黎朝聖宗期の新開拓地を巡る中央政権と地方行政 : 安興碑文の分析

Abstract

In Yen Hung sub-prefecture, An Bang province (now Quang Ninh province), Vietnam, two inscriptions from the fifteenth century record a survey of newly reclaimed land and the dealings of the Le govenment. During the reign of emperor Le Thanh Tong, an administrative system was established consisting of the capital, provinces, prefectures, sub-prefectures, and villages. These inscriptions record two interesting matters. One is the significance of the governor of the sub-prefecture. Another is the significance of the high-ranking officials sent from the capital. Little mention is made of the governor of the province. An Bang was one of the outlying provinces, and because of this, the civil governor of the province was engaged in many military affairs. This situation is reflected in the inscriptions. In this paper, I examine only one province, but according to Vietnamese chronicles, the same tendency can be seen in the whole state. So I would like to propose the following interpretation. During the reign of emperor Le Thanh Tong, large-scale reclamation plans were carried out in many provinces, and this led to many small reclamation works by aristocrats and peasants. So the governors of sub-prefectures had to deal with many and various problems. But the government did not want to empower them to do so. Moreover, the provincial governors could not adequately supervise them because of their heavy workload. To solve the situation, the government sent high-ranking officials from the capital.