In the reign of Diocletian (r.284-305) and Constantine (r.306-337), various reforms were implemented in accordance with social changes brought about by the so-called "crisis of the 3rd century". Among these reforms, urban autonomy was a very important issue. Many scholars have argued that provincial governors strengthened their control over the cities during the reign of Diocletian, and have regarded curatores rei publicae as the means. The aim of this article is to reconsider urban autonomy during that age by examining the relationship between curatores rei publicae and provincial governors in the African provinces. From Diocletian's reign on, the sources regarding curatores rei publicae increased. Up till now, it is estimated that the emperors sent each city curatores rei publicae to manage the administration of the city at the wishes of the provincial governors. It is also suggested that provincial reorganization may have affected this change. However there are inscriptions and rescripts from the reign of Constantine showing that curatores rei publicae did not exist in every city; and a rescript of Diocletian tells us that a juvenile was appointed curator rei publicae, meaning that curatores rei publicae did not always administer cities. Moreover, in examining minutely inscriptions in the African provinces, the author finds that cities themselves took the initiative in public works in many cases. On the other hand, there is no evidence that provincial governors promoted public works, except for governors who commanded troops; and the number of curatores rei publicae did not increase after provincial reorganization. Therefore, it cannot be proven that provincial governors strengthened their control over cities at that time. During the reign of Diocletian, as a result of the stabilization of political conditions, cities were able to resume public works and repair more actively, and more public works were paid by public money. Therefore cities needed more curatores rei publicae in order to ask permission from the imperial authority, and many curatores rei publicae were recorded on inscriptions during that time. We must not conclude, however, that increasing centralization arose from "the crisis of the 3^<rd> century".

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Suigongxu is a bronze vessel that has appeared in the research literature as of late and which many scholars believe dates back to the middle of the Western Zhou period. The vessel contains a long inscription of about 100 characters, the content of which has been rendered as unique. In particular, two aspects of the inscription stand out. One is the appearance of a mythological character Yu禹; the other, the use of the term tianxia天下(the world). Neither terms have appeared in the available source materials on the period to date and therefore have been lauded as new insights into Western Zhou thought and culture. However, we do not know the circumstances surrounding the archeological discovery of the vessel, and both its construct and inscription differ greatly from what has been identified to date as "Western Zhou" style bronzeware and prose. Based on such doubts, the author of the present article discusses the content of the vessel's inscription and comes to the conclusion that great caution should be taken in assuming that at face value the vessel will shed new light on the period in question. What has to be debated first is whether it is a genuine Western Zhou period bronze artifact or not.

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The cadastral surveys conducted between 1587 and 1598 by the Chosokabe Family of Tosa Province are contained in ledgers recording results from the whole province and entitled Chosokabe Chikencho長宗我部地検帳(hereafter, Chikencho); however, what they say about those who directly conducted the surveys has yet to be examined. The present article is an attempt to fill that gap by clarifying how these surveyors were organized in terms of power and authority. An investigation of the signatures affixed to the Chikencho by the surveyors reveals 1) The inclusion of the signer's official capacity above each signature. 2) Some included handwritten seals (kao花押) and some did not. 3) There were between scribes, accountants and police agents tended to appear somewhere between the first and third signatures, while those who did the actually measuring (tsueuchi杖打) mostly appeared toward the end of the signature order. 4) Each surveyor worked in a specific capacity, despite differences in group, region and time. 5) Surveyors tended to have little interest or relationship to the regions they were measuring. The research to date has been of the opinion that those who signed the ledgers were groups of supervisors; however, the activity of each signer was base on a specific duty, and there is nothing to indicate those duties were supervisory in nature. Concerning the order in which the signatures appear, members of the Chosokabe Family and their retainers tend to appear either at the very beginning or the very end. This seems to indicate that the Chosokabe regime was dispatching its high ranking personnel to survey areas under the control of former local proprietors of similar daimyo大名status, in order to minimize any disgruntlement on the part of the latter. When comparing the ledgers according to the three eras in which were created-Tensho天正, Bunroku文禄and Keicho慶長-from the Bunroku era (1592) on, the number of functionaries (bugyo奉行) in the Chosokabe government dispatched on surveys doubled. Those who did the actually measuring (tsueuchi) tended to be members of the Chosokabe family, other feudal lords, their retainers and members of influential religious institutions, which indicates that tsueuchi was a duty connected to vassalage. From the above investigation, the author concludes that towards the last decade of the sixteenth century, although the Chosokabe Family was making compromises to appease other feudal lords within Tosa Province, it seems to also have been tightening control over extended (branch) family members and their retainers in a move towards centralization.

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