Barbarians

A derogatory term given by the Han people living in the middle reaches of the Yellow River in China to the foreign tribes living on the outskirts. They are also called Rong and Di, or barbarians. Originally, the tribes called Rong and Di lived in the interior of China. The Yi lived from Shandong Province to the lower reaches of the Huai River, and had ties with the Yin Dynasty, while the Di (also written as Zhai) lived in the southern part of Shanxi Province, and had close ties with the Zhou royal family and the Jin Dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Huan of Qi defeated the neighboring Rong tribes and became the ruler (Sonno Joi), but in the Warring States Period, the inland Rong and Di tribes were gradually absorbed into the centralized state, and instead, the foreign ethnic groups on the periphery appeared as barbarians, Rong Di, and barbarians. These people did not yet fully attain the virtues of the Chinese kings, but were considered to be people who would eventually be immersed in Chinese culture and submit to it. In some cases, they were expressed as Eastern Barbarians, Western Barbarians, Southern Barbarians, and Northern Barbarians. This Sinocentrism, which considers its own culture to be the highest and looks down on other ethnic groups and nations as barbarians and barbarians, was reproduced not only in China but also in Japan and Korea, such as the Joi ideology of Japan at the end of the Edo period.

[Yoshihiko Ogura]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国の黄河中流域に住む漢民族が、外辺の異民族に対してつけた蔑称(べっしょう)。戎狄(じゅうてき)、蛮夷(ばんい)という呼び方もある。元来、戎とか狄とかよばれた種族は、中国の内地にも雑居していた。夷は山東省から淮河(わいが)下流方面に住んでおり、殷(いん)王朝とも交渉があったし、狄（翟(てき)とも書く）は山西省南部にいて、周王室や晋(しん)とも深い関係があった。春秋時代の斉(せい)の桓公(かんこう)は隣接する戎を討って覇者となったが（尊王攘夷(じょうい)）、戦国時代になると内地の戎や狄はしだいに中央集権国家に吸収され、かわって外辺の異民族が夷狄、戎狄、蛮夷として登場してきた。これらには中国の王者の徳がまだ十分に及んでいないが、やがては中華の文化に浴し、帰服するはずの存在とみなされていた。方角に当てはめて、東夷(とうい)、西戎(せいじゅう)、南蛮(なんばん)、北狄(ほくてき)と表現された場合もある。このように自己の文化を最高と考え、それ以外の民族や国家を夷狄、蛮夷と見下す中華思想は、中国以外でも幕末日本の攘夷思想のように日本や朝鮮でも再生産された。

［小倉芳彦］

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