唐代 災異現像에 대한 새로운 인식 -<<舊唐書>> 「五行志」 역주-

Abstract

This article mainly examines the theory of calamity as a warning signal during the medieval period of Chinese history. Through carrying out the annotated translation of the Jiutangshu(舊唐書) Wuxingzhi(五行志), in particular, this research shows us that there were significant changes in their perspectives on the conventional correlative cosmology. The Chinese people of the Tang Dynasty, who built up the great cosmopolitan empire, had come to interpret the phenomena of nature like the natural disasters from a new angle. Since the Dong Zhongshu(董仲舒) of the Han Dynasty compiled all the different ideas about the ancient correlative cosmologies like the theory of Yin and Yang and theory of the Five Elements(五行) into a systematic and powerful theory, there had been no noticeable change in the Chinese perspective on nature until the Tang Chinese came to have different view on it. The opinions of the Tang court officials like Yu Zhining(于志寧) and Cen Wenben(岑文本) on the natural disasters which had occurred during the early period of Tang Dynasty, in particular, exemplified their new and changed view on nature. They argued that natural disasters did not necessarily result from the sovereign’s failures in his rule, which were distinctly different from the Dong Zhongshu’s ideas. On the other hand, other court officials of roughly the same period like Yu Wenjun(俞文俊) and Song Wuguang(宋務光) suggested significantly different comments on the natural disasters. From their perspectives, the natural calamities like the flooding happened because the sovereignty of the Empress Dowager Wu (武則天) and the Empress Dowager Wei (韋后) lacked the legitimacy. Even though their ideas had similar aspects with the Dong Zhongshu’s, their opinion also had considerable differences from the schematic model of correlative cosmology. They just tried to oppose the rule of the female sovereigns. To sum up, the early Tang elites were relatively free from the ancient theory of calamity as a warning signal(災異論) and suggested diverse approaches to the interpretation of the natural disorders. Consequently, the annotated translation of the Jiutangshu(舊唐書) Wuxingzhi(五行志) shows us that the Tang Chinese began to depart from the conventional understanding of the universe and take quite different views of it.