Dunhuang

Japanese: 敦煌 - とんこう

A county-level city in Gansu Province, China. It belongs to the Jiuquan prefecture-level city. It has a population of 141,969 (2012). It is located in an oasis in the Gobi desert, in the arid zone of inland Asia. Historically, it was also called Guazhou, Shazhou, and Yanhuang. The Lanxin Line and Dunhuang Line (Liugou-Dunhuang) pass through the city, and Dunhuang Airport is located near the city. In recent years, the wind power generation industry has been thriving.

[Atsushi Ikeda, Editorial Department, June 20, 2017]

history

During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty (reigned 141-87 BC), the Han army advanced west of the Yellow River to oppose the Xiongnu, and Dunhuang County was established as a garrison. The soldiers' farmland opened up farmland, and the area became a base for the Han's advance into the Western Regions. The two checkpoints, Yumen Pass and Yang Pass, were established here, making it a strategic border defense point. This was a key location on the Silk Road that ran from China through Central Asia to the Western world, and it became a trading hub, with many different ethnic groups living here and a settlement of Iranian Sogdian merchants also formed here.

During the Western Jin Dynasty, the region produced such figures as the famous general Suo Jing (239-303), a highly acclaimed calligrapher, and the sutra translator Zhu Fahuo, known as the Dunhuang Bodhisattva, and its cultural level rose to the same level as the mainland. During the war-torn Five Barbarians and Sixteen Kingdoms period, the Hexi region was relatively stable, and Dunhuang, which was one of the three dynasties of Former Liang, Northern Liang, and Xiliang, experienced a period of development. It even became the capital of Xiliang for a time, and the famous rock-cut temples (the Thousand Buddha Caves, or Mogao Caves) were excavated, making it a thriving center of Buddhist culture. It declined somewhat after it was conquered by the Northern Wei in the early 5th century and many powerful clans were transferred to Daito, but it played a certain role in the exchange of Eastern and Western cultures as a key point on the Silk Road from the Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang dynasties. During the height of the Tang Dynasty in the 8th century, it had 13 townships, about 6,000 households and a population of over 30,000, and the North and South Great Buddhas were carved into the Mogao Caves and the area was decorated with magnificent murals such as Pure Land scenes. However, the An Lushan Rebellion caused the Tang Dynasty's influence to decline, and after being occupied by the Tibetans (Tibet) for several decades, in 848 the local lord Zhang Yichao (799-872) took advantage of the internal conflict within the Tibetans to pursue them, surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and was appointed as a military governor of the Righteous Army.

Although it generally served the rulers of the Central Plains throughout the Tang, Five Dynasties and Northern Song dynasties, its trade was unstable and it was close to being an independent local government, with the Zhang and Cao families inheriting the position of military governor and forming complex relationships with the governments of various tribes such as the Liao, Ganzhou Huihui (Uighur), and Yutian (Hotan), in order to benefit from trade between the East and the West. In the mid-11th century, it came under the control of the Tanguts, then under the influence of the Mongols and the Uighurs of Turfan, and in the 18th century, during the Yongzheng period (1723-1735), it came under the jurisdiction of the Qing dynasty, and once again many Han people settled there, making it a tourist city famous for its Thousand Buddha Caves.

At the beginning of the 20th century, tens of thousands of ancient manuscript fragments and banners were discovered sealed away in a room in the caves. These were taken to England and France by M. A. Stein and Pelliot, and the precious value of the Dunhuang materials was suddenly publicized, opening up a new research field called "Dunhuang studies," which became the focus of attention among philologists and art historians. The new People's Republic of China established the Dunhuang Research Academy (formerly the Institute of Cultural Relics) and is working to restore, preserve, and study the caves.

[Atsushi Ikeda June 20, 2017]

World Heritage Registration

In 2014, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) registered Yumen Pass, the Hanging Springs Site, and other cultural heritage sites as part of the Silk Road: Trade Route Network of the Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor (World Cultural Heritage).

