<Articles>On the Agricultural Technique in the Four Chapters of the Lu-shih-ch'un-ts'iu shang-nung 呂氏春秋上農 and Others

一般に中国では、戦国時代(紀元前三、四世紀)に鉄製農具が普及し、鉄の刃のついた犁を牛にひかせる、いわゆる牛耕による深耕がおこなわれるなど、耕作技術が進歩し、農業生産力は増大したといわれる。しかしこれを疑問視する学者もあり、当時の農業技術が如何なるものであったかは、なお明らかではない。この小論は、戦国末期の編著といわれる呂氏春秋の上農等四篇から、当時の耕作技術の一部を明らかにし、漢代の代田法との関連に言及したものである。Generally, in the Chan-kuo 戦国 period (the 3rd and 4th centuries, B. C.) in China, iron tools of farming were popularized and the socalled ox-farming that a plough with an iron edge was pulled by an ox enabled deep cultivation; agricultural art is said to have made progress and productive power of agriculture to have been increased. Some scholars, however, have their doubts about this progress, and it is not clear yet what the then agricultural art was. This article seeks to make an aspect of the then agricultural art clear from the documents of the four chapters of Shang-nung and others in the Lü-shih-ch'un-ts'iu 呂氏春秋上農等四編, refering to the Tai-t'ien-fa 代田法 in the Han 漢 dynasty