前漢邊郡都尉府の職掌と邊郡統治制度

Abstract

This article elucidates an aspect of the system of rule over the borderlands in the latter half of the Former Han dynasty through a consideration of the duties of the office of chief commandant 都尉府 in terms of military and administrative operations in the border regions of the empire. In the first section I confirm the military duties of the chief commandant. Given the fact that the office of the chief commandant was situated on the frontline with non-Han peoples, the duties of the commandant were not only to deal with incursions of foreign peoples but also to manage weapons and iron implements, and prevent the escape of officials and common people. For this reason, if the chief commandant was faced with matters that were military in nature or involved safeguarding the region, he could issue orders to various offices that were not military ones. However, the office of chief commandant was generally under the purview of the governor 太守, and his greatest duty was maintaining stability in his own jurisdiction. In the second section I confirm the administrative duties of the chief commandant. In terms of administration, although the chief commandant held authority for the final decision-making on each matter, in fact, most of the actual operation of administrative offices concerned with military affairs below the houguan-level were left to the houguan 候官. And in many cases, the commandant first learned of the situation of military institutions under the houguan through the documents presented to him. It was indeed the houguan who shouldered the burden of the actual operation of the administrative offices concerned with military organizations. Thus we can say that the office of the chief commandants in border regions was an office that came to be characterized by both its military and supervisory functions. In the third section, I clarify the system of rule in border regions and the main causes of the stability in northwestern border region during the latter half of the Former Han. Peace with the Xiongnu had been achieved from the reign of Emperor Xuan 宣帝. The offices concerned with agricultural administration, which chief commandant was charged with defending, were abolished from the time of Emperor Yuan 元帝, and the opportunity for the office of chief commandant to issue military orders to various offices that were not related to military institutions came to an end. Thus, in comparison to the period of warfare with the Xiongnu, importance of the office was relatively decreased. For that reason, contrary to the accepted theory, the prefecture 縣 was not placed under the jurisdiction of the office of chief commandant in the latter half of the Former Han dynasty. The chief commandant devoted his efforts to the defense of his own jurisdiction, and the fact that the prefecture assisted in the administration of offices related to military affairs created a mutually supporting relationship that stabilized the situation in the border areas. Moreover, dependent states were established as the system of rule over the many subject non-Han peoples who resided in the Hexi 河西 region, and the situation of the border regions was thereby further stabilized. The northwest border region during the latter half of the Former Han dynasty was under the rule of governors, who received assistance from the central government, and it was by employing a parallel system of rule that featured a provincial system in which the chief commandant did not interfere in the politics of the prefecture and a system of dependent states that the situation in the border regions was stabilized.