2. SPECIFIC LEGAL POSTULATES
(1) Tenno adoration
Concerning the national unity and polity, the influence of Tenno is moral and legal. His status has suffered ups and downs throughout history. Sometimes his authority was supreme in appearance, as in the regimes of Shotoku Taishi and Meiji Tenno where the ideal of the Tenno-govemed state was realized.
But his political power in actuality was at best only formal or even nominal. Under the present Constitution he is officially deprived of any power of political influence. With all such variations of the official status, the Tenno has had his peculiar influences upon the moral and legal life of Japanese people, even though some critics disapprove. And the influences have been validated by the people's adoration of Tenno. “Tenno adoration” is inferred as the postulate for the indigenous Tenno system, official or unofficial.(2) Ie idea
Ie had for long been the main basis of Japanese society, controlled by the family head and led by the postulate of wa. But since post-war democratization and legal reform, the components of such a collective ie have lost their official validity, and at the same time are declining in their social influences. On the other hand, such practices as privileged inheritance of family memorials of the ancestors, muko-yoshi, sole-heir inheritance, and the attempt at legislation for inheritance of agricultural lands en bloc, exemplify some surviving elements of the idea of collective ie. Any idea of ie as a whole, although the concept of “perpetuity” may be more appropriate than wa, can be said to be still functioning.
(3) Buraku spirit
Buraku, which had been another basic element of Japanese society, has truly been losing its actual influences upon its members during the post-war years. The “disorganization of the buraku” might be reasonably recognized as a general trend, and the code of buraku might be losing its general validity.
It is true, however, that the spirit of buraku is still very often functioning as the collective postulate of a local community, and that the word is fictitiously used to emphasize the collective unity of social groups, often critically called an “insular narrowness.” Paternal unilateralism of nationality and exclusion of foreign teachers are but a few examples of the latter. “Buraku spirit,” real or fictitious, is inferred as a vague but functioning legal postulate.(4) Dozoku principle
Dozoku is an expansion of an ie. But, consisting of apparently independent families, a dozoku is characterized by a more systematical structure centring on the authority of the main family over the branch families, ordered in a genealogical hierarchy. When fictitiously applied to social organizations with no blood-relation, such as iemoto organizations, shuha and deviant groups, the leading principle is developed as a postulate to support their explicit rules. Despite the strong opposition of post-war democratic ideas, the dozoku principle stubbornly survives.
(5) Mibun order
The above four postulates are characterized by some common features. Collectivity-orientation, which is so often pointed out by foreign Japanologists, may be one of them. Status hierarchy is another, the most important structural principle meaning that collectivities are structured by a hierachy of ordered members, leaving the authority with the upper, and subordinate mibun (status) to the lower.
Status hierarchy has, generally speaking, undergone a considerable change; for instance, the unit of the members changed from family to person, grounds of status changed from ascription to achievement, the order of succession of member status is no longer determined by heredity but by selection among the qualified, and official protection was abolished.65 Nonetheless, people still show a general tendency to respect status hierarchy as a stable structure in various societies.
Those who are recognized as superior in origin, rank, reputation, seniority, or property tend to have more chances of obtaining higher posts, with less consideration for their own personal ability. Not only in dozoku and dozoku-like communities, but also in vouching for a person, giri relations, and order of the seats, the difference in the status of the parties are frequently represented in their actual attitudes. And court ranks and honours have revived officially under the present Constitution. But, as it would be a more diffuse conception than the traditional status hierarchy postulated for contemporary practices, the term mibun order is here chosen for status hierarchy.(6) Kami conception
The basic postulate for the jinja and matsuri is the indigenous conception of kami (god) in Shintoism. It is polytheistic. It includes, besides the Creator and related gods, a variety of men, whether distinguished or ordinary, for all the dead are welcomed as gods and even natural settings are worshipped in some jinja. Not only strictly religious supernaturals but also certain secular superiors can be included in kami, as Tenno was worshipped as a god. Shinto also could include political State Shinto and folk Jinja Shinto as well as strictly religious Kyoha Shinto. Such a conception of kami is still alive, with the possibility of interpreting Shinto and its practices as either religion or folk custom. According to its conception, it essentially doesn't matter whether an official position in law is given or not, for it is a peculiar kami conception, so diffuse and all-inclusive, without any rigid criteria.