Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1. Introduction
The Old Uigur texts that have been excavated from the Turfan area in the
East Turkestan (modem Xinjiang, PRC) are indispensable sources for the Old
Turkic linguistic and philology, as well as the reconstructions of the history of
the Old Uigurs, who migrated there after the collapse of their nomadic empire in
the Mongol plateau in the mid-9th century.
The main body of the Old Uigur texts is composed of the religious texts
concerning mainly Buddhism, as well as Manichaean, Christian and other
religion, that should reflect the spiritual life of the Old Uigurs, while the legal
documents with administrative or socio-economic contents would throw light on
the historical aspects of their material life and society 1
The scholars dealing with the Uigur legal documents have been more or
less concentrated on the edition and historical studies of the contract of various
contents (sale, rental, loan, adoption, etc.). But we have still other types of
secular documents, among which included are the administrative orders of
compulsory requisition for various materials. In his article: of 1964 to
comprehensively deal with the Old Uigur legal documents, Prof. Dr. Re~id
Rahmeti Arat introduced the brief contents of the administrative orders of
requisition, and pointed out that they can be important source to reconstruct the
taxation and labour service systems among the Old Uigurs 2 I have been
preparing the corpus of these administrative orders amounting to the amount of
ninety-nine (see List ofTexts at the end of this paper).
By means of distinction of the Uigur script (semi-square script or cursive
script) as well as other criteria for relative dating thus far established3, they are
divided into two chronological categories, -i.e., the Pre-Mongol or the
West-Uigur period (9.-12. cc.) and the Mongol period (13.-14. cc.): Only three
texts (N<;>s. 1-3 = Al-A3) belongs to the former period4, while all others come
from the latter period.
However, focusing our attention to other features of those orders (e.g.,
attestations of historical figures, or characteristics ofappearance such as method
of stamping seals and regulation in copying), we can subdivide them into
1 For the classification and grouping of the Old Uigur legal documents see SUK IT, pp. Xlli-XIV; VOIID 13,21,
pp. 15-16; Moriyasu 2011, pp. 36-38.
2 Arat 1964, p. 37.
3 Moriyasu 2004, pp. 228-231.
4 Matsui 2010b, Texts A-C.
612
[f] Seal(s)
Here are presented some examples of the orders as well as their
translation, with the items [a]-[e] inserted:
No.1 (=A1)
1tonguz
3 tayqay-taqi'yo1Ci'-qa
613
No. 22 (= Cll)
1ud yi1 birygrminc ay toquz yngi'qa 2i'ndu ilci-ning tiili at-lari'nga 3birgii
ygrmi bay ot iki tayar saman-ta 4b0kan sali on bay ot birzun " 1The Ox year, the
11th month, on the 9th day [=a]. 2_30f 20 bundles of hay and 2 sacks of straw (as
fodder) to give to the middle(-distance) horses of Ambassador 'indu [=b],
J3okan-siili [=c] shall deliver [=e] 10 bundles ofhay [=d]."
No. 70(=G4)
614
Method!
Method II
Method ill
In Method I, the orders are stamped with only one seal, which is much
rather larger (over 8 em square) than others, carries the Chinese legends and
615
WestUigurperiod
Yuan Period
Matsui 2010b.
USp, Nos. 107-127; Umemura 1977, pp. 020-022; Umemura 1987a, pp. 69-73; Umemura 1987b, pp. 91-93;
Moriyasu 2002, p. 157. The reading of the name 'YN'CY = inlici has not been well fixed: First Umemura 1977
had followed the reading inlici in USp, though later changed into 'YN'NCY- 'YN(')NCY =inaner- in{a)nci in
Umemura 1987a I 1987b. The editors ofSUK, one of whom was Umemura himself, revived inlici, but another
SUK editor Moriyasu Takao later adopted inaner in Moriyasu 2002. Here I would like to fix it as 'YN'CY =
1nlici through close investigation on all of the attestations.
