Karasuma - Ugan

An Altaic-speaking nomadic people who lived in the north of China between the Han and Northern Wei dynasties. They are also written as Wuhuan. In ancient times, they were called Donghu, but after the Donghu were defeated by the Xiongnu at the end of the 3rd century BC, the remaining tribe split into two groups: the Xianbei, whose base was in the Shiramuren River basin in the north, and the Wuhuan, whose base was in the Laoha River basin in the south. According to the official Chinese history, there are traces of seasonal farming as well as hunting and trading. They believed in shamanism, and at first there was no unified power, and they were divided into regions led by non-hereditary adults, and were subordinate to the Xiongnu, but later they also paid tribute to the Han, played a part in the Han's policy of suppressing the Xiongnu, and came to belong to both. Towards the end of the Later Han dynasty, the succession of senior officials became hereditary, and Tantun formed a force that unified much of the country with Liucheng as its base, but was annihilated by Cao Cao (155-220) of Wei, who pacified Hebei. Many of the remaining people followed the Xianbei, and later, in the 4th century, they migrated to inland China with the Xianbei and became farmers, and from the Northern Wei dynasty onwards, they became more and more integrated with the Han people.

[Isao Katagiri]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

漢―北魏(ほくぎ)間の中国北方にいたアルタイ語系遊牧民族。烏桓とも書く。古くは東胡(とうこ)とよばれ、東胡が紀元前3世紀末に匈奴(きょうど)に撃破されると残部は2部に分かれ、北方シラムレン川流域を根拠地としたのが鮮卑(せんぴ)、南方ラオハ川流域に根拠地を置いたのが烏丸とよばれた。中国正史によれば、狩猟、交易のほか、季節的農耕の痕跡(こんせき)もある。シャーマニズムを信仰し、初め統一勢力はなく、非世襲の大人(たいじん)に統率されて地域ごとに分立し、匈奴に服属していたが、のち漢にも朝貢し、漢の匈奴抑制策の一翼を担い、両者に属するようになった。後漢(ごかん)末に至り、大人が世襲化し、蹋頓(とうとん)が柳城を拠点として大部分を統一する勢力を形成したが、河北を平定した魏の曹操(そうそう)（155―220）により壊滅させられた。残部は多く鮮卑に従い、のち4世紀にかけて鮮卑とともに中国内地に移入して農耕民化し、北魏以降、漢民族と融合の度合いを深めていった。

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