Song Jiang - Souko

The name of the leader of 108 bandits who appears in the Chinese novel "Water Margin." During the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, he was persecuted by traitorous ministers Cai Jing and Gao Qiu, and was forced to take refuge in Liangshanbo in Shandong Province and resist the government forces. However, his true intention was to follow the path of the righteous in the name of heaven, and he later surrendered and achieved great success by destroying the bandit Fang La in Zhejiang. However, he was hated by the traitorous ministers and was poisoned to death.

However, Song Jiang as a real person who appears in history only appears for a few years at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, and there are contradictions in the descriptions, so he must have been two different people, not just one. One was a subordinate of Tong Guan, the commander-in-chief of the army to pacify Fang La, and served in the government army from the time Tong Guan left the capital until after Fang La was pacified, and the other continued to plunder in the Shandong Huainan region with 36 companions during roughly the same period.

[Miyazaki City]

"Suikoden" by Miyazaki Ichijo (Chuko Shinsho)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国の小説『水滸伝(すいこでん)』に出る盗賊108人の首領の名。宋の徽宗(きそう)の世に姦臣蔡京(かんしんさいけい)、高俅(こうきゅう)などの迫害を受けて、やむをえず山東省の梁山泊(りょうざんぱく)に立てこもって官軍に抵抗したが、本心は天にかわって道を行うにあり、のちに帰順して浙江(せっこう)の賊方臘(ほうろう)を滅ぼして大功をたてたが、かえって姦臣などに憎まれて毒殺されたと語られる。

　しかし、史上に現れる実在人物としての宋江は、北宋末のわずか数年の間にその名が現れるだけで、その記述に矛盾撞着(どうちゃく)があるので、これは1人ではなく、別人2人とせねば解釈できない。1人は方臘討伐軍の総帥童貫(どうかん)の部将で、童貫が都を出発するときから、方臘平定ののちまで官軍のなかに名を連ね、他の1人はほぼ同じ期間中に山東淮南(わいなん)地方で36人の仲間とともに略奪を続けていた。

［宮崎市定］

『宮崎市定著『水滸伝』（中公新書）』

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