An Introduction to the History of JapanHara, Katsuro
History
An Introduction to the History of Japan
Hara, Katsuro
Japan -- History
It would be a mistake to suppose that such a momentous change was
effected without any disturbance. The Kyoto nobles, who were unable at
first to see the political importance of the establishment of the
Shogunate in an insignificant provincial village, were gradually
awakened to the real loss which they would surely suffer by it, and
longed to recover the reins, which they had once forgotten to keep and
guard. Besides, there were many malcontent warriors both within and
without the Shogunate. For after the death of Yoritomo, though the title
of Shogun was inherited by his two sons, one after the other, the real
power of the Shogunate fell into the hands of his wife's relations, the
family of Hojo. Warriors of other families were excluded from a share in
the military government, and they, dissatisfied on that account, wished
for some change in order to overthrow the Hojo. Needless to say that
outside of the Shogunate ambitious men were not lacking, who desired to
set up another Shogunate in place of that at Kamakura, if they could.
All these discontented soldiery allied themselves with the Kyoto nobles,
and caused the civil war of Jokyu to ensue between them and the
Shogunate represented by the Hojo family. The war ended in the defeat of
the former, and the Shogunate emerged out of the war far stronger than
before.
Thirteen years after the war, the first compilation of laws of the
Shogunate was undertaken by Yasutoki Hojo. It is called "the compiled
laws of the Joyei," Joyei being the name of the era in which the
compilation was issued. This compilation was not so much a work of
elaborate systematisation, nor an imitation of foreign laws, as was the
reform legislation of the Taiho. Rather it should be called a collection
of abstracts of particular law cases decided by the judicial staff of
the Shogunate. It is therefore an outcome of necessitated experiences
like English "case-law", and had not the character of statute laws or
provisions deduced from a certain fundamental legal principle in
anticipation of all probable occurrences. The object of the compilation
is clearly stated in the epilogue written by Yasutoki himself. According
to this, it was far from the motive of the compilers to displace the old
system of legislation by the promulgation of the new one. Old laws
became a dead letter, without being formally abrogated, while the new
code was issued only for the practical benefit of the people in charge
of various businesses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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