<論説>西周冊命金文考

Abstract

近年における青銅器編年の発達は、金文史料の年代観を大いに発展させた。本稿はかかる考古学上の最新成果に基づく冊命金文分析の試みである。冊命金文は、事例が多く、一定の書式が存在し、比較に基づく分析が容易かつ有効であることから、それ自体を対象とする研究に一定の蓄積がなされ、またその内容から、西周中晩期の官制研究のための重要史料として注目されてきた。しかしながら、文書学的視点の希薄さから、その定義的説明や、さらには書式・要件が必ずしも明瞭ではなく、冊命金文そのものの史料的性格が、それを史料として用いる際に充分反映されない憾みがあった。如上の見解に基づき、本稿はまず第一章において冊命金文の定義を行い、分析対象としての冊命金文の範囲を確定したうえで、冊命金文の要件を確認し、ついで第二章では、冊命金文の構成要素のうち、冊命儀礼・職事・賜与について分析を加え、冊命金文から直接看取される西周中晩期官制の諸相を整理し、第三章では、第二章の所見を踏まえつつ西周金文一般に分析対象を拡大し、西周期権力機構の性格を考察する。以上の作業の結果、冊命を契機として命ぜられる職事の個別性・具体性及び官職における明確な職掌の欠如が確認され、ついで西周中晩期の官僚機構が権力機構のより従属的な一部分を占めるに過ぎないことが闡明されるであろう。

Because of recent developments in the dating of bronze vessels, the ideas of chronology of bronze inscriptions have improved greatly. This article is an attempt to analyze bronze inscriptions recording ceming by these newest archaeological achievements. There are many examples of ceming bronze inscriptions, they have a certain regular style, and are easy and effecient to analyze by comparison with each other, so they have been studied witn some success and are noted as important materials for studying the government organization of the middle and later Western Zhou period. Because of the lack of documentation studies, however, definition, or even style and documentation requirements of ceming bronze inscriptions have not been clarified. So their material characters have not been reflected enough in using them as historical material. Therefore, in the first part of this article the author defines ceming bronze inscriptions, limits their coverage as the objects to analyze, and then confirms their documentation requirements. In the second part he analyzes several of their constituents, such as ceming ceremony, official roles, and royal bestowals, and clarifies some aspects seen directly in them of the government organization of the middle and later Western Zhou period. In the third part, hased on the fruits of the second part, he expands the objects to analyze to bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou period in general, and examines the character of the authority structure of the Western Zhou dynasty. The above results confirm that each official role commanded by ceming was individual and the bureaucracy of the middle and later Western Zhou period occupied only a subordinate part in the authority structure at that time.