<論説>宋代茶法の一考察

Abstract

唐中期にはじまり、宋初に確立した塩・茶を中心とした専売法による貨幣収入は、新しく成立した君主独裁体制を支える重要な財政的基盤となった。本稿はこのうち、茶法を対象に選び、四川を除いた中国本土に於いて、北宋から南宋に亙り、従来あまり深くは追求されておらぬ幾つかの問題を論証してみた。即ち、第一章では、国初から北宋中期に至るまでの茶法の根幹となった淮南の山場と沿江榷務体制について、その背景とともに論述し、第二章では、商人集団の動きを考慮しつつ、榷茶法から通商法への流れを取扱い、第三章では、北宋末蔡京の時代に確立し、後世にも影響を与えた通商法(交引法) をやや詳しく説明し、併せて若干の問題にもふれている。宋代の茶法は、直接的な貨幣収入の面からは、塩のように重要ではなかったが、新しい時代の動きに即応して、政策的にそれがいろいろに利用された点は、後世と異った特色を持つと考えられる。

Cash revenue from the monopolies, especially salt and tea, which had greatly developed from the mid-T'ang, 中唐 together with commercial taxes, became the most important sources of revenue for Chinese dynasties from the Sung onwards. Nevertheless, though referred to as monopolies, the policies for salt and those for tea differed considerably. In this article, I have taken up a number of questions concerning the Sung tea monopoly. To begin with, while explaining the various kinds of tea, I have discussed in the first section the important role played by the Shih-san shan-ch'ang 十三山場 in Huai-nan 淮南 and the six chueh-huo-wu 榷貨務 along the Yangtze to the mid-northern Sung 北宋. I have especially considered the need for this system. In the second section, I have considered from various aspects the nature of the tea merchants in the northern Sung. In the third and final section, focusing on the late northern Sung and the tea regulations ch'a-fa t'iao-chih 茶法條制 from the reign of Hui-tsung 徽宗, I have discussed in some detail how tea made its way from the producers to the consumers. From the study of these questions, we can see that, although revenue from the tea monopoly in the Sung did not come close to the amount collected on salt, the tea monopoly in each period was linked to certain social and political problems and in each period had a special character and importance not to be seen in other periods.