著者

舩田 善之

出版者

公益財団法人史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.108, no.9, pp.1593-1618, 1999-09

---

Up until now, it has often been indicated that under the Yuan Dynasty, the inhabitants were divided into the Meng-gu(蒙古), Se-mu(色目), Han-ren(漢人), and Nan-ren(南人), and that this division was a ranking system. Under this "four class system", the Han-ren and Nan-ren were not free from official or social restraints under Meng-gu and Se-mu, who were the privilege classes. Such has been an accepted theory. "The four class system" is one of the presuppositions about how we interpret these four categories. In this article, the author examines the term, concept and category of "Se-mu". Since he could not find any terms or ideas corresponding to "Se-mu" in the non-Chinese primary sources, he concludes that it was the Chinese who created the term. He then verifies that the category of "Se-mu" was created because it was necessary that Chinese and non-Chinese be divided under the Yuan system. The "Se-mu" consisted of various peoples in terms of ethnicity, culture, or religion. They were permitted to follow ben-su-fa(本俗法); i.e. their own peculiar customs and laws. The fact that such a mixed group of peoples were placed into a single category is the proof that Chinese created this general term for people who did not apply to Han-fa(漢法); i.e. Chinese law. This character of "Se-mu" forces us to reconsider the accepted theory of "the four class system". Also, not a few questions arise about speific cases and institutions that have interpreted on the basis of such a "system". From now on, we should reconsider all kinds of problems: for example, the appointment of officials including ke-ju(科挙), kesik, and yin-xu(蔭叙); the taxation system; the system of family and registration; the legal system including yue-hui(約会); and the consciousness or identity of each people living under Yuan Dynasty.