Luoyang - Rakuyo

Japanese: 洛陽 - らくよう

A prefecture-level city in the northwest of Henan Province, China. It is surrounded by the Beibo Mountain and Xiong'er Mountain ranges of the Liangshan Mountains, and is located in the valley basin of the Luohe River (South Luohe River), a tributary of the Yellow River. The city's administrative district is divided into six city districts, including Laocheng and Xigong, and it also has jurisdiction over eight counties, including Mengjin and Xinan, and acts as the administrative agent for Yanshi City (as of 2016). Population 6.962 million (2014).

In 1948, the urban area of Luoyang County was incorporated as a city, and Luoyang City was established. The city is made up of the "Laocheng" old city area in the east, which dates back to the Jin Dynasty, and the new urban area in the west, which developed after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Modern industries such as bearings, mining machinery, glass, and cotton spinning are well developed, including the Luoyang (Dongfanghong) Tractor Factory, one of the largest in China, covering an area of over 700,000 square meters. Wheat, corn, soybeans, and cotton are produced in the rural areas outside the city. Cotton in particular boasts the second highest production per unit after the Yangtze River Delta and the Jianghan Plain. Luoyang East Station is where the Longhai Line and the Jiaoliu Line (Jiaozuo-Liuzhou) intersect, and the Zhengxi Passenger Line (Zhengzhou-Xi'an) passes through the city, and is connected to various cities in the province by intercity railways, making it a transportation hub in western Henan.

Along with Beijing, Xi'an, and Kaifeng, it is one of China's six great ancient capitals, and the city is home to many historical sites, including the Longmen Grottoes, White Horse Temple, said to be the birthplace of Chinese Buddhism, Guanlin, home to the tomb of Guan Yu, a hero of the Three Kingdoms period, and ancient cities from each era.

[Masakazu Komai, Editorial Department, December 12, 2017]

history

Located at a key transportation hub connecting the Central Plains and the Guanzhong Plain, which were major stages in ancient Chinese history, Luoyang has flourished as a political and cultural center since Luoyi during the Western Zhou Dynasty. Luoyang faces the Luo River to the south and is a small plain bordering Mount Yishan to the north, with the Yellow River flowing from west to east to the north of Mount Yishan.

The Eastern Zhou dynasty was the first to make Luoyang its capital, and later the Later Han, Wei, and Western Jin dynasties also established their capitals here. The Northern Wei dynasty also moved its capital from Datong to this place, and during the Sui and Tang dynasties it flourished as the eastern capital of China in contrast to the western capital Chang'an. After this, the Later Tang dynasty of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and later the Republic of China, also used Luoyang as their capital for a time, so it is known as the capital of the Nine Dynasties.

The Eastern Zhou Luoyang City was located in a corner to the west of the current city, while the Han and Wei Luoyang City has ruins in the eastern suburbs. In 57 AD, the King of Nakoku of Wa sent an envoy to the Later Han Dynasty and was given a seal by Emperor Guangwu, according to a record in the Book of the Later Han. It was at this Han and Wei Luoyang City that the Wa envoy met with the emperor, making it an important site in the history of exchanges between Japan and China in ancient times.

The Northern Wei dynasty moved its capital to Luoyang in 493, and this Northern Wei Luoyang City expanded the previous capital on all four sides, measuring approximately 9 kilometers east to west and 7 kilometers north to south. It is recorded that 110,000 people lived here and there were 1,367 Buddhist temples, but they were destroyed by fire at the end of the Northern Wei dynasty. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, a large capital was once again built to the west of the Han-Wei Luoyang City, and goods from Jiangnan and northern China were accumulated here, resulting in great prosperity. Hanjiacang, excavated last year, is a group of underground granaries from the Tang dynasty, and more than 400 huge cellars have been discovered.

Luoyang was also the center of ancient Chinese culture, and during the Han dynasty, historian Ban Gu, paper inventor Cai Lun, and famous physician Hua Tuo were active, while during the Tang dynasty, Li Bai, Du Fu, and Bai Juyi (Bai Juyi) wrote many famous poems here. Luoyang was also a center of Buddhism, with the White Horse Temple, said to be the oldest Buddhist temple in China, and the Longmen Grottoes, which date back to the Northern Wei dynasty, in the southern suburbs. After the Later Tang dynasty, Luoyang fell into a steady decline as a regional city, but was reborn with the founding of the People's Republic of China and is now developing as a modern city.

[Shozo Tanabe December 12, 2017]

World Heritage Registration

The Longmen Grottoes were registered as a World Heritage Site in 2000, and in 2014, Luoyang City of the Northern Wei Dynasty and Dingdingmen Gate of Luoyang City of the Sui and Tang Dynasties were registered as World Heritage Sites as component assets of the "Silk Road: Trade Route Network of the Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor," and the Hanjiacang Ruins and Huilucang Ruins were registered as component assets of the "Grand Canal of China."

