Yellow Turban Rebellion

A peasant revolt at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty in China. In the latter half of the Eastern Han Dynasty, as the powerful clans gained greater landholdings, many peasants lost their land and fell into ruin. The central government's functions also declined due to political strife between the maternal relatives, the eunuchs, and the party bureaucrats, and floods, droughts, and epidemics became frequent. Zhang Jiaoji of Julu (southern Hebei Province) founded the Taiping Dao, a branch of early Taoism that included the belief in the Yellow Emperor and Taoist doctrine, and called himself the Great Sage and Master. The teachings of the Taiping Dao, which teach that illnesses can be cured by magic, confession, and self-reflection, succeeded in organizing many peasants suffering from poverty and illness in the lower Yellow River basin into a religious organization. The year 184 during the reign of Emperor Ling of the Later Han Dynasty happened to be the first year of the 60-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac, the year of Jiazi. Zhang Jue, who raised the slogan "The blue sky has already died. The yellow sky is about to rise. The year is Jiazi. The world is blessed with good fortune," led a rebellion in February of that year, leading over 300,000 followers, each wearing a yellow hood as a sign of their own. The Later Han government stopped suppressing party officials and instead focused all its efforts on suppressing the Yellow Turbans, and Zhang Jue died of an illness in the camp. As a result, the majority of the rebellion was put down within the year, but the remnants of the Yellow Turbans continued to rise up in various places for over 10 years, merging and splitting apart. Intertwined with the armed political struggles at the center and the regional divisions of administrative officials and generals, the activities of the Yellow Turban remnants dealt a serious blow to the effectiveness of the unified government of the Later Han Empire.

[Tada Kensuke]

"Research on Peasant Rebellions in Ancient China" by Masao Kimura (1979, University of Tokyo Press) " "Rebellions in Ancient China" by Shigemasa Fukui (Kyoikusha History Paperbacks)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、後漢(ごかん)末の農民反乱。後漢代後半、豪族の大土地所有の進展につれて、多数の農民が土地を失って没落した。また外戚(がいせき)、宦官(かんがん)、党人官僚三つどもえの政争によって中央政府の機能は低下し、洪水や干魃(かんばつ)や流行病がしきりに発生した。鉅鹿(きょろく)（河北省南部）の人張角(ちょうかく)は、黄帝(こうてい)信仰や道家(どうか)学説を含む初期道教の一派である太平道(たいへいどう)を創始して、大賢良師(たいけんりょうし)と自称した。教義による呪術(じゅじゅつ)と信徒本人の懺悔(ざんげ)、反省によって病気が治るという太平道の教えは、黄河下流域の多数の貧困と病気に苦しむ農民たちをその教団に組織することに成功した。たまたま後漢霊帝(れいてい)代の184年は、60年を1周期とする干支(かんし)の最初の年、すなわち甲子の年にあたっていた。「蒼天(そうてん)すでに死せり。黄天まさに立つべし。歳は甲子に在(あ)り。天下大吉」というスローガンを掲げた張角は、この年2月、目印として互いに黄色い頭巾を着用した30余万の信徒を率いて反乱を起こした。後漢政府が党人官僚への弾圧を中止して黄巾討伐に全力をあげたこと、張角が陣中において病死したことなどにより、反乱の主流は年内に平定されたが、その余党は10年以上にわたって各地に蜂起(ほうき)しては離合集散した。武力を伴った中央における政治抗争と、行政官や将軍たちの地方割拠と絡み合いながら、黄巾の余党の活動は後漢帝国の統一政府としての実質に重大な打撃を与えた。

［多田狷介］

『木村正雄著『中国古代農民叛乱の研究』（1979・東京大学出版会）』▽『福井重雅著『古代中国の反乱』（教育社歴史新書）』

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