13 Matsui 2003.
14 Matsui 1998b.
II
12
616
. I
.l
Undated I Fragments
This dating is also suggested by the notorious Mongol poll tax qup~ and the use of silver (kilmil) as
617
emperor Qubilai (r. 1260-1294). When Mongke set out in 1256 the southward
campaign against the Southern Song, Ari'q-Boke was appointed to govern the
Mongolia. After Mongke passed away in his campaign (1259), a civil war for
the throne of emperor outbroke between Qubilai and Ari'q-Boke. Ari'q-Boke was
finally defeated to surrender to Qubilai in 1264. Belonging to the imperial
family, he could escape from the execution, but died shortly~fterward, in 1266.
Thus the period when Ari'q-Boke could politically influence even in the East
Turkestan. was to be limited between Mongke' s enthronement and his
surrendering, i.e., 1251-1264. Thus we can dated Nos. 4-7 (= Bl-B4) to AD
1259 of
ji-wei, the only "Sheep y~ar" during the period: The
"Monkey-year" of No.8= B5 may be identified to the year of )Jt$ geng-shen
ofl260 AD, one year later than the Sheep year 1259. However, either 1248 or
1272, the Monkey year next earlier/later than 1260 AD, might be still possible.
C.*
17
618
However, noteworthy is that other three of the inaci-texts, Nos. 12-14, are
written acutally in a formula considerably different from the common one
displayed above. For example:
No. 12 {= C1)
1(qo)[y](n) yi1qi" iniiCi-ning tsang-2[qa] qudyu tari"y-ta tort 3[. .]K(..) min
S{..](...) saman-qa 4{...] (a)$uq san-i"nta tutzun " 1_20fthe grain that inaci should
. deliver for the land-tax of the Sheep year, 24{inaci) shall pay 4 [ ...... ] flour [ ... ]
for straw [.... and] 34count (it) for the account of provision."
The dating formula, not to mention the month and the day, does not tally
with the basic formula, while the closing phrase (a)$uq san-i"nta tutzun "(inaci)
shall count (it) for the account of provision" suggests that the delivery of grain
to have been originally paid as land tax (tsang) 18 was converted into the
provision (azuq).
We may pay attention to the fact that Nos. 16-21 are parallel with No.
12-15. Here are picked up Nos. 16 & 17:
No.16 (=C5)
1/ciiskii yi1qi" ogrinii-ning bir yarfm 2sti"r qupCi"r kiimiiS-in miin iilik alfp
ulay
tiir-in-gii
birtim bu tamya miining'ol "21, Alik, received 1_i)grina's 1.5 stir
3
of qupci"r-tax-silver of the Rat year, and 3paid (it) for the rent of a postal relay
horse. This seal is mine."
':I
'il,.;II
No. 17 (= C6)
:j
'/.
:1
HI
\:;
'!i
ij
For Uig. tsang- sang "land tax{< provision to be delivered to the official granary< granary)"< Chin.
cang "granary'', see Matsui 2004, pp. 8-9, 18-21; Matsui 2005, pp. 72-73; Matsui 2010a, pp. 58, 61.
18
619
Even so, it is still possible that Groups B and C were contemporary: their
difference may derive from the rank of administrative authorities, not from the
chronological gap.
(D) Yuan Period [Nos. 23-42 = Dl-D20]
19
_m. *
Reading tilik tiimiir for his name by Raschrnann in VOHD 13,22 #270, can be corrected.
620
In any case, No. 42 (= D20) may well suggest that Method II was in
common use until the end of the 13th century.
