近世武士的忠誠觀－以赤穗事件為探討中心

The Loyalty of Edo Period Samurai: Focusing on Ako incident

本稿旨探討近世武士的忠誠觀，以元祿十四年（1701）所發生之赤穗事件，及同時代儒學者如何探討此事件為具體分析對象。研究焦點將以戰國時代所遺留的武士對君主之情感，與儒學思想裡奉公之理念此兩大主軸進行探討分析。通過赤穗事件，清楚地瞭解武士內心世界裡同時並存了對君主之個人情感與儒學思想裡奉公之理念，兩項關係構築起他們深厚的忠誠意識。此外藉由儒學者們對此事件的論述進行分析，也釐清了此兩項關係、隨著時代推移，儒學思想裡奉公之理念逐漸被重視，而戰國時代所遺留下的武士對君主之情感，則被視為時代的弊風。儒學者們彼此學派不同，但他們對於忠誠觀的定義，都再再表現出對儒學思想裡奉公之理念的重視，而儒學者們所述說的忠誠觀，同時也是時代所追求的忠誠意識，在此氛圍下，當時的武士也逐漸地呈現出對儒學思想裡奉公理念之忠誠觀。

This paper investigates the loyalty of Samurai in Edo period, focusing mainly on the Genroku Ako incident and how the contemporary Confucian scholars evaluate it. Furthermore, this paper approaches the internal social structure of Samurai through analyzing their personal emotions to the Emperor and their devotion to public duty in Confucianism. In Ako incident, it is clearly seen that Samurai's personal emotions to the Emperor and their devotion to the public duty in Confucianism build the foundation of Ako-Samurai's loyalty and also coexist in them. In addition, based on how the Confucians discuss the Ako incident, it can be clarified how these two factors interrelate with each other as the time progresses. In the end, it is observed that public duty in Confucianism gradually takes priority over the personal emotion to the Emperor, which was later considered as a malady. Although the Confucians came from different denominations, their loyalty to the public duty in Confucianism were the same. This loyalty was also correspondent with the main value system at that lime in Edo period. Therefore, influenced by such an ambiance, Samurais gradually turn themselves to the public duty in Confucianism instead of holding their personal emotions to Emperor.