<論説>先泰時代の「士」の諸問題

Abstract

近代以前の中国には、士と庶の二つの身分からなる基本的な社会秩序があつた。士は官僚乃至貴族あるいは「読書人階級」すなわち支配者階層として、被支配者階層たる一般庶民と対立する社会的身分を意味する。ところが、古く漢代にまで遡ると、官僚が士たるは当然として、すべての庶民にも一定の範囲で爵が与えられ、それがやはり士の身分を意味したと思われる。この一見奇妙な社会秩序のあり方は、士の観念の系譜を遡ることによつて理解できる。古い都市国家の時代、士は、邑 (都市国家) の溝成員たる氏族共同体成員であつたと思われ、邑に隷属する諸氏族成員 (「民」) の支配者であり、戦士たる権利を有するものであつた。民が自立農民届に成長してゆき、邑の支配体制が崩壊してゆく過程で、集権的領土国家は、官僚層とともに、農民層のすべてを、新たな国家の構成員として把握し編成しなおした。こうして士という身分観念を示す言葉は、新たな実体に分化・定着したほか、同時に、身分をはなれた多様な意義に転化していつたのである。とすれば、士の観念の分化をたどる試みは、古代漢帝国のユニークな性格と歴史的位置を考える一つの手掛りとなるといい得るであろう。

There was the fundamental social order which consisted of two ranks, Shih (士) and Shu (庶) in the pre-modern China. Shih means nobles, or mandarins or 'the book-readers class', a social rank by which they were opposite to the common people of the governed as the governing class. Back to the Han (漢) dynasty, however, the officials should be Shih, and all common people were given chüeh (爵) in certain grades which might mean the rank of Shih. This apparently curious social order would be understood by tracing the genealogy of Shih's idea. In the old period of city-states, Shih seems to have been members of the clan which were members of I (邑) (city-states), rulers of the subject clan or Min (民), and had the right to be warriors. In the process through which Min (民) grew up to the independent peasantry and the ruling system of I (邑) was collapsing, the centralized territorial state grasped and re-organized as new state-members the whole peasantry as well as the official class. The word which meant the idea of rank Shih was differentiated and established into the new substances, and was transformed into various meanings free from the idea of rank. Then, to try to trace the differentiation of Shih's idea may be a clue for judging a unique character and historical stand of the Han (漢) Empire.