Three-management system

The village system was implemented in 486 under the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty in China. The name "Sancho" comes from the fact that there was one neighborhood chief for every five households, one li chief for every five neighborhoods, and one party chief for every five li, and its ideological background is the village party system in the "Zhou Rites." The Sancho were exempt from certain hard labor and were mainly in charge of creating household registers and collecting taxes. In the Northern Wei Dynasty, powerful clans known as suzerains were initially allowed to control the people, so that 50 or 30 households were registered as one household in the household register and came under the protection of the suzerain, and did not comply with the state's corvée. The Sancho system was established in an attempt to directly control the people under the control of such powerful clans, correct the unfairness of corvée and the gap between rich and poor, and establish the foundation of national power.

[Shinichiro Watanabe]

"Matsumoto Yoshimi, 'Historical Study of the Chinese Village System' (1977, Iwanami Shoten)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、北魏(ほくぎ)の孝文帝治下の486年に施行された郷村制度。三長の名は、5家ごとに1鄰長(りんちょう)、5鄰ごとに1里長、5里ごとに1党長を設けたことに由来し、『周礼(しゅらい)』の郷党制度が理念的背景にある。三長には一定の徭役(ようえき)を免除し、主として戸籍作成と税役徴発の事務をつかさどらせた。北魏では、初め宗主とよぶ豪族に民衆の取締りを許したため、50家、30家が1戸として戸籍に一括登録されて宗主の被護下に入り、国家の賦役に応じないという状態がみられた。このような豪族の支配下にある民衆を国家が直接把握し、賦役の不公平と貧富の格差とを是正し、国家権力の基盤を整備しようとして創設されたのが三長制である。

［渡辺信一郎］

『松本善海著『中国村落制度の史的研究』（1977・岩波書店）』

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