漢代刺史の設置について

Abstract

In this article it is argued that the establishment of the cishi in the middle of the reign of Emperor Wu of the Former Han dynasty was one of his policies for the centralization of authority. The Former Han had at first appointed yushi 御史 as provincial supervisory officials, and later chengxiangshi 丞相史 as well. The provincial supervisory system represented by the yushi and the chengxiangshi was coeval with the system of commanderies and kingdoms (junguo 郡國) and therefore became obsolete with the de facto establishment of the commanderies and prefectures (junxian 郡縣) system and the central government's exercise of closer control over the commanderies and kingdoms. The main weakness of the old system was that both the yushi and the chengxiangshi were sent out only in emergencies and thus were incapable of exerting effective supervision. State finances in the middle of Emperor Wu's reign being in critical condition, there was a need for some kind of regular supervision over the commanderies and kingdoms in order to increase revenues and check the unruly powerful families (hao qiang 豪強). Under these circumstances the cishi were designated as full-time supervisory officials.