Abstract

My dissertation in the field of early modern Japanese history focuses primarily upon the overlapping legal texts, social institutions, and cultural practices associated with conflict from the mid-sixteenth century until roughly the year 1700. Few studies have been produced in English that cover this extended time period as a cohesive unit, let alone which address the specific issues associated with legal history and dispute resolution during this era. My research demonstrates first and foremost that sixteenth-century legal codes were far more influential in shaping the course of conflict than has been previously recognized, and that these regulatory texts were especially significant in the construction of a particular and lasting rhetoric of legitimate authority based upon the denial of rancor and the privileging of restraint. Rather than postulate a sharp break at the year 1600 with the rise of the Tokugawa family to power, this current study instead argues for a process in which the gradual development of regulations to restrict violence and accompanying “private sentiments” was started first among local warrior coalitions in the early to mid-sixteenth century, next co-opted by successful daimyo in the decades thereafter, and then ultimately standardized and popularized by leaders in the seventeenth century to the point that such rules became well-known not only to warrior families, but among townspeople as well. To the extent that predominant cultural norms in Japan today continue to stress that conflict and anger are to be avoided at all costs, the initial formation of such socially constructed notions concerning the relationship between conflict, proper behavior, and emotional norms owes a great deal to the enduring legacy left by the many regulations concerning the collective and overlapping practices, language, and sentiments of dispute crafted during the years 1550 to 1700.