唐代後半期の農民諸階層と土地所有 : 小説史料を中心に

Abstract

This essay attempts to clarify the structure of the various strata within the peasantry, the direct producers on the land, in the latter half of the T'ang dynasty. In the past we would not have been likely to be able to investigate the overall structure of the peasant classes at that time in history either by focusing solely on the aspect of the development of private ownership of large tracts of land or by emphasizing the existence of poorer peasants within the equal field system (chun-t'ien hsiao nung-min 均田小農民). Furthermore, with respect to source materials, although we pay much attention to fictional literature such as romance fiction which flourished from the mid-T'ang on, such material has been used without ascertaining its limitations nor its reliability. Thus, this essay will look closely at the nature of T'ang period fictional literature as historical source material, and from there analyze the peasantry described therein. From such material we can pick out as the principal classes of the peasantry : estate workers known as chuang-k'o 荘客, small self-sufficient peasants who lived in small nuclear families, and the owners of small-scale estates who would employ several workers. The peasants of these classes were linked organically by the factor of labor. On the other hand, the development of a money economy and an urban economy enhanced the growth of a trend toward self-sufficiency for the chuang-k'o from the estates on which they worked and strengthened the basis of the self-sufficient small peasantry.