北魏内朝再論 : 比較史の觀點から見た

Abstract

The author has previously published concerning the inner court 内朝 of the Northern Wei dynasty. In this article, I first point out the developments in research that have occurred since the publication of my work and problems within the research field. Additionally, at the foundation of my previous argument on the dismantling of the tribe-centered state and the inner court was a consciousness of theoretical issues on the nature of the state leading to an investigation of the how the character of the Northern Wei state should be understood. When we examine the political system of Northern Wei around the time of the reforms of Emperor Xiaowen, we can see the differences between, on the one-hand, the non-Han state of the early stage of the Northern Wei dynasty, and the state of the later stage that had completed its adoption of Chinese dynastic system on the other hand. My concern with this issue has been on the question of how the Northern Wei of the early stage and that of the later can be reconciled when considered from the standpoint of theories of the state. Seen in terms of theories of sinification or assimilation, it may be possible to understand that it was only with the reforms of Xiaowen that the early Northern Wei state was first transformed into a normal state based on the orthodox dynastic model of the Central Plain. However, when seen in this light, one is led to the view that the early stage of Northern Wei was a state "in process, " progressing toward the later stage which results in the loss of its subjectivity, or the interpretation arises that as a result of the sinification that grew out the reforms of Emperor Xiaowen, the state lost or was in the process of losing its agency. However, while acknowliding this direction, I have pointed out that it is necessary to also focus on the reality of a direction that differs from that of sinification. Seen from the viewpoint that the early Northern Wei state was one formed as a consequence of the development of the Tuoba-Xianbei in northern Asia, it becomes clear that it was not a state "in process, " but should be grasped as a tribal state based on the system of eight tribes. In this article I make clear how the Northern Wei can be positioned in the context of Northern and Eastern Asia history without severing the early Northern Wei state from the later one by employing the viewpoint that compares it with foreign dynasties that ruled China such as the Yuan, the kingdom of Wa in ancient Japan, and the Former Han, the Han dynasty that preceded the Northern Wei.