Humanistic Approaches to the Study of Premodern Japanese Law
The study of premodern Japanese law often begins with law codes and legal documents, their form and function. In recent decades, scholars have also begun to think about the social life of the law—the ways in which law reverberates through social structures and practices, and how it is lived in ways that inevitably exceed or diverge from its text. This socio-cultural turn has further inspired studies of law’s place in culture. Recent research has begun to explore how law is performed in courts and in drama, used metaphorically in literature, woven into religion, and implicated in expressions, performances, and expectations of gender. In this symposium, we hope to address the complex intersections and fluid boundaries between law, culture, and the humanities in premodern Japan, focusing primarily pre-1600.