本研究計画の1年目に当たる2023年は、同年初頭にアルナーチャル・プラデーシュ州西部のモンパ社会を対象にした初の現地調査を実施し、現地とブータン社会を一つの仏教圏とした国境横断的なリンポチェ(高僧)の活動と、市民社会を巻き込んだ仏教信仰の拡大、およびその直接的な影響として地域における殺生(屠畜)の禁止屠畜慣行の抑制について多くの事例を記録することができた。2023年度学振の研究期間で、それらのデータを分析し、京都大学(7月、2024年3月）や駒澤大学（7月）慶應義塾大学（8月、2024年2月）等で複数回の研究発表を行なった。
また、2024年2月と3月にブータン東部地域で2週間の現地調査を実施し、国境に隣接する５つの村と寺を訪問した。ブータン側の調査村では、上述したアルナーチャル・プラデーシュ州西部のモンパ系民族やチベット民族意識を維持する人々と歴史的な共通点を持つ人々や近年の移住者を対象に多数インタビューを行うことができ、そこでの仏教僧や仏教団体を通した越境的な宗教交流や、国境を超えた相互の市場での経済活動を捉えることができた。
結果として、東部ブータンと北東インドの当該州の間の国境横断的な交流の背景には、僧侶税などの税制の負荷や中印国境紛争における騒乱の歴史があり、両地域の人々による国境横断的な交流の歴史は政府によって一定程度許容されたきたことも明かになった。その上で、コロナ禍で実施された国境の封鎖が現在も人々の文化、社会、経済の全ての面で影響を残しており、インドの人々によるブータンへの宗教的な巡礼が限定的に認められる一方で、ブータンからインドへの家畜の移動と売買には市民団体と宗教団体を含んだ多数のアクターが関わることで規制が意図的に継続されていることが明らかになった。
In 2023, the first year of this research project, I conducted my first field survey of the Monpa community in western Arunachal Pradesh early in the year, and documented many examples of the transnational activities of the high ranking monks and the expansion of Buddhist beliefs through civil society, and its direct impact on the suppression of slaughtering practices in the region. The project was able to document many examples of the activities of the transnational Rinpoche (high monk) that brought local and Bhutanese society together into one Buddhist sphere, the expansion of Buddhist beliefs involving civil society, and the direct impact of these activities in curbing the practice of slaughtering animals in the region. During the year, I analyzed these data and presented my research several times at Kyoto University (July 2023, March 2024), Komazawa University (July 2023), Keio University (August 2023, February 2024), and other universities.
In February and March 2024, I conducted a two-week field survey in the eastern region of Bhutan, visiting five villages and temples adjacent to the border. In the research villages on the Bhutanese side, we were able to conduct numerous interviews with people who share historical similarities with the Monpa ethnic groups and those who maintain Tibetan national consciousness in western Arunachal Pradesh as described above, as well as with recent migrants, and I was able to capture cross-border religious exchange through Buddhist monks and Buddhist organizations there, as well as economic activity in markets across borders.
As a result, it became clear that the history of cross-border exchanges between Eastern Bhutan and the Northeast Indian states in question was underpinned by the burden of taxation systems such as the monk tax and the history of disturbances in the Sino-Indian border dispute, and that the history of cross-border exchanges by the people of both regions has been tolerated to a certain extent by the both governments. It was also revealed that the border blockade implemented during the Corona Disaster continues to affect all aspects of people's culture, society, and economy, and that while religious pilgrimages by Indian people to Bhutan are allowed on a limited basis, the movement and sale of livestock from Bhutan to India continues to be restricted by the involvement of numerous actors, including civil and religious groups.
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