前漢の典客・大行令・大鴻臚

Abstract

During the Former Han the office of Chamberlain for Dependencies, then called Dian-ke 典客 (later called the Da-xing ling 大行令, which has been translated as Director of Messengers Office in English, and finally Da hong-lu 大鴻臚) was charged with the administration of subjected tribes 歸義蠻夷, and the office of the Supervisor of Dependent Countries, then called Dian-shu guo 典屬國 administered tribes that had submitted 蠻夷降者 to Han rule. Although the meanings of the terms, gui yi 歸義 i.e., those who had become subjects and returned to righteousness, and xiang-zhe 降者, i.e., those who had submitted, have been clarified, as both the offices of Dian-ke and Dian-shu guo are still obscure, by indicating the various unresolved issues concerning the two offices during the Former Han and examining the offices associated with the Dian-ke, I have clarified the following points. Firstly, there is no indication that during the early Han the office of Dian-ke was charged with administering Imperial Marquises 諸侯 as has been previously thought, but instead that offices of Director of Interpreters 譯官令 and his Assistant Director 丞 who were charged with administering the various tribes that had subjected themselves to Han rule were under its jurisdiction. Secondly, according to the edict of the second year of the mid-reign of Jing di 景帝 (B.C. 148), the office was charged with administering Adjunct Marquises 列侯 and Feudatory Princes 諸侯王 via eulogies etc. reported to the throne and thus became associated with the Messenger Office 大行, which had previously been under a separate organizational jurisdiction and charged with leading rites. Thirdly, as a result of these factors, the edict of the sixth year of the mid-reign of Jing di (B. C. 144) ordered a governmental reorganization making the Dian-ke the leading office, but renaming it Da-xing ling to indicate that the Da-xing 大行 was a subordinate post, whose name was then changed to Xing-ren 行人. Fourthly, as a result of having been given increasing responsibilities for the administration of Adjunct Marquises and Feudatory Princes, in the first year of the year of 太初in the reign of Wu di 武帝 (B. C. 104), the responsibility of administering the Adjunct Marquises was transferred from the office of the Commandant of the Nobility 主爵都尉, the administration of Liaison Hostel for the Commandery 郡國邸 was transferred from the office of the chamberlain for Imperial Insignia 中尉, and the offices of Director 長 and Assistant Director 丞 for Territorial Administration 郡邸 were made subsidiary offices. Furthermore, the additional offices of Director 令 and Assistant Director of Fire Renewal 別火 were added to its jurisdiction, strengthening the aspect of administering subjected tribes. At this time the office of Da-xing ling was renamed Da hong-lu, and the title Xing-ren reverted to the former Da-xing. Da hong-lu, meaning the director of the Hong-Iu, is thought to have been a some sort of official title, which had been established in the time of Jing di, under the jurisdiction of the Dian-ke. Fifthly, thereafter the administration of the Feudatory Princes became the central responsibility of the office, and after the office of Supervisor of Dependent Countries had been incorporated into the office in the first year of He-ping 河平 in the reign of Cheng di 成帝 (B. C. 28), no further major changes were witnessed in the Da hong-lu. Sixthly, because the offices in jurisdiction Dian-ke had come to be charged with the Adjunct Marquises and Feudatory Princes due to their involvement with the administration of credentials 印綬, also resulting in their being involved in administering the statuses of both Han and subject peoples, the offices thus came to administer elevation to nobility 爵 during the second half of the Former Han. Seventhly, due to their involvement with the bestowal and removal of credentials in addition to being charged with both the administration of subject peoples, the offices within the jurisdiction of the Dian-ke can be characterized as having been deeply involved in the fundamental rule of the Qin and Han states.