<論説>室町幕府執事施行状の形成と展開 : 下文施行システムを中心として

Abstract

南北朝初期室町幕府において、下文等将軍発給文書の後に出された執事施行状は、内乱初期の混乱した社会情勢に対する幕府の対策として出現した考えられる。守護に遵行による下文の実現を命じるなど、下文には存在しない重要な機能を有しており、従来暗黙のうちに了解されてきたような、単なる下文の添え物ではない。初期には、下文拝領者の申状提出を受けてかち発給の可否を決定する方式(申請式) が主流であったが、申状なしで自動的に発給する方式(自動式) が現れ、年を追うごとに自動式の割合が増加していった。発給手続が簡素化されることによって、徐々に執事施行状の発給は原則化されていったと考えられる。観応三(一三五二) 年九月に制定された室町幕府法迫加法第六〇条によって施行状の存在は追認された。その後は執事・引付頭人・将軍が施行権をめぐって争った。細川頼之期に執事の手に帰し、最終的に執事施行状が定着した。

Although research into the rewards-policy of the Muromachi shogunate in the early Nambokucho period does not appear to have progressed greatly when compared to the study of the judiciary system of the same period, it is necessary to further develop such research to gain an understanding of the political history of the period because the rewards-policy was the most important authority exercised by the shogun 将軍. This study analyzes the document called shitsuji-shigyojo 執事施行状 as a key to further analysis. The shoguns of the early Nambokucho period issued documents of a type known as kudashibumi 下文, granting new feudal estates to the samurai who had contributed to the shogunate militarily. In a like manner, documents known as kishinjo 寄進状 were issued to temples and shrines that had conducted prayer ceremonies on behalf of the shogunate, The kudashibumi-shigyojo 下文施行状 was a document issued after a kudashibumi had been issued, and used the phrase 任御下文, meaning "in conformance with the contents of kudashibumi." These kudashibumi-shigyojo 下文施行状 were issued to the shugo守護and ordered his compliance, jumgyo 遵行, which in this case meant banishing those who were occupying a reward-estate illegally and conveying the estate to the recipient of the kudashibumi. The post of shitsuji 執事, which was the first post occupied by Ko no Moronao, was to assist the shogun, and the occupant chiefly issued this type of document, which was thus called a shitsuji-shigyojo. The shitsuji-shigyojo had important functions that kudashibumi alone lacked. They not only ordered the shugo to comply, as noted above, but also inspected the contents of kudashibumis and selected them properly. Therefore, the shitsuji-shigyojo was not a mere appendage to kudashibumi as has been supposed by earlier scholars. In the beginning, a system in which those who received a kudashibumi submitted a petition to the shogunate in order to acquire the shigyojo 施行状 was employed (known as the application method). In special cases, the document might be issued automatically absent a petition (known as the automatic method). There are two kinds of wording used in shigyojo, corresponding to the difference of the two types of issuance. As years passed, the percentage issued by the automatic method increased gradually. The automatic method became the principal type after the turbulence of the Kanno 観応 era, in which shogun Ashikaga Takauji fought against his younger brother Tadayoshi. It is thought that the change in the issuance system indicates that the system in which shitsuji-shigyojo were at first issued irregularly had been institutionalized. The existence of the kudashibumi-shigyojo was confirmed by the 60th article of the supplement to Muromachi shogunate's laws enacted in September 1352. Thereafter, the hikitsuketonin 引付頭人 and the shogun also began to issue shigyojo; and along with shitsuji, the three officials began to compete over the right to issue the shigyojo. The right was restored to the hands of the shitsuji during the term of the shitsuji Hosokawa Yoriyuki, who firmly established the shitsuji-shigyojo system. A document similar to the shitsuji-shigyojo did not exist in the Kamakura period. A warrior who was issued a kudashibumi at that time would have had to occupy the land awarded him by force of arms. The reason for the appearance of the shitsuji-shigyojo in the Nambokucho period is due to the fact that during the confusion of early stage of the civil war, many inappropriate kudashibumi, which confiscated lands of allies and rewarded them to others, were issued, and there was a sharp decrease in the number of grantees who could effectively occupy their reward-estates. Thus it is thought that it became necessary for power of the shogunate be used to reinforce the kudashibumi. By issuing the shitsuji-shigyojo, the shogunate implemented a rewards-policy, benefited samurai allies, and achieved victory in the civil war of the Nambokucho period.