Yuwen Tai

He was the powerful man of the Western Wei dynasty in China, and the de facto founder of the Northern Zhou dynasty. His pen name was Black Otter. His ancestor was the chief of the Yuwen tribe (a powerful tribe of the Xianbei). At the end of the 4th century, during the reign of the 4th Tai, he submitted to the Northern Wei dynasty and moved to Wuchuan Town on the northern border, where he served as a townsman to defend the north for generations. In 523, a townsman rebellion broke out in the Northern Wei dynasty, which developed into a civil war and even the collapse of the Northern Wei dynasty. In the midst of this, Yuwen Tai gradually rose to prominence, and in 535, he supported a member of the Northern Wei clan as emperor based in Chang'an (Emperor Wen of the Western Wei dynasty), and formed a trilateral alliance with the Eastern Wei dynasty supported by Gao Huan, and the Liang dynasty of the Southern Dynasty. The Western Wei Dynasty was initially at a disadvantage militarily, but Yuwen Tai, as Grand Prime Minister, governed with a simple and practical approach, implementing measures such as reviving the Hu family name, establishing the 24th Army (the predecessor of the Fubin system), and adopting the Six Officials system based on the principles of Zhou rituals. He succeeded in unifying the administration of the Hu-Han joint government between the forces from Beizhen and the powerful clans of Guanzhong, and strengthened the nation's power. After Tai's death, his son Yuwen Jue founded the Northern Zhou Dynasty.

[Tomomi Sato]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、西魏(せいぎ)の実権者で、北周の事実上の創設者。字(あざな)は黒獺(こくらい)。祖先は宇文部（鮮卑(せんぴ)の一有力部族）の部族長。4世紀末、泰の4世の祖のときに北魏に帰順して北辺の武川鎮(ぶせんちん)に移住し、その後、代々鎮民として北方防備にあたっていた。523年北鎮に発した鎮民反乱は北魏の内乱、瓦解(がかい)にまで発展、そのなかで宇文泰はしだいに頭角を現し、535年長安を根拠に北魏の一族を皇帝に擁立して（西魏の文帝）、高歓(こうかん)の擁立した東魏、および南朝の梁(りょう)と鼎立(ていりつ)した。西魏は初め軍事的に劣勢だったが、宇文泰は大丞相(じょうしょう)として質実の風を柱に政治を行い、胡(こ)姓の復活、二四軍（府兵制の前身）の創設、周礼(しゅらい)主義に基づく六官の制の採用などを施行し、北鎮出身勢力と関中豪族との胡漢合作政権の統一運営に成功、国力を充実させた。泰の死後、子の宇文覚が北周を創建した。

［佐藤智水］

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