[Editorial Department, June 20, 2017]

"Lessons on Dunhuang 1: The Nature and Present State of Dunhuang" edited by Kazuo Eno "Lessons on Dunhuang 2: The History of Dunhuang" (1980, Daito Publishing)" ▽ "Lessons on Dunhuang 3: The Society of Dunhuang" edited by Atsushi Ikeda (1980, Daito Publishing)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

中国、甘粛(かんしゅく)省にある県級市。酒泉(しゅせん)地級市に属する。人口14万1969（2012）。内陸アジアの乾燥地帯に属し、ゴビ（土漠）中のオアシスにある。歴史上、瓜州(かしゅう)、沙州(さしゅう)、燉煌ともよばれた。市内を蘭新(らんしん)線、敦煌線（柳溝(りゅうこう)―敦煌）が通るほか、市街近郊には敦煌空港がある。近年、風力発電産業が盛ん。

［池田　温・編集部　2017年6月20日］

歴史

前漢の武帝（在位前141～前87）時代に、匈奴(きょうど)に対抗し漢の軍隊が黄河(こうが)の西方に進出したとき、駐屯地となり敦煌郡が設けられたのに始まる。兵士の屯田により農地が開け、漢の西域(せいいき)進出の基地となり、玉門関、陽関の両関が置かれ辺防の要衝となった。ここは中国から中央アジアを経て西方世界に達するシルク・ロードの要地で通商の拠点となり、諸族雑居しイラン系のソグド商人の集落もできた。

　西晋(せいしん)時代には、著名な将軍で能書の誉れ高い索靖(さくせい)（239―303）や、敦煌菩薩(ぼさつ)とうたわれた訳経僧竺法護(じくほうご)を生み、文化水準も内地並みに高まった。戦乱の五胡(ごこ)十六国時代に、河西(かせい)の地は相対的に安定し、前涼(ぜんりょう)、北涼、西涼など諸朝を通じ敦煌は発展期を迎え、一時西涼の国都ともなり、著名な石窟(せっくつ)寺院（千仏洞＝莫高窟(ばっこうくつ)）が開削され、仏教文化の中心地として栄えた。5世紀初め北魏(ほくぎ)に征服され多くの有力豪族が代都に移されるに及び、やや衰退したが、北朝から隋(ずい)・唐にかけてシルク・ロードの要衝として東西文化の交流に一定の役割を果たした。8世紀盛唐には、13郷約6000戸、3万余の人口を擁し、莫高窟に北・南の両大仏が造顕され、絢爛(けんらん)たる浄土図などの壁画で飾られた。ところが安史の乱により唐の勢力は後退し、吐蕃(とばん)（チベット）に数十年間占領されてのち、848年土豪の張議潮（799―872）が吐蕃の内紛に乗じこれを追い、唐に帰順して帰義軍節度使に任ぜられた。

　以後、唐、五代、北宋(ほくそう)を通じおおむね中原(ちゅうげん)の正朔(せいさく)を奉じたとはいえ、通交は不安定で独立地方政権に近く、張氏、曹氏が節度使を世襲し、遼(りょう)、甘州回鶻(かいこつ)（ウイグル）、于闐(うてん)（ホータン）など諸族政権と複雑な関係を取り結び、東西交易仲介の利を図った。11世紀なかばにタングートの支配下に陥り、ついでモンゴル、吐魯番(トゥルファン)のウイグルの勢力下にあってのち、18世紀に至り雍正(ようせい)年間（1723～1735）に清(しん)朝の管轄するところとなり、ふたたび多数の漢人が入植し、千仏洞で名高い観光都市となった。

　20世紀初め、石窟の一室に封蔵されていた数万点の古写本断巻、幡幢(ばんとう)などが発見された。これがM・A・スタインやペリオによりイギリス、フランスに持ち出され、にわかに敦煌資料の貴重な価値が喧伝(けんでん)され、「敦煌学」とよばれる新研究領域が開かれ、文献学者や美術史家の注目の的となった。新中国は敦煌研究院（旧、文物研究所）を設け石窟の修復保存と研究に努めている。

［池田　温　2017年6月20日］