Talk:Ie (Japanese family system)

Japanese professional culture
-- Unsigned comment posted by 203.131.104.244 at 04:52, 12 May 2005(UTC).

Tag "Original Research"
The leading paragraph of this article is composed mainly of unverified facts. Even if each of the facts is well verified, this could not be an encyclopedic description from neutral points of view, but just a biased opinion. I write below as to misunderstandings I see in this article, consulting some references including one glossary on Japan's history and two encyclopedias. --Dumpty-Humpty (talk) 23:41, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

As to misunderstanding about the influence of the Allied
Japan's postwar drastic revision in late 1940s each of the constitution and Civil Code was done through democratic process.

Some civil workshops announced drafts for a new constitution. One drastic draft announced in December, 1945 was translated into English, to attract the GHQ staff doing the preliminary research on constitutional reforms. (Birth of the Constitution of Japan: Part 2) In 1946, while political parties were announcing their drafts, the government's draft was unveiled but it turned out to be unsatisfactory. Then GHQ's drafting members were secretly assembled. One member said in a recent NHK documentary that they were influenced by the civil draft mentioned above. Through deliberations at the Imperial Congress, for example, a description for the peace principle (now in Article 9) was improved and a provision on people's right for cultured living (Article 25) was added. Formally through the procedure provided in the old one, the revision was done to make a drastically new constitution.

In compliance with concepts of this new constitution, the revision of Civil Code was deliberated in the first term of the Diet. As a fruit, Parts IV and V were drastically changed, and Japan's ie system was legally abolished by it.

So, I consider it's not appropriate to state in wiki articles as if the revision and the abolishment had been just fruits of the Allied, as stated in this article at present. --Dumpty-Humpty (talk) 23:41, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

As to misunderstanding about the influence of Confucianism
In October, 1945, the Supreme Commander of GHQ Douglas Macarthur issued an oral order on the then Japan's PM Kijūro Shidehara for five major reforms. This order didn't precisely require abolishment of the ie system or exclusion of Confucian principles. On the other hand, in December GHQ ordered separation of the nation and Shintō. What did exist on the historical background?

Confucianism reached Japan by the 7th C at the latest. But it is considered that various types of ie systems existed before Meiji era (1868-1912). Such ie systems were not necessarily related tightly to Confucianism, partly because it was a study of limited people. Around late 17th C in Edo period, Confucianism in Japan began to be developed somehow uniquely. And, the ie system in the samurai class became the model of that of Meiji era. Meiji government incorporated Shinto into national governance framework. And ,the nationalized Shinto (国家神道) was connected with converted Confucian principles, the latter emphasized in school educations. In the early Showa era, this framework was utilized at wartime to mislead people, along with ideas like the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (大東亜共栄圏). Thus, both the modern ie system and the governance framework were peculiar to Japan.

So, I consider it's not appropriate to state in wiki articles as if just Confucian principles had been the backbone of Japan's modern ie system or as if such influence had lasted long in modern Japan, as stated in this article at present. I personally have an impression that not many of Japanese people today are binded to the Confucian principles or to the modern ie system. --Dumpty-Humpty (talk) 23:41, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Legal effect
So is there any legal effect of the designation as head of household? MathHisSci (talk) 16:22, 29 June 2016 (UTC)