(E) Kiirsin.:.Yalin-texts (early 14th century) [Nos. 43-56 = E1-E14]
20
21
621
The fact that Group E, as well as Group D, does not comprise the markers
of the Chaghataid domination may well sugest that the Chaghatai Khanate
established their effective control over the Turfan region only after the 1320's:
That is also supported by the oldest Mongol document of the Chaghatai Khanate
from Turfan, which has the date of AD 132624
(F) Chaghatai Khanate period (after late 1320's) [Nos. 57-66 = F1-F10]
In' my previous articles, I established so-called "Chaghatai-Zeichen" as a
prominet marker to date the Uigur administrative orders to the period when the
East Turkestan was under the Chaghatai Khanate. "Chaghatai-Zeichen" is an
emblem shaped as like double-leaves (q?) and it is typically rendered on the
coins issued or minted under the Chaghatai Khanate since the early 14th century,
as well in the seals stamped on Mongolian decrees of the Chaghatai Khanate
excaveted from Turfan25
Nos. 57-59 are stamped with one and the same seal comprising
"Chaghatai-Zeichen", though according to Method IT (as mentioned above).
These three can be from the earliest phase of the Chaghataid domination, when
the stamping method in the administartive orders under the Yuan dynasty was
still alive after their withdrawal.
Nos. 59 & 60 mention to one and the same deliverer in common, and Nos.
60-65 are stamped with one and the same seals according to Method, III. Some
of these seals comprise the "Chaghatai-Zeichen", and so does a square black
seal on No. 66.
Thus they should consist a Group F (Fl-FlO) belonging to the period of
the Chaghataid domination after the late 1320's, though more definite dating is
impossible.
(G) "Qutluy-seals" orders (mid-14th century)
As I pubslihed in my previous article26, the fifteen administrative orders
(Nos. 68-82 = G2-G16) are stamped with so-called "Qutluy-seals" in common.
So they can be categorized as Group G
Later, investigating the photographs of the Arat collection, I found No. 67
& 83 {= Gl & G17) carrying also "Qutluy-seals". Especially noteworthy is the
fact that No. 83 (= 017) is stamped with three of the "Qutluy-seals" as well as
another seal that is the same with one found on No. 84 (= G 18). While my
24
25
26
622
!'i
another article had dated Nos. 84 & 85 (= 018 & 019) written by the same
scribe also to the Chaghataid period27, now they should be categorized into
Group G Also No. 86 (= G20) should belong to~ group, for it is stamped
with the same seals with Nos. 84 & 85 (= 018 & 019).
For dating Group~ the dates of No. 68 (= 02) and Nos. 85 & 86 (= Gl9
& G20) provide clues: The former has the date as ''the Rooster year with the
leap 9th month", corresponding to AD 1357 of TM ding-you 28, while the latter
as ''the Ox year with the leap 12th month" corresponding to AD 1349 of C.:fl:
ji-chou29 AB a whole, the texts of Group G should be given the nearest dated to
them as AD 1349-1362: If not, they may well belong to the mid-14th century or
afterward.
The administartive orders belonging to Group F (except for Nos. 57-59=
Fl-F3) and Group G are stamped according Method m, while those in Methods
I and II do not show any inffiuence of the Chaghataid domination. For this
viewpoint we may say that Method ill was created along with the penetration
and reinforcement of the Chaghataid domination into the Turfan region.
(H) Undated I Fragments [Nos. 87-99 = H1-H13]
These thirteen texts are written in cursive script and surely belong to the
Mongol period. However, they cannot be given definite date or categorized to
any group of (B)-(G), for being so fragmentary or lacking seals.
Nevertheless, there is the possibility to categorize some of them: For
example, Nos. 92, 93, 94 (= H6, H7, H8) still keep the closing form bir#in or
the space filler after the closing form [kiizig-kli tutzu]n at the bottom-right of the
manuscript, where we cannot observe any seal. Thus it may be suggested that
they should have been stamped with seal on the top of the ending lines lost now,
namely according to Method m, which is typical for the manuscripts under the
Chaghataid domination.
29
623
. 'I
"
the target' of the historical study on the Old Uigur legal documents. We need
much more pages to fully deal with that task, though I would like to place a
preli:nPnary analysis with respect only to the administrative orders.
One of the main purposes of the administrative orders is to ensure that the
delivery at the official compulsory requisition should be counted as or partially
converted into the ordinary tax or labor service. In such cases, the closing form
... -qa I ... -kii I ... san-inta tutzun is used generally after the specific tax or
labour service (see Section 2 above).
