北魏의 宦官을 위한 辨明 ― 皇權 强化와 皇后 干政에의 助力 ―

Abstract

The article began with the question of why the eunuch(宦官) of the Northern Wei(北魏) period is different from the Zhongyuan(中原) dynasty's. In the process of rescuing the reality of the eunuch, which was a member of the bureaucratic society at the time, it was judged that it could explain the peculiarity of the emperor's system of the Northern Wei Dynasty, a nomadic dynasty. The eunuch of the Northern Wei period represents the political intentions of the emperor's regime for smooth imperial rule and the cultural transformation of the “Haozu(胡族)” and “Hanzu(漢族)”. During this period, the eunuchs functioned as a political force, causing no confusion regarding succession to the throne. The eunuch did not check the empress' participation in politics. Rather than perceiving themselves as a political force called the eunuch, they have undergone changes according to their political tendencies. As a result, the eunuch was not at the opposite point of the emperor or empress. In particular, they maintained a friendly relationship with the empress through Buddhism. They worked as a mechanism to strengthen the imperial authority. They themselves were less likely to be at the heart of politics. Their actions at the time were related to the intention of the imperial regime in the Northern Wei, which wanted to limit the involvement of the royal family and the maternal relatives in politics and establish a smooth governance system that culminated in the emperor's peak.