<論説>刀祢源流考

Abstract

刀祢とは「トノイリ(殿入) 」を原義とするトネリの略称であり、大王との間に緊密な君臣関係を結んだかつてのトネリを官僚のあるべき祖型とする理念に基づき、有官・無官を問わず、何らかの形で朝廷に仕える者を指す和語すなわち、天皇との君臣関係を表示する和語であった。従来の通説で官人の称呼としてきた「刀祢」は、右の和語が恐らくは八世紀以降に中央でいわば儀式用語として特殊化したものであり、一方同じく都市・村落の有力者としてきた「刀祢」は、その和語がそのまま在地において残存したものであって、主として、郡司以下の官職や「郡散事」といった地位に就くことなく、しかも行政の末端を担う者を表わす語として用いられた。刀祢は従来のごとく両義的にではなく、かく一元的に理解されねばならない。

In ancient Japanese historical records, we can find two uses of the word Tone 刀祢. One, which I will call "Tone A, " is a general name for the officials of the bureaucracy, seen mostly in the records of rituals. The second, which I will call "Tone B, " referred to influential men in towns and villages. To this point, there has been no explanation of the relationship between these two types of Tone. This paper aims to clarify the relation by investigating the origin of the Japanese word that is pronounced tone, and not the Chinese characters written 刀祢. Based mainly on an examination of examples and the usage of Tone A, this paper argues that Tone is an abbreviated form of the word Toneri 舎人, referring to royal attendants, the origin of which could be Tono-iri 殿入, meaning entering a palace to serve. The paper also argues that before the 8th century, Tone may have been used to refer to any man who served a king in either an official or unofficial capacity. The paper concludes that after the 8th century, as far as the government was concerned, the use of the word Tone was limited to references participants in rituals, which I have called Tone A. On the other hand, Tone B continued to be used in the local societies, as it had been previously.