「日本」國號與「天皇」制的起源─以最近發見的墓誌、木簡為據

Abstract

「日本」（yamato）國號與「天皇」（sumera-mikoto）號成立於何時？學界說法紛紜。拙稿以為「日本」國號在668 年頒行所謂《近江令》之際，當已出現。670 年，武則天從日本第七次遣唐使得知改國號一事，乃諭令將「倭」（yamato）改稱「日本」（yamato，hi-no-moto）。2011 年在西安發現的「（百濟人）祢軍墓誌」（卒於678 年），誌文中提到「日本」，是到現在為止所發現的金石文當中最早提到「日本」的，也是在時間上最接近670 年成立「日本」國號的證據。就當時的唐朝官方的認定而言，「日本」國號在670 年成立，應可塵埃落定。隨著國號的改稱， 到天武朝（ 673-686） 時， 也將以往的王號或大王（ōkimi）號改稱為「天皇」（sumera-mikoto），此由最近在奈良地區發現的木簡，出現「天皇」一詞，可作旁證。所以日本的「天皇號」，當初定於681 年進行編纂的《淨御原令》。到702 年《大寶令》、757 年《養老令》頒行時，更為完備。由「日本」國號及「天皇」號的出現，可知自大化革新以後，日本積極仿唐建設法制國家；八世紀之際，日本的律令國家建設，已建制以天皇為頂點的「專制君主制」。

There has been a dispute about the time of the emergence of the Japanese Country title (yamato) and the emperor system (sumera-mikoto). My articlesuggested that the term yamato first appeared at 668 AD when the Ōmi code was issued. In the year 670 AD, Empress Wu Zetian, upon learning the change ofJapanese Country name, ordered the change from “Wo” (yamato) into “Riben”(yamato, nihon). In 2011 AD, a Baiji soldier’s tombstone “Ni-jun epitaph” (d. in678 AD) was discovered. “Riben” was mentioned in the inscription. This was first time the term “Riben” ever found in the inscriptions on bronzes and stone tablets. It was also very close to the year 670 AD when Japan was renamed. As far as the Tang Dynasty was concerned, it was evidently that Japan wasaddressed as “Riben” at the year 670 AD.With the change of the name of Japanese country, during the reign of Tenmu Tennō (673-686 AD), the previous title for the Japanese King “ōkimi” was changed to Tennō (sumera-mikoto). This change was supported by the newly discovered wooden tablets in Nara area, where the term “sumera-mikoto” was inscribed. Thus, the Japanese title for the Tennō was first appeared in the Statute of Kiyomihararyō, which was compiled in 681 AD. The Tennō system was later confirmed and completed in the Statute of Taihōryō in 702 AD and the Statute of Yōrōryō in 757 AD.With the emergence of the terms “Riben”(yamato, ni-hon) and “Tianhuang”(sumera-mikoto), we could understand that after the Taika reform, Japan had made great efforts to establish a country ruled by law, following the model of the Tang Dynasty. Around the Eighth Century AD, the state-building enterprise of Japan as a Ritsuryō Japan (a country ruled by law and regulations) gradually took the form of Tianhuang despotic system with the emperor (Tennō) as thesupreme leader.