豳風七月の社會

Abstract

As Marcel Granet has noted in his Fetes et chansons anciennes de la Chine, the ch'i-yueh section of Pin-feng in Book of Songs reminds one of Hesiod's Works and days. Though differ in setting, they both depict with vividness the yearly life of the ancient peasantry. The studies on Pin-feng ch'i-yueh , however, does not stand comparison with those on Works and Days. For one thing, even the general consensus over the time of its authorship has not yet been reached. Also, there are three coflicting theories regarding which part of contemporary China corresponds to Pin, whose folk songs are collected in Pin-feng. Subsequently, our understanding of the historical society depicted in Pin-feng ch'i-yueh too cannot be said sufficient. With such state of scholarship in mind, I have attempted in this paper first to determine the time of authorship and the location of Pin and then to examine the place in history of its society. By approaching the problems from philological, archaeological, and geological points of view, I have reached the following conclusions: 1) The ch'i-yueh was written no later than the end of the Western Chou 西周. 2) As Cheng Hsiian 鄭玄 (A.D. 127-200) had believed, Pin is the area in the upper stream of the Ching-he 涅河in present day Shan-hsi 陝西 province. 3) The society of Pin consisted of overlords, village potentates, and peasants. The social structure was communal, and the relationship between leaders and members of the commune formed the basic class relationship. 4) Seeing from the production relationship between these two classes, i.e., leaders and members, its society remained in the preliminary stage of tributary system 貢納制. These findings help to explain furthur the nature of state and society of the Spring and Autumn 春秋 and Warring States 戰國 periods when China was composed of communal city states.