%0 Journal Article
%T Narrating the Law in Japan: Rakugo in the Meiji Law Reform Debate
%A MCARTHUR
%A Ian
%J Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies
%D 2008
%I University Sheffield
%X In 1895, the Ch迂身 Shinbun serialised Sashimonoshi Meijin Ch身ji (Master Cabinetmaker Ch身ji) by noted oral storyteller (rakugoka) San＊y迂tei Ench身. Adapted from de Maupassant's Un Parracide, it tells of Ch身ji＊s murder of his suspected parents. Ch身ji is declared innocent of patricide since the killing was, technically, retribution for the murder of his father. The alterations made to the original reflect engagement with debate over law reform and nostalgia for a neo-Confucian morality. In the same period, Australian-born rakugoka Henry Black, who affiliated with Ench身＊s San＊y迂-ha guild of storytellers, also contributed to the Meiji law reform debate by adapting Western detective fiction to demonstrate European legal procedures. By examining references to legal practice in Black＊s stories and in Ench身＊s Sashimonoshi Meijin Ch身ji, this paper illustrates the contribution by professional storytelling to debate over law reform in the Meiji period. The debate encapsulated themes found in current discussion about law reform in Japan. Examination of the context within which law reform took place in the Meiji era contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the complex origins of current debates over law reform as Japan continues to harmonise its domestic laws with those of the rest of the world.
%K law reform
%K Henry Black
%K rakugo
%K San＊y迂tei Ench身
%K Meiji period
%K sensation fiction
%U http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/2008/McArthur.html