Levirate Marriage of Meiji Era in Japan

Abstract

I We, Japanese, have had the custom of levirate marriage since a long time ago. Its common type is a junior levirate as it is called " ototo naoshi " in Japanese. It would not specially have a different character from the other marriages, if it were done by the complete willingness of the two parties ; a dead man's wife and her brother-in-law. However, it would be better to think that levirate marriage is given a special meaning by law, when it was prohibited, permitted in only a special case or permitted. This is the first reason why this work aims at levirate marriage.II Japanese Civil Code (1898) was enacted, having a powerful insistence, which the code should not take laws and customs of Common people in it, but the ones of Samurai, a back ground. Such an insistence bore its fruit in " Ie " system in the code, but it could not bear in a day.Meiji Reformatory Government tried to enforce laws and customs of Samurai on lives of Common people, under the rule of it, from the beginning of its existence. In spite of such an attempt of the government, the Civil Code (1898) had taken in it, not only laws and customs of Samurai, but also ones of Common people which is opposite to Samurai's. Some laws and customs of Common people were taken in the code so as to strengthen " Ie " system. It is important to study a process, in which such ones of Common people were taken in the code. This work is tried to investigate such a process.III In Tokugawa-Shogunate, law prohibited Samurai class from levirate marriage. It seems that this prohibition aimed at keeping up the orders of families of Samurai. On the contrary, Common people had customs of levirate marriages in order to support their properties and callings. And law seemed to permit such customs.In Meiji era, Reformatory Government perfectly prohibited levirate marriage and the other similar ones by Act of " Dajokan " on the 8 th of December in the 8th year of Meiji (1875). It may be said that this prohibitory act was one of the laws of Samurai, the government tried to enforce on lives of Common people, and of the policies so as to keep up the orders of their families as counter-plans against the bad things of those days. This act, however, have had contradictions ; it stresses the marriage customs of Common people to support their properties and callings, and decreases their capacities for paying taxes in the end. And there was no way but removing this prohibition in order to dissolve such contradictions.IV The movement into such removal of this prohibition began to appear in about the last half of 15th year of Meiji (1882). Then after, levirate marriage was becoming to be permitted step by step. At the first step, it was permitted so far as the government admitted the case specially. The case for the government to permit it specially, was one, in which property or calling of a family could not be supported, unless a levirate marriage was done. Such a change of attitude of the government towards levirate marriage had reflected the change of its policy. At that time, the government could not help changing its policy into ones which support properties and callings of families of Common people. Because " the Fights against the Government for Freedom and Human Rights of Common people" had rooted in the poverties which were due to the in-solvencies of the people, their insolvencies were owing to former policies of the government.