[Editorial Department, December 12, 2017]

"Nara, the Heian Capital and Chang'an" edited by Sadao Nishijima (1983, Shogakukan)

A reconstruction of Luoyang City in the Tang Dynasty
©Shogakukan ">

Reconstruction of Luoyang City in the Tang Dynasty

Left attendant Bodhisattva standing statue at Longmen Grottoes Bonghwasa Cave
According to the inscription on the base of the central statue, construction began in the third year of the Xianheng era (672) of the early Tang Dynasty, and was completed in the second year of the Shangyuan era (675). The statues, including the attendant figures, are giants over 10 meters tall, demonstrating the high level of Tang Dynasty sculpture to the present day. Part of the Longmen Grottoes, a World Heritage Site (China, registered in 2000) China, Henan Province ©Shogakukan ">

Left attendant Bodhisattva standing statue at Longmen Grottoes Bonghwasa Cave

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

中国、河南(かなん)省北西部の地級市。崤山(こうざん)山脈の北邙(ほくぼう)山や熊耳(ゆうじ)山脈に囲まれ、黄河(こうが)の支流洛河（南洛河）の河谷盆地にある。市街行政区は老城(ろうじょう)、西工(せいこう)などの6市轄区に分かれ、ほかに孟津(もうしん)、新安(しんあん)など8県を管轄下に置き、偃師(えんし)市の管轄代行を行う（2016年時点）。人口696万2000（2014）。

　1948年、洛陽県の市街部に市制が敷かれ、洛陽市が成立。市街は、東部の金(きん)代以来の旧市街地である「老城」と、中華人民共和国成立後に発展した西部の新市街部からなる。70余万平方メートルの広さをもつ中国有数の洛陽（東方紅）トラクター工場をはじめ、軸受、鉱山機械、ガラス、綿紡織などの近代工業が発達している。市外の農村部では小麦、トウモロコシ、大豆、ワタを産出する。とくにワタは揚子江(ようすこう)デルタや江漢平原に次いで高い単位当りの生産高を誇っている。洛陽東駅では隴海(ろうかい)線と焦柳線（焦作(しょうさく)―柳州(りゅうしゅう)）が交差するほか、市内を鄭西旅客専用線（鄭州(ていしゅう)―西安(せいあん)）が通り、省内の各都市と城際（都市間）鉄道で結ばれるなど、河南省西部の交通の拠点ともなっている。

　北京(ペキン)、西安、開封(かいほう)などとともに中国六大古都の一つで、市内には竜門石窟(せっくつ)や中国仏教の発祥地と伝えられる白馬寺、三国時代の英傑関羽(かんう)の墓のある関林、各時代の故城などの古跡が数多く残っている。

［駒井正一・編集部　2017年12月12日］

歴史

中国古代史の主要な舞台となった中原(ちゅうげん)と関中平原とを結ぶ交通の要衝に位置し、西周時代の洛邑(らくゆう)以来、政治や文化の一中心として栄えた。洛陽の地は、南は洛河に臨み、北は邙山を控えた小平野で、邙山の北には黄河本流が西から東へ流れている。

　初めてここを国都としたのは東周で、その後、後漢(ごかん)、魏(ぎ)、西晋(せいしん)もここに都を定めた。北魏もまた大同(だいどう)から都をこの地に移し、さらに隋(ずい)・唐時代には西都長安に対する東都として繁栄した。このあと、五代十国の後唐(こうとう)や後の中華民国も一時洛陽を都としたので、九朝の都とよばれている。

　東周洛陽城は、現市街地西方の一角に位置し、漢魏洛陽城は東郊に、それぞれ遺跡を残している。57年、倭(わ)の奴国(なこく)王は後漢に使者を送り、光武帝から印綬(いんじゅ)を賜ったという記録が『後漢書(ごかんじょ)』に記載されているが、倭の使者が皇帝に謁見したのはこの漢魏洛陽城であり、古代日中交流史にとって重要な遺跡である。

　北魏は493年に都を洛陽に移したが、この北魏洛陽城は前代の都城を四周に広げ、東西約9キロメートル、南北約7キロメートルの規模とした。ここには11万人が住み、仏寺は1367を数えたと記録されているが、北魏末には兵火に焼かれ壊滅した。隋・唐時代には、ふたたび漢魏洛陽城の西方の地に大規模な都城を建設し、江南や華北の物資がここに集積され、大いに栄えた。先年発掘された含嘉倉(がんかそう)は、唐の地下穀倉群であり、400余基に上る巨大な穴倉(あなぐら)が発見されている。

　洛陽は、中国古代文化の中心地でもあり、漢代には史家の班固(はんこ)、紙の発明者蔡倫(さいりん)、名医華佗(かだ)などが活躍し、唐代には李白(りはく)、杜甫(とほ)、白居易（白楽天）がここで多くの名詩を残した。洛陽には、中国最古の仏寺といわれる白馬寺や、南郊には北魏に始まる竜門石窟があり、仏教の一中心地でもあった。後唐以後、洛陽は一地方都市として衰微の一途をたどったが、中華人民共和国の建国によって再生し、近代都市として発展しつつある。

［田辺昭三　2017年12月12日］

世界遺産の登録

竜門石窟が2000年に世界遺産の文化遺産（世界文化遺産）に登録されたほか、2014年には後漢北魏洛陽城、隋唐洛陽城定鼎門(ていていもん)が「シルク・ロード：長安‐天山(てんざん)回廊の交易路網」の構成資産として、また含嘉倉遺跡、回洛倉(かいらくそう)遺跡が「中国大運河」の構成資産として、世界文化遺産に登録されている。

［編集部　2017年12月12日］

『西嶋定生編『奈良・平安の都と長安』（1983・小学館）』

[参照項目] | 河南（省） | 白馬寺 | 南洛河 | 洛邑 | 竜門石窟 | 隴海線

唐の洛陽城の復原図

竜門石窟奉先寺洞左脇侍菩薩立像
中尊台座の刻銘により、初唐の咸亨3年（672）に造営が開始され、上元2年（675）に落成したことがわかる。脇侍も含め諸像は10mを超す巨像で、唐代彫刻の水準の高さを現代に伝えている。世界文化遺産「竜門石窟」の一部（中国・2000年登録）　中国　河南省©Shogakukan">

竜門石窟奉先寺洞左脇侍菩薩立像

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