父老 (特集 漢代綜合研究)

Abstract

What made possible the formation of the communities under the influence of Liu-pang (劉邦), the Kao-tsu (高祖) of the Han Dynasty in the early stage of his reign was the personal relations intimately connected among the members of the communities. This thesis was suggested by Mr. Masubuchi. But according to this view, it is difficult to make clear the process of the evolution of the absolute monarchy as we find in the Han Dynasty. The question why such a powerful government emerged from mere human relations still remains for us to be answered. In connection with this an attempt was made to find in the fu-Iao a clue to understand the social background of the Han Dynasty. The fu-Iao was a social category unique in the communities toward the latter part of the Ch'in and the early part of the Han Dynasty, and in the li (里) it played a great role for the social discipline of the youngers. Originally Liu-pang and his dependents were the strangers to the Ii with the results of their repudiation of the control of the fu-Iao. But since the first year of the second Emperor of the Ch'in Dynasty we are informed of the connection of Liu-pang with the fu-Iao, which tells clearly his deliberate intention to grasp this underlying social unit. The autocratic state of Han had to be established through this von unten movement.