas Oliver, Alice Dewey, Alan Howard,
Stephen Boggs, Robert Kiste, Ben Finney and Timothy
Macnaught, of the University of. Hawaii, for their advice on my
research.
My greatest debt is to the people of Ponape Island, especially
Messrs. Lianter Elias, Elsin Elias, and their families, who allowed
me to share their knowledge and lives.
I express my gratitude to them all.},
 pages = {851--914},
 title = {ポナペ島におけるキリスト教の受容をめぐる社会変化},
 volume = {9},
 year = {1985},
 yomi = {ナカヤマ, カズヨシ}
}