Abstract
This article reviews the trajectory of postwar Japanese scholarship on Chinese history with a focus on the Yongzheng 雍 正 Emperor (r. 1722-1735), highlighting in particular the establishment and development of the Research Group on the Yongzheng Emperor’s Vermilion Rescripts at Kyoto University’s Institute for Humanistic Studies. From 1949 to 1971, this group operated for more than two decades under the leadership of Abe Takeo 安部健夫 (1903-1959), Miyazaki Ichisada 宮崎市定 (1901-1995), and Onogawa Hidemi 小野川秀美 (1909-1980), attracting nearly one hundred participants. The group systematically studied the vermilion rescripts, undertaking research on such themes as the memorial system, factionalism, fiscal administration, and ideological control. Its findings were published in special issues of the Toyōshi kenkyū 東洋史研究 (Studies on Oriental History) and later compiled into the volume Yōsei jidai no kenkyū 雍正時代の研究 (Studies on the Yongzheng Era). This kind of long-term collective reading and research effort was rare in the academic world and exerted a profound influence on the study of Qing institutions and political history.
The group not only revealed the documentary value of the vermilion rescripts but also demonstrated their function in the workings of autocratic politics. During his thirteen-year reign, the Yongzheng Emperor implemented a series of reforms to discipline officials and strengthen central authority, yet the sustainability of these reforms was ultimately limited by both personal energy and institutional constraints. Overall, the efforts of Miyazaki Ichisada and the research group laid an important foundation for Yongzheng studies and reflected the problem consciousness and methodological explorations of postwar Japanese scholarship.
Keywords
autocratic politics, memorial system, Miyazaki Ichisada, vermilion rescripts, Yongzheng Emperor
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