古代諸国貢納水産物の分布について

その歴史地理学的考察

抄録

In the ancient Japanese empire, the people offered their sea products to the central government as their tax. The tax system were explained in the “Yoro-ryo(_??__??__??_)” and the “Engi-shiki(_??__??__??_)” which were used as the code of law at that period. The excavation of the written records on old wooden plates, “Mokkan(_??__??_), ” in the sites of “Fujiwara-kyo(_??__??__??_)” and “Heijokyo(_??__??__??_)” proved the authenticity of the tax system of those days.
This paper intends to describe, through these materials, the distribution of the sea products which were main resources of ancient Japan.
The sea products of ancient Japan were fishes, shells and seaweeds, most of which were products of inshore or fresh water fishery, namely, bonito, redsnapper, mackerel, sardine and perch in neighbouring seas, and trout, crucian, carp and salmon in lakes and rivers. It is also a special feature that seaweed showed a high percentage of all in that period.
Moreover, there are some characteristics about offering provinces (so-called “kuni”). Before the 8th century, sea products were offered as taxes only from not-so-far provinces from the capital city, whereas in the “Heian(_??__??_)” era, no less than 58 provinces were under an obligation to offer seaproducts as taxes. These taxes offered from various parts of the country make us able to get a broad survey of the distribution of fishery at that time. For example, bonito fishing was found in the area between “Awa(_??__??_)” and “Hyuga(_??__??_)” along the pacific coast, which exactly corresponds to the present fishing-ground of bonito. But the salmon fishing in those times, on the other hand, turned out to be very different from the present one, in that it had spreaded as south as“Iwami(_??__??_).”