2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
A Factual Study of the Boshin War and Nouhei (farmers' soldiers) and Grassroots Corps in the Tohoku and Northern Kanto Areas
Project/Area Number |
19K00959
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Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
Section | 一般 |
Review Section |
Basic Section 03020:Japanese history-related
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Research Institution | Miyagi Gakuin Women's University |
Principal Investigator |
HIRAKAWA arata 宮城学院女子大学, 付置研究所, 研究員 (90142900)
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Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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Keywords | 庶民剣士 / 武芸・武術 / 農兵 / 戊辰戦争 / 近世身分制論 / 兵農分離論 |
Outline of Final Research Achievements |
In conventional studies, swordsmanship has been understood as a privilege of the samurai based on the status system that divided the samurai and the common people. However, this study reveals that the common people consistently had the freedom to practice swordsmanship throughout the Edo period. Moreover, as foreign crises became more apparent, the shogunate issued a decree in 1849 (Kaei 2) to strengthen sea defenses, requiring clans to prepare their coastlines. This was a landmark decree that incorporated not only samurai but also peasants, townspeople, and other common swordsmen into the national defense system. The farmers'soldiers system made it possible for those who were not samurai to wear a sword. The traditional system of authorizing the wearing of a sword was drastically changed. The farmer-soldier system at the end of the Edo period made it possible for commoners to wear a sword at once.
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Free Research Field |
日本近世史
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Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
これまで武術は武士の特権だと理解されてきたが、近世初期から全国で庶民武芸が盛んであり、各地に無数の庶民剣士が存在していた。これは従来の身分制度理解の転換を迫る歴史の実態である。19世紀に対外的危機が迫ると、1849年に各藩に対して海防強化令を出すが、そこでは百姓や町人などを農兵として取り立てることが指示されていた。これは全国に広範に存在する庶民剣士を国防体制に組み込むことを目的としており、これによって日本の陸上戦力は飛躍的に強化されることになった。多数の庶民剣士の存在が日本の国防体制の転換に大きな影響を与えたという事実は、近世日本の身分制と国防体制の理解に大きな影響を与えるものである。
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