While. Groups A & E do not attest the closing form for conversion, from
Groups B, C, D, F, G, H we can extract the attestations of the taxes and labour
services to be converted with the delivery, as displayed below. The terms
displayed with asterisk (*) are those mentioned in the texts but not in the typical
closing form ( ... -qa I ... -kii I ... san-inta tutzun).
!Early Mongol- Yuan period ,
Undated
Bl
qupci'r
D2
sang
F3
kiizig
G2
kiizig
B2
qupci'r
D3
sang
F4
kiizig
G3
tari'y ayiz*
B3
qupci'r
D4
sangazuq F5
kiizig
G4
kiizig
H5 kiizig
B4
qupC'ir
D5
kiizig
F6
kiizig
G6
tiitiin *
H6 ctzuq*
B5
qupCir
D6
kiizig*
F7
kiizig
G7
yuli"y*, tiltiin*
H7 [kiizig]
B6
[?]
D7
kiizig
F8
[kiizig]
G8
kiizig
H9 kiizigas*
DlO kiizig
F9
[kiizig]
G9
kiizig
Hll qolu8*
Cl
azuq
D15 kiizig*
C2
tsang*
Dl6 [kiizig]
Gll kijzig
C3
tsang
D17 yam at
G13 kiizig
C4
[?]
G14 bar
C5
qupCir
G15 borluq-ayi'z*
C6
qupCir
G17 sang*
C7
qupCir
C8
qupcir
G20 tiitiin*
624
H 1 qalan*
basi"y sali"y *
From these attestations we can recognize: (1) The poll tax qupcir appears
exclusively in Groups B & C, which should belong to the earlier phase of the
Mongol rule; (2) Conversion into tsang ~ sang "land tax" (or sang azuq
"provision as the land tax") is seen in Groups C & D, but not in Groups E, F, G
of the later period; (3) In Groups F & G of the Chaghatai Khanate period after
14th century, the compulsory requisition are mainly converted into kiizig "tum
(of labour service); labour service levied in turn".
The most likely explanation would be that the qupci"r-tax had been
practically integrated to the labour service mentioned as kiizig by the period of
the Chaghataid domination. We can compare the situation with that of Iran
under Dkhanid Mongols.
Throughout their dominion, the Mongols imposed qupcir originally as the
poll tax for the resource of the military provision, the commodities of postal
relay systems and the supplies to the envoys. The term qupCir is frequently
attested together with the labour service qalan (or Mong. alba(n)), in an idiom
Pers. qaliin va qupcilr in the Persian historical sources compiled under the
Dkhanate, or Mong. alba(n) qubciri in the Mongol documents under the Yuan
dynasty. However, the labour service of qalan was often converted by cash, to
be practically integrated into a tax. On the other hand, qalan as a taxation term
survived instead of qupCir: some attestations of qupcur (< qupCir) in Guvayni's
History of the World Conqueror were replaced with qaliin (< qalan) in citation
It is most likely that similar integration took place in Uiguristan u,nder the
Mongol domination. In the Old Uigur legal documents qalan was used as a
specific term for a kind of labour service, as well as the generic term including
qavi"t (~ qavut), tatiln, qapi"(y), basi"y, sali"y, siqis, etc. And kiizig could be also
included in qalan as the generic term31
Of course, it is true that still we have many questions to solve: Besides
the administrative orders, we come across several attestations of qupcir in Uigur
documents, though dating them is hardly possible. Also it is not enough clear
why the administrative orders of Group B & C do not mention conversion to
Uig. kiizig as a labour service, which is a calque of Chin. ~ fan ''tum (of a
labour service)" of the Tang times 32 and must have .been.extant from the West
Uigur period. We need much more attestations and comprehensive analysis,
even broadening our horizons to the taxation terminology as a whole.
3'1londa
625
6. Conclusion
,Through the investigation in this paper, we may now surely establish the
chronological distinction of the Old Uigur administrative orders from the West
Uigur period, via Early Mongol period of Pre-Yuan and Yuan Period, then
finally to the Chaghataid period: The difference of their historical background is
enough reflected in the textual information itself as well as in the method of
stamping seals or in the shape and appearance of seals.
