著者

山下 将司

出版者

東洋文庫

雑誌

東洋学報 (ISSN:03869067)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.85, no.2, pp.173-203, 2003-09

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The Xuanwumen incident (玄武門の変) which occurred in A.D. 626 involved Prince Lishimin 李世民 killing his brother Jiancheng 建成, the crown prince of the Tang 唐 dynasty, and coercing his father Liyuan 李淵, the first emperor of the dynasty, to relinquish the throne. This incident is usually regarded as either sibling rivalry or a court dispute over the title of crown prince and has been considered to have had no influence on the political structure of the dynasty. Therefore, the recent research has not taken into consideration the concerned parties in the incident. For example, there were a number of natives of Shangdong 山東 among Lishimin's retainers, particularly natives of Qiji 斉済 (Qijun 斉郡 and Jibeijun 済北郡 of the Sui 隋 period). They had been affiliated with Limi 李密, a revolutionary at the end of the Sui period. After Limi's defeat, they came to serve the Tang dynasty under Lishimin. It was Fangxuanling 房玄齢 (the right hand man of Lishimin and the ringleader of the Xuanwumen incident) who organized this group under Lishimin. Fang was a member of the Qinghefang family (清河房氏), which had been influential in the Qiji area since the 460s and had continuously produced many regional officials of the Qiji area during the Sui period. Furthermore, Limi's right hand man was also of Fang's lineage. It can be said that the natives of the Qiji area who were once active under Limi formed a strong group supporting Lishimin under the direction of Fang.Meanwhile, Emperor Liyuan began to disperse Lishimin's group and organize his retainers into the Twelve Guanzhong Armies (関中十二軍) as a countermeasure against the Turks (突厥) in A.D. 625. It was a move to transfer the central force of the Tang dynasty from his second son's retinue to his own. The Xuanwumen incident broke out when antagonism between the emperor and his son reached a climax as the result of a collision between two disparate power bases.