The Basic Study on the History of the Foundation of the Mongolian Empire

1990 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 63510202
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Asian history
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: YOSHIDA Junichi Waseda University, Faculty of Literature, Professor, 文学部, 教授 (70063716)
• Project Period (FY): 1988 – 1989
• Keywords: The Mongolian Empire / " Jami al-tawarikh " / " The Secret History of Mongolia " / Temjin / Chingis khan / Ong khan / father and son relation / The Kereid

Research Abstract

It is necessary to study basic historical materials for the analysis and study of the history of the foundation of the Mongolian Empire. From this point of view, I made a thorough study on the historical materials such as "Jami al-tawarikh". At the same time, comparing the relevant materials closely, I made a research on the relation between Temjin = Chingis khan and the Kereid on the basis of the said study, I think that the analysis and study of the relation between Temjin and Ong Khan, - the director of the Kereid --, is important. Especially I think that the study and analysis of the r elation in which Ong Khan says that he was Temjin's father and Temijin says that he is Ong khan's son is important. However, because this matter is complicated and covers many fields, this time I focused my study only on the early father and son relation. The conclusion is as follows : (1) It is probably at the beginning of 1180's that Temjin married Borte, greeted Ong Khan by Presenting him with a o vercoat made of sable which had been given to Temjin by Borte's mother and said that he was Temjin's father. (2) I don't think that their father and son relation formally started at this time. I don't think also that Temjin became a retainer of Ong khan as some scholors have referred to. In order to prove (2) I analyzed the article on the passages 94 and 104 in "The Secret History of Mongolia" in which Temjin says that Ong khan is his father, and further I analized the relations between them from the beginning of 1180's to around the middle of 1190's which appears in the historical material in which Temjin again claims that Ong khan is his father. As a result I proved that there was little relation between them during the above period ; that it was a make-up story that Borte who had been taken by force by the Merkid was taken back in the war ; that Temjin seemed not so closely related with Ong Khan in those days and that it is considered that after that Temjin informed Ong khan of his so-called first enthronement, which was not Temjin's requirement for Ong khan's approval of his enthronment, but only a report to him. Consequently I stated that the relation to Ong khan was not necessarily important to Temjin in this period. From this time on I would like to study the father and son relation between Ong Khan and Temjin after the middle of 1190's, understand the relation between Temjin and the Kereid and try to approach the most important part of the history of the foundation of the Mongolian Empire.