江西宜春の李渠(八〇九 - 一八七一)について

Abstract

This essay is to deal with a multi-purpose canal which was first built by a T'ang local official in the core area of the Yuan-chou basin in 891, and thereafter served that locality for the lengthy period of about eleven centuries. The basic reason why this canal had to be installed should be ascribed to the increased density of population in that area in the middle of the T'ang, and also to people's enthusiasm with having more stabilized ecological surroundings there. In any case, through combined use of techniques such as dams, sluices, pools, and drainage channels, a canal which had an overall length of five miles was branched from a nearby river, and it supplied fresh water to paddy fields (ca. 20, 000 mou) to the west of the capital and also to the inhabitants of the city (officials and 200 households of citizens). Rice-raising, fire-fighting, general water-supply, and drainage and transportation in and around the city were thus much improved. Under the Sung an elaborate organization was formed in order to keep this canal in good order and to mobilize people for the purpose of large dredging operations. It was managed by ten gentry members who were selected from among successful candidates of the prefectural examinations. Farmers and citizens who benefited directly by this canal formed their own respective organization. They were expected to shoulder the responsibility of habitual watch on the canal route and of small repairs on it by themselves. When extensive repair or dredging was needed, several thousand laborers per day in the area gathered in crowds to take day-laborer jobs with their wages paid by the government. It is worth noticing here that although such dredging work was organized under official leadership, substantial parts of the operation, i.e., its planning, procedure, and organization, were enforced almost entirely on the initiative of gentry members. Later, under the Ch'ing, it became evident all the more that all necessary tasks for the maintenance of this canal, including the raising of funds, were fulfilled by this association of the gentry, merchants and citizens.