唐の國書授與儀禮について

Abstract

Two kinds of studies have been taken place concerning the sovereign's message given to foreign envoys during the Tang Dynasty. The first one mainly focuses on the form of the message, while the other deals with the international relations described in the contents. Therefore, they have not clarified what kind of ceremony was held at the presentation of the message to the foreign envoys. In the "Bin Li" 賓禮 (Rituals of guest greeting) of the Tang, there was no regulation over the way of the presentation. Although the Tang Emperor was found to have uttered words to the envoys on 17 different occasions, none of these words represented the presentation of the message. If we look at other rituals besides the "Bin Li", we discover the ceremony at which the words of the Emperor were read aloud and then the message was presented to the envoys in the "Jia Li" 嘉禮 (Rituals of greeting the subjects by the Emperor). Concerning the procedure of this ceremony, the foreign envoys first welcomed the messenger sent by the Tang Emperor, then received the diplomatic documents, and lastly sent out the messenger. This ceremony was held on the Tang territory instead of the capitals of foreign countries, and it was the ceremony of presenting the Tang sovereign's message indeed. It was held at an assembly hall called "Ying-bin Guan" 迎賓館, the guest palace. Through this concrete description of the ritual form, our understanding of the structure of the world of East Asia is largely deepened.