The structure and character of the ancient Japanese storehouse system

Abstract

The ancient Japanese storehouse system is studied from a number of perspectives, including history and archaeology. But the research of the "Statutes on Official Storehouses 倉庫令" which is a basic chapter for the storehouse system has not made much progress because the chapter related with the storehouse system has been lost in "Ryo-no-syuge 令集解" and "Ryo-no-gige 令義解." However, with the publication of the Tien-sheng Statutes 天聖令 of the Northern Sung 宋, it has become possible to describe an overall picture of the "Statutes on Official Storehouses" in both Japan and Tang 唐 China. In this paper, the author points out that Japanese Ritsuryo Government chose the necessary articles about storehouse control and management from the Tang statutes. This is the same way the Northern Sung compiled the statutes from the Tang statues. And, in Japan, interpretations were added to Tang statutes in order that the "Statutes on Official Storehouses" actually functioned in the Japanese storehouse system. Furthermore, the moment at which the "Statutes on Official Storehouses" was systematically introduced into Japan is closely related to the promulgation of the Taiho Statutes 大宝令. The Japanese "Statutes on Official Storehouses" concerned mainly with provisions related to province official storehouses (syoso 正倉), and focused on their control and management by government agencies. What is more, just as the storehouse system was arranged, the control and management of syoso through a provincial governor (kokushi 国司) was also established. The author concludes that the Japanese "Statutes on Official Storehouses" represented a manual for kokushi to establish the new storehouse system. Finally, since the "Statutes on Official Storehouses" was a statute with practical regulations, it could be implemented immediately after the Taiho Statutes were promulgated and continued to form the basic direction in which the Ritsuryo period storehouse system would develop.