The basically common formula of the orders suggests that the
administration of the compulsory requisition was almost consistent during the
9th -14th centuries, even though some change in the practice of requisition and
delivery intervened during the 13th century as indicated by the extraordinary
formula of Group C. Probably it may well concern any social transformation or
administrative reconstruction, which could have been caused by the Mongol or
Yuan dynasty domination to impose the brand-new taxes or labour services into
Uiguristan. Still more, we can observe the chronological difference in the taxes
and labour services converted with the requisition and delivery, which also can
be derived from the transformation of the systems of taxes and labour services.
That conclusion will be the basis for the further historical investigations
and arguments on the administrative systems and the Old Uigur society.
,.
I' I:,.
I
626
KAYNAK(::A
A.RAT, Re~id Rahemti, ''Eski Tiirk hukuk vesikalan", Journal de la Societe
Finno-Ougrienne 65-1, Helsinki 1964, pp. 11-77.
BIRAN, Michal, Qaidu and the Rise of the Independent Mongol State in Central Asia.
Curzon, Richmond 1997.
GENG, Shimin, ''Edition of Some Uigur Documents", Wenwu 1980-5, Bejing 1980, pp.
83-84.
HAMBIS, Louis, Les chapitre CVJI du Yuan che, E. J. Brill, Leiden 1945.
HONDA, Minobu, "The Taxation Reforms of Ghazan-khan", Annual Reports on
Cultural Science Hokkaido University 10, Sapporo 1961.
HONDA, Minobu, "The Mongols and Islam", Iwanami koza sekai rekishi Vol. 8,
Iwanami shoten, Tokyo 1969.
HONDA, Minobu, Historical Studies in the Mongol Period, University of Tokyo Press,
Tokyo 1991.
MATSUDA Koichi, "Melig-Temiir and His Ulus", Inner Asian Studies 4, Tokyo 1988,
pp. 91-102.
MATSUI, Dai, "Some Taxation Systems in Uiguristan under the Mongols and Their
Origin", Toyo gakuhO 79-4, Tokyo 1998a, pp. 026-055
MATSUI, Dai, ''Uigur Administrative Orders Bearing 'Qutluy-seals"', Studies on the
Inner Asian Languages 13, Osaka 1998b, pp. 1-62, +pls. I-XV.
MATSUI, Dai, "Taxation and Tax-collecting Systems in Uiguristan under Mongol Ru1e",
Research on Political and Economic Systems under Mongol Rule, Osaka
International University, Osaka 2002, pp. 87-127.
MATSUI, Dai, "The Yalin-Texts: Six Uigur Administrative Orders from the Early
Fourteenth Century", Studies in the Humanities Hirosaki University (Volume of
Cultural Sciences) 10, Hirosaki 2003, pp. 51-72.
MATSUI, Dai, ''Uigur Peasants and Buddhist Monasteries during the Mongol Period:
Re-examination of the Uigur Document U 5330 (USp 77)", Toyoshi kenkyii 63-1,
Kyoto 2004, pp. 1-32.
MATSUI, Dai, "Taxation Systems as Seen in the Uigur and Mongol Documents from
Turfan: An Overview", Transactions of the International Conference of Eastern
Studies 50, Tokyo 2005, pp. 67-82.
MATSUI, Dai, "An Uigur Decree of Tax Exemption in the Name of Duwa-Khan",
Shinzhlekh Ukhaany Akademijn Medee 2007-4, Ulaanbaatar 2007, pp. 60-68.
MATSUI, Dai, "An Uigur Decree of Tax Exemption Issued under Du'a-Khan and
f{elated Problems", Studies in the Humanities Hirosaki University (Volume of
Cultural Sciences) 19, Hirosaki 2008a, pp. 51-72.
MATSUI, Dai, ' 1Uigur kiizig and the Origin of Taxtion System in the Uigur Kingdom of
Qoco", Turk Dilleri Aratzrmalarz 18, istanbul2008b [20 13], pp. 229-242.
