Xianbei - Senbei

A nomadic people of ancient North Asia. Some say they are of Turkic origin, but the details of their race and language are unknown. In the early 3rd century BC, they were distributed in the Greater Khingan Mountains as one of the tribes that made up the Donghu. Around 206 BC, the Donghu were defeated by the Xiongnu's Maodun Chanyu, and they eventually submitted to the Xiongnu and gradually moved south, leading a nomadic hunting life in the Shilamuren River basin (upstream of the Liao River), and occasionally invaded the northeastern border of the Han Dynasty following the Xiongnu. In 48 AD, after the Xiongnu split into north and south, they began to move toward independence, and in 54 AD, the chieftain Ou Qiu Ben and others came to Luoyang, the capital of the Later Han Dynasty, to pay tribute, and Emperor Guangwu enfeoffed him as king. The great chieftain Dan Shi Huai, who appeared in the middle of the 2nd century, subjugated the remaining tribes of the Northern Xiongnu and other nomadic tribes on the Mongolian plains, and built a great power that extended from Liaodong in the east to the Junggar Basin in the west. He invaded China's northern and western borders, causing trouble for the Later Han Dynasty. After Dan Shi Huai's death, the position of the leader of each tribe shifted from an elective system to a hereditary system, and the unified power disintegrated. In the early 3rd century, leaders such as Budugen and Kabinou appeared, but unity was not restored, and from the middle of the 3rd century, tribes such as Murong, Yuwen, Duan, Qifu, Toba, and Tokuhatsu became powerful. These powerful tribes, backed by the power of their cavalry corps, strengthened their ties with the Han Chinese ruling class and competed fiercely in northern China during the Five Barbarians and Sixteen Kingdoms period. The Murong clan established Former Yan, Later Yan, Western Yan, Southern Yan, and Tuyuhun, the Qifu clan established Western Qin, the Tuoba clan established Dai (the predecessor of the Northern Wei dynasty), and the Tuo clan established Southern Liang. The descendants of the Northern Dynasties (Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou) and the families of the Sui and Tang dynasties were also of Xianbei ancestry.

In the summer of 1980, a large cavern (Kassendo, approximately 20 meters in length and width and 100 meters in depth) was discovered in a corner of the virgin forest in the northern part of the Greater Khingan Mountains, which bears traces of the rituals of the Xianbei Toba tribe, who were in the nomadic hunting stage. An inscription carved in 443 on the wall of the cave reveals that the Toba tribe once lived in this area, that they worshiped heaven and earth and ancestors at an altar inside the cave, and that the Xianbei chieftain at that time was called Kagan.

[Tomomi Sato]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

古代北アジアの遊牧民族。トルコ系とする説もあるが、人種および言語系統の詳細は不明。紀元前3世紀初め、東胡(とうこ)を構成する一部族として大興安嶺(だいこうあんれい)一帯に分布していた。前206年ころ東胡が匈奴(きょうど)の冒頓単于(ぼくとつぜんう)に撃滅されると、やがて匈奴に服属して徐々に南下し、シラムレン川流域〔遼(りょう)河上流〕で狩猟遊牧生活を行い、ときに匈奴に従って漢の東北辺に侵入した。紀元後48年、匈奴の南北分裂ののち、自立の動きが始まり、54年には大人〔(たいじん)、首長(しゅちょう)〕の於仇賁(おきゅうほん)らが後漢(ごかん)の都洛陽(らくよう)にきて朝貢し、光武帝は彼を王に封じた。2世紀中ごろに現れた大首長檀石槐(だんせきかい)は、北匈奴の残留部族をはじめモンゴル平原の遊牧諸民族を帰属させ、東は遼東、西はジュンガル盆地に至る大勢力を築き、中国の北辺から西辺に侵寇(しんこう)して後漢王朝を悩ませた。檀石槐の死後、各部族の大人の位が選挙推戴(すいたい)制から世襲制へ移行し、統一勢力は分解した。3世紀初めには歩度根(ほどこん)、軻比能(かひのう)らの大人が現れたが統一は回復されず、3世紀中ごろから慕容(ぼよう)、宇文(うぶん)、段(だん)、乞伏(きっぷく)、托跋(たくばつ)、禿髪(とくはつ)などの部族が有力となった。これら有力部族は騎馬軍団の力を背景に、漢族支配層との結び付きを強めながら、五胡十六国時代の華北でしのぎを削った。慕容氏は前燕(ぜんえん)、後燕、西燕、南燕、吐谷渾(とよくこん)、乞伏氏は西秦(せいしん)、托跋氏は代国〔北魏(ほくぎ)の前身〕、禿髪氏は南涼(なんりょう)を建てた。その後の北朝王朝（北魏、東魏、西魏、北斉(せい)、北周）および隋(ずい)・唐王朝の宗室も祖先は鮮卑系である。

　1980年夏、大興安嶺北部の原生林の一角で、狩猟遊牧の段階にあった鮮卑托跋部の祭祀(さいし)跡を残す大洞窟(どうくつ)〔嗄仙洞(かっせんどう)、縦横約20メートル、奥行約100メートル〕が発見された。洞窟内の壁には443年に刻まれた銘文があり、それによれば、かつて托跋部がこの地に住んだこと、洞窟内の祭壇で天地・祖先を祭ったこと、当時の鮮卑の首長が可汗(かがん)とよばれたこと、などがわかる。

［佐藤智水］

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