中近世における水辺の「コモンズ」と村落・荘郷・宮座 : 琵琶湖の「供祭エリ」と河海の「無縁性」をめぐって

Abstract

本稿では水辺の近習資源とその用益権＝「コモンズ」形成の歴史的過程を解明することを目的とし、近江国野洲郡兵主郷安治村と蒲生郡津田荘を事例に、中世前期以降のエリの共同用益とその展開について検討した。「コモンズ」としての「村エリ」の存在は中世にさかのぼり、村社や荘郷鎮守社の「神物」に起源を持つことがわかった。荘郷鎮守社の供祭エリは、中世前期〜近世初期に至るまで名主層のみを成員とする大宮座衆によって行使されており、閉鎖的な座的構造がみられた。一方、中世後期に惣村の確立に伴って確認される村社のエリは、小百姓層を含めた惣村の全成員によって行使されていたことがわかった。近世後期、その用益権は無高層を含む村の全戸まで広がっており、資源の享受範囲が時代とともに拡大した様相がうかがえる。これら水辺資源に認められる「無縁性」とは、決して「無所有」の意ではなく、神の所有物として個人の「私有」を排除し、公正な共同管理下に置かれた状態と解される。

The aim of this paper is to clarify the process of the formation of 'commons' held by village communities from the historical point of view, focusing in particular on cooperative use of resources in the littoral zone. Many of the previous studies of commons have focused on land usage, but little attention has been given to the usage of the sea or lakes. In order to make up for this gap, the author deals in this paper with the communally held resources in the littoral zone, particularly with the reed beds around Lake Biwa. The reed beds were the sites of fishing grounds where the traditional method of fishing, unique to the region, involved the use of a trap called an eri. It was often the case that prior to World War II village communities had rights to use eri on the shores of Lake Biwa. The eri traps belonged to village communities, so they were called mura eri, village eri. In other words, the right of use of the traps was also a common right. The concern of this paper is, therefore, to investigate the origins of mura eri as communally held resources. This study makes clear that the prototypes of mura eri existed in the medieval period and that they originated as the property of shrines of manors and villages. In the early Kamakura period, the shrines of the guardian spirits of a manor owned the rights to use the eri that held the largest catch. This eri could only be used by the members of the miyaza, a guild-like organization associated with the shrine, which was composed of residents of higher rank, myoshu. This right of use was retained throughout the medieval period and into the early Edo period. It is important to note that it was the exclusive right of a narrow, closed society. On the other hand, in the latter part of the medieval period, another type of eri fishing right emerged. It was the property of the shrines of the guardian spirits of a village, that appeared when collective, autonomous villages, called soson, were established. This type of eri was used by the members of the soson, including lower-ranking peasants. In the last part of the Edo Period, the right of use was extended to all the inhabitants of such a village. In relation to fishing resources in the littoral zone, the number of those who benefited from commons expanded with the passage of time as seen from the above. Likewise, the right to use commons had been essentially restricted to a closed membership, and those who received it were the members of the miyaza, an exclusive religious organization. The form of the usage of communally held resources has never been fixed and has always changed along with conditions in human societies. An analysis of such changes from the historical point of view may lead to an understanding of how human beings carried out sustainable use of natural resources over a lengthy period of time. The significance of the need to study the problems of commons in historical perspective lies therein.