楚國政權構造試論 --考古資料よりみた政權基盤の變遷󠄃--

Abstract

The emergence of centralised power and polity has long been a crucial problem in historical studies of Eastern Zhou society, and the conclusions of researchers on whether such centralised power was achieved in the state of Chu 楚 have been divided. One reason for this disagreement is due to the differing state of source materials for the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, making it difficult to grasp continuity in historical phenomena. In this article, the author re-examines the changing structure of the Chu state based on archaeological evidence from bronze vessels excavated in large quantities in the middle Yangzi River region that enables us to perceive temporal changes throughout the whole Eastern Zhou period. On the basis of archaeological analysis, the author draws three major conclusions. 1) The structure of production and distribution of bronze vessels in the Chu state changed drastically from the late Spring and Autumn period to early Warring States period, and a centralised system emerged by the middle of the Warring States period. 2) In the Spring and Autumn period, the Chu state distributed bronze vessels to the neighbouring polities as a strategy of indirect control in a way similar to that of the Western Zhou dynasty, although this strategy changed to direct domination over the entire middle Yangzi River region. 3) The structure of cemeteries of upper-ranking aristocrats changed through the middle of 5ᵗʰ century BC due to the emerging middle classes, who later became the bureaucrats providing the basis of centralised polity established in the middle Warring States period. Based upon these analyses, the author concludes that the political structure of the Chu state was gradually centralised through 5th century BC, which challenges the traditional views on the centralisation of the Chu polity represented by the drastic and short-term reformation by Wu Qi 吳起󠄁. This result calls for reconsideration of the “reformations” (變法) of Eastern Zhou societies from multiple points of view including both historical texts and archaeological materials.