宋元時代における修譜

Abstract

The tsu-pu 族譜 or genealogy illustrates best the concept oi tzung-tsu 宗族, the system of family organization in China from the ancient times on. The compilation of tsu-pu in Modern China is said to have begun with Ou-yang Hsiu 歐陽脩 and Su Shih 蘇軾 of the Sung. However, there now is left no genealogy of Sung and Yuan times that can be verified with certainty. The study of their history too, as a result, has remained largely in the state of vacuum. In this study l have collected and examined the prefaces 序to tsu-pu preserved in the collections of literary works of a number of Sung and Yuan literati and obtained the following observations : 1) The number of prefaces increased dramatically in the Yuan. 2) The distribution of prefaces shows a regional imbalance, the biggest concentration being in Chiang-nan 江南 region, particularly Chianghsi 江西. In the aristocratic Pre-Sung China pedigree served for an important social purpose, for being related to an aristocratic family meant a corresponding social status. Such advantage disappeared after the Sung with examination bureaucrats forming the mainstream of the society. Compilation of genealogies and their continued popularity, however, attest that families were stillregarded important. Furthurmore, during the Yuan they became a means by which now-weakened Chinese families could stand against alien Mongol rulers. Genealogies also served the function of reorganizing and strengthening family ties. In addition, the apparant concentration of tsu-pu in Chiang-hsi seems to have been due to the presence of a group of li-hsueh 理學 scholars represented by Wu Cheng 吳澄, who had strong interest in genealogies.