鎌倉幕府 執權 北條氏의 정치사상

A Study of Sikken Hōjō clan s Political Thought - A Reappraisal of Soothing Administration(撫民) -

Both the Court in Kyoto and Minamotono Yoritomo(源賴朝), the founder of the Kamakura Bakuhu, accepted the Confucian ideas of Good Government(善政) and Soothing Administration, the traditional ruling principles of East Asia whose origin was from the ancient ages of China. The idea of Soothing Administration was not a political principle peculiar to the H?j? clan(北條氏) or the Sikken policy(執權政治). Since the Sikken H?j? clan did not have the legitimacy of the Gokenin(御家人) government, they aggressively adopted and propagated the ruling principle of Soothing Administration in order to invest their power with its own foundation and legitimacy. Minamotono Yoritomo s idea of Good Government and Soothing Administration was handed down and strongly advocated under the rule of H?j? Yasutoki(北條泰時), who established the Sikken policy after the J?kyu s rebellion(1221), and it finally culminated and was promoted throughout the whole nation under the rule of H?j? Tokiyori(北條時賴) when the despotism of the Tokus?(得宗), the head family of the H?j? clan, appeared. With the appearance and establishment of the Sikken policy, and its deterioration into the Tokus? s despotism, the Soothing Administration principle of the Sikken H?j? became more highly emphasized. In a way, the development of Soothing Administration and its political measures went hand in hand with the course of actions for Sikken H?j? to take power. The Soothing Administration principle was pursued basically as a ruling ideology by the H?j? clan s regime but it also answered the practical purpose to maintain the Sh?en K?ry? land system(莊園公領制) by regulating the arbitrary rule of local lords. Meanwhile, partly due to the political and ideological trend of the central government, the Soothing Administration principle was spreading in local communities after the late thirteenth century. H?j? Yasutoki and H?j? Tokiyori imposed the measures of Soothing Administration on the Gokenin lords and the policy slowly but obviously was spreading through the local communities. The Soothing Administration principle was gradually propagated from Jit?(地頭) and Gokenin, the main prop of the Kamakura Bakuhu, to small-scale local lords who ruled farmer directly. However, it must be kept in mind that there existed a vast range of illegality and tyranny that the Jit? and local lords, namely the samurai committed against the people. The Soothing Administration principle in local communities was realized only in a limited way. Considering the real conditions of the local communities in the Kamakura era, it needs a cautious attitude to appraise the thought of Soothing Administration in the case of local lords.