by I. J. Parker
Law enforcement in eleventh-century Japan followed the Chinese pattern to some extent, in that each of more than sixty-eight city quarters had its own warden who was responsible for keeping peace. The government offices and the palace were protected by divisions of the Imperial Guard. In addition, a separate police force, the kebiishi, investigated crimes and made arrests and judges pronounced sentence. The most serious crimes, as defined by the Taiho code (a.d. 701) were (I) rebellion against the emperor, (2) damage to the Imperial Palace or royal tombs, (3) treason, (4) murder of one’s kin, (5) murder of one’s wife or of more than three members of a family, (6) theft or damage of imperial or religious property, (7) unfilial acts toward parents or senior relatives, and (8) murder of a superior or teacher. There were two prisons in the capital, but imperial pardons were common and sweeping. Convictions required confession by the accused, but these could be encouraged by the interrogating officers. The death penalty was rare because the Buddhist faith opposed the taking of life, but exile under severe and often fatal conditions was often substituted.
The two state religions, Shinto and Buddhism, coexisted peacefully, sometimes in the same temple complex and during the same religious festival. Shinto, the native faith, is tied to Japanese gods and agricultural observances. Buddhism, which entered Japan from China via Korea, exerted enormous influence over the aristocracy and the government through numerous monasteries. Most emperors and many powerful nobles ended their careers by taking the tonsure. The Buddhist hell inflicts on sinners a variety of physical sufferings: in addition to the fiery torment associated with the Christian hell, it offers slashing with swords and knives, freezing, starvation, and other unpleasant fates. Paintings of such scenes were common in Buddhist monasteries in China and Japan. The story of the demented artist of the hell screen in the present novel was inspired by Akutagawa’s short story “The Hell Screen,” in which a painter immolates his own daughter in order to achieve verisimilitude.
Japanese customs in connection with death partook of both faiths. Taboos prohibiting contact with the dead were based on Shinto beliefs, while funeral ceremonies (cremations) were in the hands of Buddhist monks. It was thought that the spirit of the deceased resided for forty-nine days in its home and that angry spirits could haunt the living.
As far as eleventh-centurypopular entertainment (later known as the “floating world”) is concerned, historical evidence is skimpy. Prostitution was certainly known, but as far as we know Kyoto’s two famous pleasure quarters did not exist until two centuries later. However, in the centuries before the shoguns, there was no prohibition against female entertainers who earned a living by dancing, singing, and playing instruments. The great age of Noh and Kabuki theater came later, but the precursors were the bards who recited famous tales, the sacred dances of bugaku which mimed stories, short farces called kyogen, and acrobatics. All of these are well attested to before and during the eleventh century.
Finally, the plot of the Nagaoka case is based on case 64A of the twelfth-century Chinese collection of criminal cases Tang~ yin~pi~ski (translated by Robert Van Gulik), a text which was imported to Japan during the Ming dynasty.
