<論説>国家形成のモニュメントとしての古墳 (特集 : モニュメント)

Abstract

国家形成と軌を一にして特殊な構造と豊かな副葬品を備えた厚葬墓が登場することの追求は、人類史的な課題でもある。本稿では弥生～古墳時代の倭王権から倭国への変化の中に、日本列島における神聖王権から初期国家への移行過程の歴史的特質が埋め込まれているとみる視点から、弥生王墓や古墳の変遷を再整理し、モニュメントとしての古墳造営の意義を考察した。なぜ、特定個人の墓の造営に莫大な社会のエネルギーが集約されるのか。また、それがなぜ国家形成期に登場するのか。これらの説明として、王権の支配領域外から流入する財を、王権の領域内部で計画的かつ安全に消費するために、財を威信財へと意味転換し、その交換および消費に伴う負債関係を、現実の社会政治的関係の基軸へと読み替えるシステムが社会成員によって創出され、それが社会に埋め込まれたという視角を提唱する。同時に、財による中心―周辺関係の形成が、境界を生み出すことで、律令制国家の前段階がすでに古墳時代中期には現出していたことを想定した。しかし、このようなメカニズムは、倭王権による渡来系技術者の掌握・配布によって破綻し、古墳造営は公共性の創出機能を喪失する。ここで国家形成における厚葬墓は、その役割を終えることになる。

Why royal tumuli with special burial structures and accompanied by many grave goods appeared concomitant with state formation is a basic problem of human history. I argue that the special characteristics of the historical shift from sacred kingship to the early state are embedded in the transition from Wa 倭, ancient Japanese, kingship to Wa state, which occurred during the transition from Yayoi to Kofun period. From this standpoint, I reconsider the transition from Yayoi 'Royal Tumuli' to Kofun mounded tumuli and the significance of the mounded structures as monuments of state formation. Why was a great deal of social energy concentrated in mound building for a single individual and why did these tumuli appear in the period of state formation? I propose the following as explanations for these problems. In order to stem the flow of the wealth outside the territory of the king, such wealth had to be regularly and safely consumed within the territory of the king, meaning that it was converted into forms of wealth invested with prestige. A social system was created by members of this society by revising these debt relations of exchange and consumption into the basis for actual socio-political relations and embedding them within the society. At the same time, the formation of core-periphery relations based on this wealth represented by prestige goods produced the boundaries of the territory of the king. This can be regarded as a preliminary step toward the mature Ritsuryo 律令 state, which appeared in the middle Kofun period. However, this mechanism was destroyed by the control and diffusion of immigrant engineers by Wa kings, and the operation of tumuli lost the function of a public work projects. In this way, the role of the royal tumuli that was characteristic of the process of state formation came to a close.