The Making of Modern Japan / An Account of the Progress of Japan from Pre-feudal Days to Constitutional Government & the Position of a Great Power, With Chapters on Religion, the Complex Family System, Education, &c.

by John Harington Gubbins

The connection of the custom with religion having long since vanished, the Japanese of the present day who abdicates is in no way actuated by the feeling that impelled European monarchs in past time to end their days in the seclusion of the cloister, and which finds expression in the phrase “to make one’s soul.” Apart from the influence of traditional convention, which explains the great hold upon the nation acquired by the custom, the motive seems to be somewhat akin to that which leads people in other countries to retire from active life at an age when bodily infirmity cannot be adduced as the reason. In the one case, however, it is the business, or profession, the active work of life, which is relinquished, while in Japan it is the position of head of a family which is given up, the result being the effacement of the individual so far as the family is concerned. Moreover, although abdication usually implies the abandonment of business, this does not necessarily follow. That in many cases the reason for abdication lies in the wish to escape from the tyrannical calls of family life, encumbered as it is with legal duties and responsibilities, as well as tedious ceremonies, is shown by the fact that the period of a person’s greatest activity not infrequently dates from the time of his withdrawal from the headship of the family.

As in the case of adoption, abdication is now more strictly regulated than formerly. Women are permitted to abdicate irrespective of age; but a man is not allowed to abdicate until he has attained sixty years of age, except under certain conditions imposed by law.

Family Councils.—Family councils represent, as has already been explained, the larger of the two groups into which Japanese society may be regarded as divided. They usurp many of the functions which we are accustomed to associate with Courts of Law, and, though an appeal may always be made to the latter from the decision of a council, apart from the reluctance of most people to take this step, the chances of success are too remote to favour its frequent adoption.

Family councils are of two kinds: those convened for the determination of some particular question; and those which are established for the purpose of taking charge of the affairs of persons without legal capacity. The former are dissolved when the question at issue has been settled; the latter continue until the legal incapacity ceases. The summoning of a council and the selection of its members rest with a court of law, but in certain cases the members may be appointed by will. The functions of family councils cover a wide field, ranging from giving consent to marriage and adoption to protecting the interests of a minor in cases where the interests of parent and child conflict. Their authority in no way diminishes the influence brought to bear upon an individual by the wide circle of relations from whom they are chosen, but rather serves to increase it; nor does their existence as a species of family tribunal preclude the settlement of family matters in an informal manner without recourse to the elaborate machinery provided by the law.

Marriage.—Before the present Civil Code came into operation the question of marriage was regulated by fragmentary enactments issued from time to time, which dealt with various points connected with marriage and divorce, but never with the subject as a whole. Validity of marriage is quite independent of the marriage ceremony, which is a purely social function. Marriage is effected simply by registration. Notice is given to a registrar by both parties and two witnesses who are of age. This notice may be either verbal or written. When the registrar has satisfied himself that the marriage is in accordance with the provisions of the law, the name of the person entering the other’s family is inscribed in the register of that family and is expunged from the register of the family to which he, or she, previously belonged. The marriageable age for men is seventeen years; that for women fifteen. No one who is not the head of a family can marry without the consent of the head of the family. In many cases, also, the consent of parents, or of a guardian, or of a family council, is necessary. Japanese law recognizes two kinds of divorce: judicial divorce; and divorce by arrangement between the parties.

Family Registration.—If proof were needed that society in Japan centres round the family, and not the individual, it would be supplied by the institution known as Family Registration. The subject is too complicated to justify any detailed reference to it in these pages. It will be sufficient to mention that in every district a separate register is kept for each house in which the head of a household is also the head of a family; those whose names appear therein being regarded as having what is called their “permanent register” (honséki) in the place in question. Persons who are heads of households, but not of families, are borne on other family registers. Thus the names entered in a family register at the time it is prepared under the address of a certain house are not necessarily those of persons who are members of the particular household indicated. Nor are they necessarily those of persons who were, or are, resident in the district. They are simply those of all persons who, irrespective of their place of residence, are members of the family of which the occupant of the house in question is the head at the time when the family register is prepared. The family, therefore, and not the household, is the basis of this registration, the house merely supplying the address where the permanent register is established. Family registers are prepared (1) when a person establishes a new family, or (2) when the head of a family chooses to transfer his permanent register to another place, in which case the previous register is called “original permanent register” (genséki). Except in these cases, family registration and residence are quite independent of one another.

As in the case of Status and Residential Registration, matters concerning family registration are dealt with by the registrar of a district. It is notice to this official that gives validity to marriage and divorce, to adoption and its dissolution, to abdication and to succession to the headship of a family.

CHAPTER XXX
Education.

Before the Restoration the State concerned itself little with education. There were, indeed, in Yedo, as Tōkiō was then called, two or three Government schools open to youths of the military class, and similar institutions existed in the provinces, both in clan territories and in those of the Shōgun. In these instruction was given in the Chinese classics and in military accomplishments. Except for this slender provision for educational needs, the matter was left, to a great extent, in the hands of the people themselves. Such education as was thought to be necessary for children other than those of the military class was obtained in Buddhist temple schools (terakoya). In the case of the military class private tuition took the place of these schools, both for elementary instruction, and for such further education as might be desired; it being customary for students above a certain age to become pupils of some scholar of repute, in whose house they often resided during their course of study. From the absence of any regular official control of education it must not be inferred that learning was discouraged in Japan. On the contrary, it was encouraged from early times, both by the Court in pre-feudal days and by the later Tokugawa rulers, with the result that the Japanese nation had, as is well known, attained a high degree of culture of an Oriental kind before the reopening of the country to foreign intercourse. But the interest taken in education was only spasmodic. No attempt was made to systematize it, and make it a branch of the general administration of the country.

In the programme of the men who effected the Restoration educational reform occupied a prominent place; but while feudalism lasted not much could be done. Neither the control of education by one central authority, nor the defiance of class prejudice by throwing education open equally to all, was possible. The enlargement of the few existing colleges, the opening of a few more in places where they were most needed, the engagement of foreign teachers, and the selection of students represented all that was attainable for the moment. The desired opportunity came with the abolition of feudalism, and the disappearance of the military class. It was in the summer of 1871 that the Decree which swept away the feudal system was issued; a week or two later the Department of Education was established; and in the following year (1872) the first Educational Code was drawn up and promulgated. Compulsory education for both sexes dates from this time.