漢時代における尚書體制の形成とその意義

Abstract

The Imperial Secretariat (shangshu 尚書) which came to be developed in about the middle of the Former Han period embodied the will of the emperor and moreover represented his very being. As such, its basic function was to institutionalize a system whereby the emperor could control and make use of the bureaucracy. In addition, the Imperial Secretariat continued to direct the formation of the bureaucracy which was now systematized into a new governing structure. This represented, in institutional form, a general trend in the Han dynasty's system of governance towards the establishment of greater state power. In other words, it can be said that the development of the Imperial Secretariat during the Han was part of a movement towards the formation of a new structure of control. Both the Concurrent Controller of the Imperial Secretariat (lingshangshushi 領尚書事) of the Former Han as well as the Overseer of the Imperial Secretariat (lushangshushi 録尚書事) of the Later Han appeared during the process whereby the emperor was trying to manage the government through the utilization of a secretariat, in other words, in the process of the formation of the Imperial Secretariat System. However, in contrast to the former, who was by the side of the emperor to give supplementary assistance, the later official was within the Imperial Secretariat offices and had the function of an officer who shouldered the responsibility for the general management of government. This difference between the two was something that came about through the development of the structure of the Imperial Secretariat from the latter half of the Former Han through the Later Han period.