627
628
i .I
I
: .ji
:r
,I
P.S.
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grants (Nos. 22520707 and
22251 008), as well as the Research Grants in Humanities of the Mitsubishi
Foundation (No. 23224).
List ofTexts
1
A1
U5329
A2
A3
*U9231
Bl
B2
B3
B4
8.
B5
*U9252 (a)
B6
*U9252 (b)
10 B7
SI 0. 39 (a)
11 B8
SI 0. 39 (b)
12 C1
SI3Kr. 30b
13 C2
SI 3Kr. 30c
14 C3
SI3Kr. 29b
15 C4
SI3Kr.-29a
16 C5
*U9259
17 C6
*U9255
18 C7
*U9258
19 C8
*U9256
20 C9
*U 9188a
21
C10 *U9188b
22 Cll *U 9188c
23 D1
I
I
I~ j
jj,!
li'
I
I'
!
1:
u 5314
u 5483
' 1:
I
I
I! !.:
I
39 017 *U9241
40 018 *U9250
41
019 OtRy2013
!I
'1,
44 E2
*U9234
45 E3
46 E4
*U9235
47 E5
*U9233
48 E6
U 5283v
49 E7
Ch/U 7370
50 E8
Ch/U 6910
I.I'
i!
630
,I
51
E9
Ch/U 6514
52 ElO *U9236
53
54 E12 U5301
55
56 E14 *U9268
57 Fl
58
F2
*U9240
U5287
59 F3
*U9238
60 F4
*U9247
61
F5
SI Kr IV 604(a)
62
F6
SI Kr IV 604(b)
63
F7
SI Kr IV 608(a)
64 F8
SI Kr IV 608(b)
65
F9
SIKriV619
66 FlO U5308
*U9260
67
Gl
68
G2 U5300
69
G3
70
G4 U5325
71
G5
72
G6 U5309
73
G7 U5291
74
G8
OtRy8127
75
G9
76
GlO U5303
K 7719
U5288
77 Gll U5316
631
78 G12 U 5967
79 G13 U 5297
80 G14 U 5323
81
G15 U 5324
82 G16 U 5510
83 G17 U5514+*U9246
84 G18 U 5284
85 G19 U 5285
86 G20 U5292
87 H 1 U 5296
88 H2 *U9254
89 H 3 [no number]
90 H 4 Ch/U 7300v
91 H5 *U9239
92 H6 U6160
93 H7 U5691
94 H 8 U 5425 + U 6119 + U 6256 + *U 9249
95 H9 U5913
96 H10 OtRy 1111
97 Hll Ot Ry 2007 + Ot Ry 2492 + Ot Ry 2510
98 H12 MIK III 6972a
99 H13 U 6123
Signature of Collection
Ch/U = Berlin Brandenburg Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin (* for
the lost manuscript). Cf. VOHD 13,21 & VOHD 13,22.
i.U.Kiit =istanbul Universitesi Merkez Kiitiiphanesi, istanbul.
K =National Museum of China, Beijing.
632
633
VliT.NULLETLERJULASI
TiJRKOLOJi KONGRESi
30 Eyliil- 04 Ekim 2013 -iSTANBUL
VliT. INTERNATIONAL
TURCOLOGY CONGRESS
30 September- 04 October 2013- ISTANBUL
BiLDiR.i KiTABI
BOOK OF PAPERS
N
Yayma HazJJ"layanlar
iSTANBUL- 2014
~--
Editorler
Prof. Dr. Mustafa OZKAN
Tashih - Mizanpaj
Ar~.
Baski- Cilt
Goksu Ofset
Matbaacthk San. ve Tic. Ltd. ~ti.
Davutpa~a Cad. Eminta~ Kaz1m Din9ol San. Sit. No.81/27-35
Topkapt- Zeytinburnu I iSTANBUL
Tel: 0212 613 56 32- e-posta: info@goksuofset.com
istanbul- 2014