前漢後期における中朝と尚書--皇帝の日常政務との關連から

Abstract

It is well known that the zhongchao 中朝, the inner court which appeared in the era of Zhaodi 昭帝 of the middle period of the Former-Han dynasty, together with the imperial secretaries (shangshu 尚書), whose office had appeared previously, became increasingly important to the central government, and with the passage of time and the coming of the Tang dynasty, it flourished and grew into the Sansheng 三省, the central organ of government. However, previous studies have either been conducted from the standpoint of an analysis of the political history of the zhongchao or the political relationship between the zhongchao and waichao 外朝, the outer court. As a result, questions such as what were the duties and functions of the individual offices that made up the zhongchao, what sort of space was the zhongchao within the palace 宮中, and what was the role the shangshu and the officials of the zhongchao in carrying out the Emperor's administration, have scarcely been elucidated. This study, based on these considerations, has considered the zhongchao systematically and made clear the following points. 1) The shared characteristic of the various duties of the office of the zhongchao during the Former Han dynasty was the fact that officials were permitted to enter the private space of the emperor, the jinzhong 禁中. Moreover, the shangshu, the imperial secretary, also conducted his duties within the jinzhong. 2) The jinzhong was at the same time the location where the emperor conducted administrative affairs, corresponding to the private area reserved for the senior officials (bianzuo 便坐) in government offices. 3) When the emperor ruled on documents delivered to him by the shangshu, deliberative meetings known as pingshangshu zoushi 平尚書奏事 of palace stewards (jishizhong 給事中), inspector of officials (zhuli 諸吏) and other officials were held in order to provide reference for the imperial decision. 4) In carrying out administrative affairs in the jinzhong, oral communication of opinions occupied a large percentage, and on this point the palace attendants (shizhong 侍中) and palace attendant-in-ordinary (zhongchangshi 中常侍) had great influence on the emperor. 5) Furthermore, the shizhong and zhongchangshi would report to the emperor unofficially, and in this manner policy making was expedited. 6) The zhongchao that functioned in this manner formed the secretariat 官房 that was centered on the emperor and the shangshu.