<論説>奈良時代の宣

Abstract

本稿は奈良時代の史料に見られる「宣」の性格を論じたものである。宣は、(1)女官などが内裏の意向を伝えた<奏宣の宣>、(2)官司内の事務決裁たる<宣＝判>、(3)それ以外の私的な<権威的な宣>、の三つの類型に分けられる。このうち<宣＝判>の実体は文書・判文である場合があり、官司内の宣は文書行政と密接に関係していた。ここで<宣＝判>という関係が成り立つのは、日本律令国家の官司が案巻による自筆決裁のシステムを当初から持たず、主典の公文読申に対して口頭処分がなされていたからである。一方、宣の伝達経路、方法もある程度復原し得た。そして、女官などの<奏宣の宣>が口頭伝達らしいこと、宣を伝える文書が存在したこと、それが形式・手続き的に平安時代の宣旨の起源と解されること、などが明らかになった。

This article is meant to discuss some characteristics of the sen (宣) which appeared in the historical sources of the Nara period. The sen is divided into three categories; "the sen of imperial orders", which were the manifestations of imperial intentions handed down through the hands of the nyokan (女官), (2) "the sen of decisions", which were the proclaimations of official settlements within administrative circles, and (3) "the sen of authority'", which were of a rather private character. Among these three categories, the second one was closely related to literal administration, sometimes taking the actual form of official documents. This was rather exceptional, because the administrative circles of the Japanese ritsuryo (律令) government, which hadn't originally had a system of written procedures, usually gave oral settlements to the petitions from the side of the sakan (主典). I also succeeded in reconstructing the communicative channels and the methods of the sen to some extent. In conclusion, the following points were made clear. First, the sen of the first category was probably disspatched by oral communication. Second, however, documents which substituted for the oral sen existed. Finally, these documents can be interpreted as the formal origins of the senji (宣旨) in the Heian period.