<論説>慶長期における徳川家康の寺院政策 : 学問料を中心に

Abstract

近世初期の寺院政策については辻善之助氏以来の幕府権力による統制を重視する研究史がある。それに対して杣田善雄氏は寺院側の働きかけを前提とした対応であるとして一方的な統制という理解を否定するとともに、寺院行政の基調は学問・仏法の興隆にあるとした。本稿はかかる杣田氏の成果を前提としつつも、学問・仏法の興隆が具体的に政策化された学問料の設定を分析し、徳川政権の政策的側面を考察した。学問・仏法の興隆政策は顕密禅の中心的な大寺院を対象としていること、関ヶ原合戦直後の時期には相論裁許の際に寺領の内で徳川政権が介入しやすい部分から創出されたのに対し、慶長一〇年代後半には行人や公人・諸役者に配分されていた寺領を召し上げ、碩学の学僧へと集中する積極的な介入を伴ったものへと変化することを明らかにした。このような政策的介入や、それへの学僧側の村応の中から学問を一つの基準とした秩序の形成が進んだ。

Since the time of Tsuji Zennosuke, the early-modern policy toward Buddhist temples has been understood in terms of control by the shogunal regime. In contrast, Somada Yoshio argued that policy toward the temples was a passive one premised on maneuvering by the temples and denied that it was one of unilateral control, and he also argued that the key element of the policy towards temples was the promotion of scholarship and Buddhism itself. This article, while based on Somada's findings, chiefly considers that aspect of the policy establishing gakumonryo (property rights awarded monks to promote scholarship) in temple lands that was implemented concretely to promote scholarship and Buddhism, during the Keicho era (1596-1615) following the Battle of Sekigahara. The temples that were rewarded gakumonryo were Kofukuji, Koyasan, Todaiji, Toji, Daigoji, Tonomine, Tenryuji, Shokokuji, Kenninji, and Tofukuji, and thus the objects of the policy were chiefly large temple complexes associated with esoteric and esoteric Buddhism or Zen. The ruling regime's policy of requiring scholarship by the monks had been initiated during the Toyotomi period, and the emphasis on scholarship in the early stage of the Tokugawa was a continuation of that approach. Unlike the Toyotomi-era policy that was directed at many sects, including temples of what has been called the New Buddhism of the Kamakura period, in the early stage of the Tokugawa the objects of the policy were more limited, but the policy can be appreciated in terms of the fact that it was developed and grew more deeply in accord with the realities on the temples. The gakumonryo policy was first instituted immediately after the Battle of Sekigahara in places where it was easiest for the Tokugawa regime to intervene, such as in regard to temple property that had been newly commended by Tokugawa Ieyasu or by using the opportunity of inter-temple disputes over property as a preparatory cost. By Keicho 10 when Ieyasu had succeeded in establishing his authority to a certain degree, in the regulations directed at Enryakuji and Miidera it was specified that unlearned monks were to be expelled from the temple, and the scholar monk Raikei of Henjoko-in on Koyasan insisted that temple property should be devoted to scholar monks and thus a reformation had begun to occur in Old (Kogi) Shingon sect temples. Having gone through these developments, the temple property for the gakumonryo, which had previously been allotted to gyonin (those monks charged with the management of a specific temple hall whose training was devoted to conducting the offerings services to the principal worship object there), kunin(lower-ranking officials in charge of various operations at large temple complexes), and even lower-ranking officials of temples, called shoyakusha, was confiscated and redistributed to learned scholar monks in a shift to active intervention in the latter half of the decade of Keicho 10. This kind of policy intervention and the reaction to it by scholar monks promoted the formation of an order that became the future standard for scholarship.