The Idea of <I>Subu</I> (Holding Together) in Japanese Legal History

Abstract

In Japan of the Archaic Period (i.e., before 603 A. D.), there were, under the Emperor, local uji-no-kamis (patriarchal chieftains of uji clans) who ruled their clan members on the basis of noris (what were declared by an uji-no-kami, through divine inspiration, of the will of the ancestral deities protecting the clan). This form of government by an uji-no-kami of his (or her) uji clan was called shiru (lit. knowing, i. e., of the divine will), and had the nature of religious rule, powerful and strong. Now, the Emperor subdued (held together) those chieftains. The Japanese word subu originally meant "to hold gems together by passing a string through holes in them), but the word was applied to the idea of the Emperor controlling the chieftains (fig. gems). This control of the Emperor's, however, did not include levying of regular tax on the property of the chieftains. Then, the successive Emperors endeavoured to enhance the control by having Amaterasu-omikami, the titulary ancestral god of the imperial clan, revered as the titulary god of all the uji clans, as the successful result of which, towards the end of the fourth century, there appeared a great Emperor, called Nintoku, the majesty of whose imperial throne can be surmised from his huge mausoleum, actually the largest burial mound in the world. This divine authority of the Emperor over all the ujis and their chieftains, which had thus developed and reached its highest here, had to decline gradually thenceforward, and there came the influence of the very secular and unreligious Confucianism imported from China after this period, too. However, during the Archaic Period, the Emperors still, by means of his divine authority and religious power, were successful in holding together the chieftains of the uji clans.I should prefer to call such a nation us a shizoku-togo-kokka (a state of uji clans held together), where law and religious authority were yet not distinct spheres. A great characteristic of the government throughout this period was that Japanese Emperors did not personally run the government, which tradition, I believe, has reached the present time. Howbeit, the Reform which took place in 645 A. D. (The Taika Reform) gave rise to another form of state, a toitsu-kokka (a unified state) which the Emperor, after confiscating all the lands and people that had been locally held and ruled by uji chieftains, and standing above and utilizing a newly created office of daijokan (central government office), directly and personally governed the whole land and people of Japan. This form of government was carried out by means of the ritzu (penal) and ryo (administrative) codes which were imported from China. Law and religious authority became distinct spheres and the Emperor remained in actual and secular control of the government. The Nara era was the peak period. But then, at the beginning of the next era, the Heian era, though the principle of direct imperial rule itself was maintained, management by the Emperor's closest advisors (sokkinshas) emerged in practise, (Here ends the Ancient Period.)