<研究ノート>東国出身の防人達

Abstract

我が律令時代に筑紫・壱岐・対島には、警備のために防人が配置されていた。この防人には東国出身者が多く当てられ、特に孝謙天皇の天平勝宝頃の防人は、その悉くが東国出身者であつた。これは何故であろうか。これは唐の防人の主力は山東出身者であつたのを模倣したがためであろう。

The Fu-ping 府兵 system, originated in Si-wei 西魏, was introduced to T'ang 唐 through Pe-chou and T'uo 北周・隋. Border defenders were a special feature of the Fu-ping 府兵 system in T'ang, many coming from Shan-tung 山東. This system was introduced into Japan's military system in the Ritsuryô 律令 period, and in our system, too, there were Sakimori 防人 who defended particularly Tsukushi 筑紫, Iki 壱岐, and Tsushima 対馬, and come mainly from Tôgoku 東国. Then what significance has this similarity? The answer is that our system followed the Chinese example.