<論説>宋太祖酒癖考

Abstract

趙匡胤宋太祖未だ野に在りし頃、世人は太祖が亥歳生れの上に面貌頗る紫黒色を呈していたので"猪"と呼んだ。今日伝われる信ずべき太祖の肖像画に就きて見るに、色黒く首短く肥満型に画かれ、如何にも猪然としている。この猪生来すこぶる酒をたしなみ、遂に酒のために命を失つたという巷間の俗説さえ生じた。すなわち酒毒による背中の癰疽が命取りとなつたという。興味探いことには弟太宗は兄太祖と正反対の瘠型で、全く下戸であつたことだ。二人は同腹兄弟であり乍ら、不思議と性格相反し殊に酒の点で懸絶していた。酒を繞って感情的のいざこざさえ生じる。斯の如く、うまの合わなかったことから考えると、太祖が太宗によて弑虐されたという弑虐説 (宮崎市定博士) は愈々動かすべからざるものとなつて来るが、彼が死に至る経過から推すと病死と考えられないこともない。長編などの記載によると、太祖が不豫となつて死ぬ迄、僅か一夜のうちの出来事であるから、病死とすれば何か突発的で致命的な病気で死んだと見なければならぬ。すると、太祖が平素大の酒豪であり、猪の如く肥満し、顔が赭黒かつた等のことから、大酒豪が辿りやすい一つの突発的な病気の名が卒然と念頭に浮ぶのである。ただ、その詮索はあくまで附随的な問題で、主眼は酒を中心として太祖の人物論を展開し、御批判を仰ごうとするものであることは言う迄もない。

T'ai tsu (太祖), Chao k'uang yin (趙匡胤), emperor of Sung (宋) Dynasty, was born in a certain Boar's year, and, moreover, was very fat and had a red face. His subjects called him "Boar". The traditional portraits of the emperor certainly legitimate this name. He loved liquors and was said by some to have died of too much drinking. On the contrary, T'ai tsung, (太宗) his younger brother, was rather skinny and entirely avoided liquors. Besides, these brothers were much different in character, and often misunderstood or even hated each other. If we press this much farther, we would be likely to admit the theory of Pr. I. Miyazaki (宮崎市定) that T'ai tsu was murdered by T'ai tsung. However, if we closely examine his health condition in his later years, it is not impossible to agree with those who conclude his death as a natural but sudden death because of his love for liquors as mentioned above. At any rate, the cause of T'ai tsu's death is not the main subject of this essay. We have discussed the character of T'ai tsu, especially from the viewpoint of his love for liquors, in various ways and request the criticisms from the side of the readers.