본고는 동아시아 세계에 공유되었던 도덕윤리 사상이 일본에서는 어떻게 수용되고 변용되었는지를 밝히는 것을 목적으로 하며, 이를 위해 몇 가지의 사례를 통해 일본에서의 향약 이론의 양태를 제시하였다. 우선, 오즈번大洲藩의 유학자인 가와타 유킨川田雄琴의 ‘농민향약’ 발견을 소개하였다. 1745년에 완성된 『예주대주호인록豫洲大洲好人録』에 처음으로 ‘농민향약’이란 용어가 나왔다. 이는 양명학자인 가와타 유킨이 현지의 농민 27인이 공동체에서 생활 규범을 설정한 것을 ‘향약’이라 규정하고, 유학의 향약 이론으로써 농민들의 행동에 의미를 부여한 것이라고 여겨진다. 본고에서는 『예주대주호인록』에서 해당 기록을 확인하고 그러한 의미 부여 작업을 분석하였다. 다음으로 간세이寛政 이후 오즈大洲 지역에서의 향약의 양태를 고찰하였다. 위의 『예주대주호인록』이 오즈번에 분포되어, 1807년에는 향약의 상벌 제도로 발전되어 ‘향약미鄕約米’라는 금융기관까지 만들어졌다. 여기서 향약의 도덕적 훈화와 조직 제도가 근세 일본에 도입되었음을 알 수 있다. 이어서 가즈사上総, 빗추備中의 사례를 들어 근세 일본의 향약 수용의 전체상을 그리고자 하였다. 이러한 분석을 통하여 동아시아의 다른 지역과 마찬가지로 근세 일본에서도 향약이 활용된 사실을 다수의 사례를 통해 확인하였고, 그 수용의 특징과 흐름을 정리하였다. 마지막으로 근세 일본의 향약 수용과 관련하여, 니시무라 시게키西村茂樹의 『국민도덕론』에 보이는 향약에 대한 견해를 분석하였다. 근세와는 다른 성격을 갖는 근대 일본의 향약 수용을 들어, 당시의 향약이 어떻게 재해석되었는지를 분석하였다.

This thesis examines how considerations of ethics that were widespread over the cultural world of East Asia were accepted in the Edo era and how they changed during the early Meiji era by analyzing several cases of acceptance and transformation of village codes in Japan. The Village Codes of Lv (呂氏鄕約), instituted by the Lv Clan (呂氏) and modified by Zhu Xi (朱熹) during the Song (宋) dynasty, were used widely in China in the early modern period, as well as in other countries, such as Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. These village codes relate to Confucian social practices. Confucian scholars prompted the general population to be kind and moral by placing ethical principles into a system of village codes. To Japanese Confucian scholars, village codes played an unavoidable role in their own social practices. Kawada Yukin (川田雄琴), a Japanese Yangmingist scholar in the mid-Edo era, forms the central subject of this paper; in particular, this thesis examined his discussion of a private agreement between farmers in Ozu-han (大洲藩) relative to the village codes and their relationship to Confucianism. Yukin considered these codes not only as an academic discipline but also as a task that could be practiced in Japan. Other movements regarding the adoption of village codes occurred in Ozu-han over the following 50 years. Local bureaucrats used the Village Codes of Lv to exhort the population to virtue. The financial organ named Kyoyaku-kome (鄕約米, village-code rice) was established according to the village-code theory. These examples show the influence of the village codes on Ozu-han, both theoretically and practically. In addition, village codes were introduced widely into other areas during the mid- to late-Edo period, such as Bicchu (備中), Mimasaka (美作), Kazusa (上総), and others. The Village Codes of Lv were translated, quoted, and discussed by Confucian scholars, and they were expanded through publication and recitation. However, in the early Meiji era, village codes began to be prohibited by the new government as it had modernized, since these were considered to be private agreements and without any legal value. Nevertheless, intellectuals such as Nishimura Shigeki (西村茂樹) were using the theory of village codes to enlighten the common people, endowing these codes with new values through reinterpretation and relating them to modern concepts. Thus, village codes were transformed into moral tools of the new age.

Village Codes (鄕約), The Village Codes of Lv (呂氏鄕約), Japanese Confucianism, transformation, modernization