In Islamic history, the practice of using slaves as soldiers plays an important role. The study of these slave soldiers hitherto has been done reflecting the model of the Mamluk army under the Mamluk dynasty. But there are many instances in the Abbasid period which do not stand up to the ones in the Mamluk period. We thereby need to reconsider the subject from the new point of view. Al-Mu'tasim, the eighth Abbasid Caliph, recruited a new army from various countries. This new army was composed of the following three regiments: (1)a slave army called al-Atrak, (2)al-Maghariba, including both slaves and freedmen, recruited from Egypt or other districts, and (3)an army made up of the rulers of some small districts in Ma Wara' An-Nahr and their people. Al-Atrak formed an independent unit from the other two regiments. But in spite of their being slaves, there is no evidence that they played a special role apart from the other two. Thus, we can say that al-Mu'tasim regarded al-Atrak as only one part of his new army, and he could not find any special meaning in the fact that they were slaves. To understand this character of al-Atrak, we must examine their situation after the death of al-Mu'tasim. First, we can point out their alternations of generations. Because of it, officers of the second generation became the army's leaders. Such exclusive interests, which resulted from the increasing power of influential officers, become fixed to some restricted families, and so they became ineffective as a caliphal army. The caliphs had lost the ability to control the political situation, for they had no system for buying other military slaves and no chance to form another army on their own. At the same time, under the influential officers, some special groups like ghulam, mawla, wuld, and hasham were formed as domestic groups. And they began to work as private military groups. These domestic groups also began to work as housekeeping groups, which looked after special interests of their masters, from estates and other possessions. As a result of this, these tendencies gave rise to a hierarchical gap between the influential officers and soldiers of al-Atrak who were called Dwellers of Karkh and Dwellers of Dur. These soldiers, displeased with their condition, severely criticized the exclusive landholdings and privileges of the officers, while al-Muwaffaq and his son, al-Mu'tadid, gained political power by employing of their own private military groups. Under the tendencies of increasingly large landholdings and the break up of the central army, these private military groups which were formed from domestic groups became more and more important. We must understand the establishment of a new army by al-Mu'tasim in relation to the formation of these groups, and the fact that the custom of using slaves as soldiers suddenly spread all over the Islamic world during this period must be, considered to have some relation to this formation.

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The affairs of government in Japan under the ritsuryo 律令 system can be divided into two stages: dajokan-chosei 太政官聴政 and the process of reporting to the monarch &ltTenno&gt. The term chosei refers to the representatives of the Dajokan proper &ltdaijin 大臣, nagon 納言, shonagon 小納言, geki 外記&gt holding hearings on governmental affairs from the benkan 弁官, or sansho 三省 &lti.e. the three main bureaus under the Dajokan: the Shikibu-sho 式部省, Minbu-sho 民部省 and Hyobu-sho 兵部省&gt. Then from the contents of these hearings the more important matters would be reported to the monarch in the Shishinden 紫宸殿 by a shonagon. It was in the final years of the tenth century when Uda Tenno first employed this practice of those presiding over the chosei proceedings directly reporting governmental affairs to the monarch. In the present paper this practice will be referred to as kanso 官奏. The practice of kanso and the document containing the report, called moshibumi, was a quick and efficient way of taking care of governmental affairs to be dealt with in the presence of the monarch, or jinza 陣座. Fujiwara-no-Tadahira, who became regent after the death of Daigo Tenno, would sometimes postpone judgment on kanso matters until he had time to consult with and question various court nobles. This is the origin of an aristocratic council known as jin-no-sadame 陣定. It was in this way that a non-dictatorial royal authority, emphasizing the consultative role of the court nobles, came into existence during the tenth and eleventh centuries. Also during this period this way of taking care of governmental affairs aIso appeared in the process of reviewing the performance of zuryo 受領 and in conducting public projects and ceremonial events. For example, the administration of disaster ravaged agricultural land &ltfukandenden 不堪佃田&gt and fiscal cutbacks, both for the purpose of securing rice taxes from the provinces, was reported in the form of moshibumi through the process of kanso and decided upon through actual deliberations among the court nobles. While affairs concerning zuryo were formally decided upon by the Tenno, in most cases this amounted to an announcement of what the jin-no-sadame had already concluded on the matter. The affairs reported by means of kanso had for the most part to do with securing sufficient tax revenues for the central government, and the auditing of the merits of the zuryo was no exception. As a matter of fact, given the central role played by these appointed governors in the fiscal affairs of the provinces, zuryo occupied the focal point of most kanso-reported agendas. In the case of public projects and ceremonies, the court nobles involved carried out their duties swiftly and sometimes forcibly under the direction of the Tenno and regent. In these cases, as well, the wherewithal for carrying out the projects and events was apportioned from provincial tax funds. And the final auditing measure required was none other than the review of the zuryo governors. As the zuryo review system began to breakdown at the beginning of the twelfth century, the kanso reporting process and the way of apportioning provincial taxes for public projects were force to go through significant changes. The role of jin-no-sadame declined in influence, as well as the executive power of its members charged with conducting public projects and ceremonies. In its place, we see the expansion of the authority of the retired Tenno &ltin 院&gt and a trend toward a land and taxation system dominated by shoen 荘園 proprietary rights and customs.

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