前漢景帝期國制轉換の背景

Abstract

The commandery and principality system 郡國制, which had been introduced by the founder of the dynasty, was effective in governing the broad territory of the empire, and by the time of Emperor Wen, the commandery and principality system became the organizing principle of the national government system. Why then was there a shift in policy in the time of Emperor Jing? This article is an attempt to consider the background of the policy toward feudatory princes 諸侯王 in the reign of Emperor Jing, which has heretofore been understood in terms of the process of the centralization of power, from a new standpoint. Emperor Jing, who had more than 14 sons, contrived to whittle down the territory of the feudal princes in order to enfeoff the princes in the traditional Han manner. By doing this, he increased friction among members of the imperial clan. The process brought about the rebellion of the seven states of Wu Chu and others. The result was a victory for the Han, and the former territory of the rebellious states was awarded to the princes, and thus Emperor Jing was able to complete the enfeoffment of the princes. However, the maintenance of the principle of enfeoffment beyond this point would evoke friction among members of the imperial family, and might invite more turmoil. Moreover, the trouble of the decreased quality of the rule of outlying regions due to the partition of principalities arose. While these problems were related to the personal circumstances of Emperor Jing having many princes, one can surmise that the problem suddenly became manifest with the change in the royal house in the accession of Emperor Wen and the passing of three generations since the founding of the dynasty when the number of members of the royal house increased. The measure taken in response to the problem in the commandery and principality system that arose in this way was the reform of the principalities in the fifth year of Emperor Jing. By cutting off the feudatory princes from ruling their feoffs, it became possible to enfeoff them without impacting regional rule and causing unnecessary friction among members of the royal house. The goal of this reform was not intended to be a one-dimensional system of rule, suppressing the feudatory princes, but it showed signs of being an effort to maintain the traditional Han system of enfeoffing princes of the royal house, and it was conducted to sustain the existence of the feudatory princes of the royal house and the principle of feudal enfeoffment born thereof.