Powerful system

A historical concept referring to the state system in medieval Japan. It was first proposed by Kuroda Toshio in "The State and the Emperor in the Middle Ages" (included in "Iwanami Lecture Series: Japanese History: Middle Ages 2", 1963). According to this theory, the state structure in medieval Japan should not be explained in terms of the organization of the shogunate, as was the conventional wisdom up until that point, but was composed of the emperor and the imperial court at its core, with multiple powerful families competing with each other and complementing each other. These multiple powerful families included the royal family (the imperial family), the regent family (Sekkanke) and other nobles (Kuge), large temples and shrines such as Nanto Hokurei, and the shogunate = samurai, and each group differed in the main social strata they organized and the form of their organization. However, all of them were powerful clans with political and social influence, with their economic base being the control of manors and imperial lands, with household administrative institutions such as mandokoro and stewards, they issued basically the same style of documents such as kudashi-bumi and hosho, and they possessed some degree of private military force. National politics in the Middle Ages was maintained by the strong voice and functional division of power that was based on the traditions and capabilities of these powerful clans. The Imperial Court was a place of rivalry and ceremony to adjust the rivalries between the powerful clans and to display traditional authority, and the Emperor was a member of the powerful clan known as the royal family, as well as the king who stood at the top of the powerful clans. The powerful clan system can be divided into roughly three stages, based on the changes in the powerful clan that held the lead in national politics. The first is the Insei period, when the Innocho government held the initiative; the second is the Kamakura period, when the Kamakura shogunate was established and the powerful Imperial and military families existed side by side while suppressing other powerful families; and the third is the Muromachi period, when the Muromachi shogunate subordinated other powerful families and adopted a system of collusion and integration. The so-called Sekkan seiji period in the mid-Heian period was a transitional period from the Ritsuryo system to the powerful family system, and the Sengoku period was a transitional period from the powerful family system to the Bakufu-han system. If the manor and public land system is considered to be one of the feudal social relations, the powerful family system can be said to be the first form of feudal state in Japan. However, there are also views that view the two powers of the court nobles and samurai as completely different and opposing, and that the underlying tone of medieval state history is that the latter overwhelmed the former, and views that do not essentially recognize the existence of a unified state organization in the Middle Ages.

[Toshio Kuroda]

"The State and Religion in Medieval Japan" by Toshio Kuroda (1975, Iwanami Shoten) " "Medieval State Theory" by Keiji Nagahara (included in Symposium Japanese History 7, 1974, Gakuseisha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

日本中世の国家体制をさす歴史学上の概念。黒田俊雄『中世の国家と天皇』（『岩波講座　日本歴史　中世2』所収・1963）で初めて提唱された。この説では、日本中世の国家機構は、それまでの通説のように幕府の組織をもって説明すべきでなく、複数の権門的勢力の競合対立と相互補完のうえに、天皇と朝廷を中心に構成されていたとみる。この複数の権門とは、王家（天皇家）・摂関家(せっかんけ)その他の公家(くげ)、南都北嶺(なんとほくれい)をはじめとする大寺社、幕府＝武家などで、それぞれが組織している主たる社会層や結集形態には差異がある。しかし、いずれも政治的社会的に権勢をもつ門閥的勢力であって、荘園(しょうえん)・公領(こうりょう)の支配を経済的基礎とし、政所(まんどころ)など家政機関と家司(けいし)を擁し、下文(くだしぶみ)・奉書(ほうしょ)など基本的に同一様式の文書を発給し、多少とも私的武力を備えていた。中世の国政は、この諸権門の伝統と実力に基づく強力な発言権と職能的な権力分担によって維持されていた。朝廷は、諸権門の競合対立を調整し伝統的権威を飾るための、角逐と儀礼の場であり、天皇は王家という権門の一員であるとともに、諸権門の頂点に立つ国王であった。権門体制は、国政の主導権を掌握する権門の交替によって、ほぼ3段階に区分される。第一は院庁(いんのちょう)政権が主導権をもった院政期、第二は鎌倉幕府が成立して他の諸権門を抑圧しながらも公武の権門が併立していた鎌倉期、第三は室町幕府が他の権門を従属させ癒着融合の体制をとった室町期である。そして平安中期のいわゆる摂関政治期は律令(りつりょう)体制から権門体制への過渡期であり、戦国期は権門体制から幕藩体制への過渡期である。また荘園公領制を封建的社会関係の一つとみるなら、権門体制は日本における封建国家の最初の形態といえる。しかし、この権門体制論に対して、公家・武家の両政権をまったく異質的・対立的なものとみて、後者が前者を圧倒していくところに中世国家史の基調をみる見解や、中世に統一的な国家機構の存在を本質的に認めない見解もある。

［黒田俊雄］

『黒田俊雄著『日本中世の国家と宗教』（1975・岩波書店）』▽『永原慶二司会『中世国家論』（『シンポジウム日本歴史7』所収・1974・学生社）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例