「北面」と近臣

抄録

This article examins the northern chamber (oku 奥) of the shinden 寝殿 in the early medieval period and found the following facts. The northern chamber (hokumen 北面) of the Palace of the in 院 was used as the office of its retainers (kinshin 近臣) attached to tsunenogosho 常御所, where retainers such as kugyo公卿 and tenjobito 殿上人 usually waited. Jige 地下 were also admitted here. This chamber came to be called johokumen 上北面 when gehokumen 下北面 was formed as the office of samurai 侍, but later was called uchinohokumen 内北面 during the reign of Goshirakawain 後白河院, when the organization of johokumen was established and its office moved to the tenjo 殿上. In tsunenogosho and hokumen, unofficial meetings with the in took place. There the in talked and played with his retainers in a familiar way, inviting low caste entertainers to perform. This character and function of northern chamber was also common to the residences such as the dairi 内裏 and shogun's 将軍 houses. Generally, retainers of the medieval period were people who served their masters at offices in oku. Servants other than kinshin, who served in the front (omote 表) and were not allowed in the oku, were first called gaijin 外人, then tozama 外様 from the later Kamakura era on. Gaijin originally meant "others" or "someone outside the group", but the word became the antonym of kinshin in the later Heian era when tsunenogosho and the office of kinshin were established, from which time on servants came to be classified into kinshin and tozama. This fact might provide a clue to understanding the primitive form of the master-servant relationship in Japan.