漢代の家族形態と經濟變動

Abstract

As regards the family organization in the Han period, there are two basic viewpoints of seeing it as a small family composed of lineral relatives versus seeing it as a complex, large family composed of collateral relatives. However, this polarization has arisen from a view of the Han period family structure as very static and inflexible. Actually a great change took place in the family organization around the time of Emperor Wu of Han 漢武帝. Before his time a small family was dominant, later, however, a complex, large family was typical. This change, on one hand, was related to the prospering and decline of the monetary economy in this era, on the other hand. had something to do with a shift from Legalist regime to Confucian regime. When the monetary economy flourished, divergent trends towards smaller families could be observed. With the decline of the monetary economy a rationalization of life became necessary and a joint living situation was sought after. From the latter half of the Western Han to the Eastern Han dynasty, there was moreover an increased impact of Confucian morality which was aimed at a complex family organization. where people lived together. Thus this type of family structure was then preferred by a wide range of social strata, who joined their lives and their property. Seen from a perspective of the society as a whole, the number of complex, large families was still smaller than the number of small families. Nevertheless the increased occurrence of large families must be regarded as a special characteristic of this era.