Forbidden Army

A general term for the Imperial Guard troops that protected the Emperor's palace (Imperial Palace, Imperial Court) in successive Chinese dynasties. The founders of each dynasty relied on their own Imperial Guard troops to ascend to the throne, but after ascending to the throne, they tried to base the Imperial Guard on a national basis as part of the national army. In Han dynasties that adopted conscription, such as the Han, Sui, Tang, and Ming dynasties, those who were registered as soldiers in the local military were rotated to serve in the capital as guards (such as the Southern Army of the Han, the Six Armies and Twelve Guards of the Southern Office of the Sui and Tang, and the soldiers of the capital in the Ming), but in order to maintain and strengthen imperial power, the children of aristocrats and noble vassals were placed close to the emperor (the Lang Guards led by the Langzhongling Guanglu Xun of the Han, the Son of the Northern Dynasty, In many cases, they set up separate guards, such as the Wangzi Corps, the Tang Dynasty's Qin, Xun, and Yi Three Guards, the Ming Dynasty's Jingwei and Jinyuei, and other guards, or hereditary professional soldiers selected from the elite (such as the Three Simas of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Yuan Jongwei and Beiya Jingun of the Tang Dynasty). In the Ming Dynasty, in response to the decline of the Weisho system, they repeatedly selected the best to expand the Imperial Guards (the Three Great Camps, the Danying, and the Eastern and Western Government Office Troops). At the end of the dynasty when the conscription system collapsed, these were the core of the Imperial Guards, and they were often expanded by recruiting soldiers (such as the Northern Army Camps of the Han Dynasty, the Beiya of the Tang Dynasty, and the New Three Great Camps of the Ming Dynasty). At the end of the Later Han dynasty and during the Six Dynasties and the end of the Tang dynasty and Five Dynasties periods, when local warlords were fighting for power, the Imperial Guards became a hereditary profession and were deployed to battle in the field as an army directly under the control of the central government. At the end of the Five Dynasties and during the Northern Song dynasty, the Imperial Guards (their horse and infantry troops, the original duties of the Imperial Guard were to be carried out by troops in front of the rear guard) were used to pacify the entire country and were stationed in various places, so that the term "Imperial Guards" came to mean the national army. In dynasties that conquered other ethnic groups, such as the Five Barbarians, the Northern Dynasties, Liao, Jin, Yuan, and Qing, the core of the Imperial Guard was made up of soldiers from the conquered ruling races (such as the Northern Dynasties' Yu Lin and Hu Ben, the Liao Dynasty's Pi Si Army, Zhu Shan Army, and Palace Guard Army, the Jin Dynasty's Meng An and Hezha under the Moke system, the Yu Wei and Sigui Shui of the Yuan Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty's Eight Banners of Forbidden Travel, etc.), who formed their close aides.

[Hideo Kikuchi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国歴代王朝で天子の宮城（禁裏、禁中）を守った近衛(このえ)軍の総称。各王朝の始祖はそれぞれ自己の親衛軍に頼って帝位についたが、即位後は近衛をも国軍の一環として全国的基礎の上に置こうとした。漢、隋(ずい)、唐、明(みん)などの徴兵制をとった漢人王朝では、地方の兵籍にある者を交替で京師(けいし)に上番勤務させて衛士とした（漢の南軍、隋・唐の南衙(なんが)六軍十二衛、明の京営の兵など）が、帝権の維持強化のため、皇帝の身近に貴族や功臣の子弟（漢の郎中令・光禄勲(こうろくくん)が率いる郎衛、北朝の宗子・望子隊、唐の親・勲・翊三衛(よくさんえい)、明の京衛・錦衣衛(きんいえい)以下の親軍衛）、あるいは世襲職業兵的な精強選抜部隊（西晋(せいしん)の三部司馬、唐の元従禁軍・北衙禁軍など）を別置する場合が多く、明代では衛所制の衰退に対処して繰り返し精鋭を選抜して近衛軍の拡大整備を図った（三大営、団営、東西官庁軍）。徴兵制が崩れる王朝末期には、これらを禁軍の中核とし、募兵によって拡大することが多かった（漢の北軍諸営、唐の北衙、明の新三大営など）。後漢(ごかん)末、六朝(りくちょう)や唐末五代の地方軍閥割拠時代には禁軍も世襲職業化し、中央直轄軍として野戦に出動、五代末、北宋(ほくそう)には禁軍（侍衛親軍馬・歩軍。本来の近衛の任は殿前軍があたる）をもって全国を平定し、各地に屯駐させたので、禁軍は即、国軍を意味するようになった。五胡(ごこ)、北朝、遼(りょう)、金、元、清(しん)など異民族征服王朝では、禁軍の根幹は征服支配種族の兵をもって構成し（北朝の羽林(うりん)・虎賁(こふん)、遼の皮室(ひしつ)軍・属珊(しょくさん)軍・宮衛軍、金の猛安(もうあん)・謀克(ぼうこく)制における合扎(ハルチ)、元の五衛・四怯薜(ケシク)、清の禁旅八旗など）側近を固めた。

［菊池英夫］

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