County and prefecture system

This administrative system emerged after the Spring and Autumn Period as the feudal system of the Zhou Dynasty collapsed, and was established in the Qin Dynasty. It was first seen in the 10th year of the reign of Duke Wu (688 BC) in the Records of the Grand Historian, Qin Benji, but was later frequently found in the Zuo Zhuan and other works. At first, counties and prefectures appeared prominently in border regions, but gradually prefectures were established in the Central Plains countries as well. Unlike the later system of counties and prefectures, the counties of the Spring and Autumn Period were essentially the same as the feudal fiefdoms of the Zhou Dynasty. The counties of the county and prefecture system can be considered to have begun when Duke Xiao of Qin appointed Shang Yang and placed 41 counties in the region centered on Xianyang. Regarding counties, when Qin annexed other countries, the territories were often called counties, and prefectures were established later. Therefore, counties and prefectures were not established as a hierarchical relationship from the beginning. It was developed during the reign of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin dynasty.

Looking at the contents of Shang Yang's prefecture system, we can see that he envisioned the prefecture as a place where the ruler could directly control the people. "Small capitals, townships, and villages were gathered together to form a prefecture" (Records of the Grand Historian, "Biographies of the Shang Jun"). He broke up the large clans, gathered together small villages that were mainly established in the reclaimed land, and established a prefecture directly under the central government. The basic unit of a village or village is "gui" in "Guanzi", "wu" in Shang Yang, and "nei" in the bamboo slips from the Suihudi Qin Tomb, all of which are considered to be small clans. A wu is made up of five households, and although Shang Yang intended to directly control each household, he was unable to do so and only grasped the small unit of the clan, the wu system. In that sense, despite Shang Yang's intention, the establishment of the prefecture system through "reform" ended up being a reform of the feudal system.

With the unification of the country by the First Emperor of Qin, the system of prefectures and counties was extended to the whole country. In 221 BC, he destroyed the six eastern states and established 36 prefectures to oversee administration. Each prefecture had a governor, a commander, and a supervisor, while each prefecture had a magistrate, a commander, and a magistrate, who were in charge of administration, military affairs, and inspection. They were dispatched from the central government and were transferred at any time without inheriting their positions. In principle, therefore, the feudal system based on official positions and land that was seen in the Zhou dynasty disappeared. However, in reality, there were lineage representatives such as father lao in the village, li dian in the village, and wu in the village, and they governed together with the government officials. In this sense, the centralized system of the Qin dynasty was also supported by groups of small lineages, and the result of the reorganization of the feudal system was the same as in the case of the previous "Reform."

While Emperor Gaozu of the Han dynasty followed the Qin system in many aspects, such as the official system, he was forced to confine feudal lords of the same and different surnames to other states due to the need to seize power. This was the system of prefectures and counties. The feudal lords of different surnames had been almost completely eliminated by the time of his death, but the feudal lords of the same surname were finally able to weaken this decentralizing power after the reign of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing. It can be said that the prefecture and county system was completed in the middle of the Western Han dynasty. Throughout the Later Han dynasty, the prefecture and county system was supported by a powerful clan class centered around their lineages. This enabled the dynasty to achieve civilized governance. By the time of the Wei-Jin Northern and Southern Dynasties, the names of prefectures and counties still existed, but they no longer had any substance. When the Han people traveled south, they established the prefectures and counties of their home countries as temporary residences, which led to chaos. Emperor Wen of the Sui dynasty therefore abolished the prefectures and counties and placed the counties directly under the prefectures, thus ending the prefecture and counties system.

[Takashi Yoshinami]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、周の封建制が崩壊するなかで、春秋期以降に現れ、秦(しん)朝に確立した行政制度。『史記』秦本紀にみえる武公10年（前688）の記録が初見であるが、その後は『春秋左氏伝』などにも頻出する。最初は辺境地方に郡や県が顕著に現れるが、しだいに中原(ちゅうげん)諸国にも県設置がなされる。春秋の県は後の郡県制のそれとは違って、周代封建制の封邑(ほうゆう)と本質的には変わらない。郡県制の県は、秦の孝公が商鞅(しょうおう)を登用して、41県を咸陽(かんよう)を中心とする地方に配置したのが始まりと考えてよい。郡については、秦国では他国を併合したときその領域を郡と称している場合が多く、そののちに県を置くようになる。したがって最初から郡県が上下の統属関係として設けられたわけではない。整備されたのは秦の始皇帝の時代である。

　商鞅の県制の内容をみると、彼は、君主が直接人民を支配できる場として県を想定していたことがわかる。「小都、郷邑、聚(しゅう)を集めて」県とした（『史記』「商君列伝」）というように大族を分解し、おもに開拓地を中心に成立した小邑群を集めて、中央政府直轄の県を設けたのである。郷とか聚の基本単元は『管子』では軌であり、商鞅では伍(ご)であり、睡虎地(すいこち)秦墓竹簡の示すところでは隣であり、いずれも小宗族(そうぞく)であると考えられる。伍は5戸によって構成されるが、商鞅によって戸別直接支配を意図したものの、そこまで支配できず、伍制という宗族の小単位把握にとどまったものである。その意味では商鞅の意図にもかかわらず「変法」による県制の成立は封建制の改編という結果に終わったといえよう。

　秦の始皇帝の天下統一によって郡県制は全国に及ぼされた。紀元前221年には東方6国を滅ぼし、36郡を設けて行政を統括した。郡には郡守、郡尉、郡監を置き、県には県令、県尉、県丞(けんじょう)を置いて、行政、軍事、監察の分野をそれぞれ担当した。彼らは中央派遣で地位を世襲することなく、随時転任させられた。したがって原則的には、周代にみる職官、土地を基本とする封建制は消滅したのである。しかし、県の下部単位の郷には父老、里には里典、伍には伍老などの宗族の代表者があって、官吏と共同して統治しているという実状にあった。秦朝の中央集権体制もこのような意味では小宗族の群に支えられているのであって、封建制の再編という結果は先の「変法」の場合と同様である。

　漢の高祖は官制など多くの面で秦制を踏襲しながらも、権力奪取の必要から異姓、同姓の諸侯を封国せざるをえなかった。これが郡国制である。異姓諸侯は高祖死去までにほとんど排除したが、同姓諸侯は文帝、景帝を経てようやくこの分権勢力を弱化することができた。郡県制が前漢中期に完成したといえよう。後漢(ごかん)を通じて郡県制は宗族を核とする豪族層によって支えられた。王朝はこれによって文治政治を達成することができた。魏晋(ぎしん)南北朝に入ると郡県の名はあるが、実体はなくなった。漢族が南渡すると本籍地の郡県を寄留地に設けたため混乱を起こすに至った。隋(ずい)の文帝はこのため郡を廃して州の下に県を直属させることにしたので郡県制は終わった。

［好並隆司］

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