Kiyoshi Jinno: Jurisprudence and Historical Thinking

2025/05/12

My specialization is in the field of Japanese Legal History (perhaps a bit niche within jurisprudence?), and I focus my research particularly on Kamakura Shogunate law, such as the Goseibai Shikimoku. Influenced by Takeyoshi Kawashima's "The Legal Consciousness of the Japanese" (Iwanami Shinsho, 1967), which I read during my undergraduate years, I became interested in the "gap" that exists between the modern statutory laws inherited from the West during the Meiji period and the consciousness of the citizens. My desire to examine the true nature of that "gap" from a historical perspective was what led me to choose this field.

Something I have always been conscious of in my research is the significance of legal history research within jurisprudence. The reason I felt I wanted to (and should) confront this simple yet profound question was because I was greatly inspired by the symposium "The Meaning of Historical Thinking in Jurisprudence" (Legal History Review, No. 51, 2001) held by the Japan Legal History Association in 2000. In the discussions where prominent legal scholars debated the "meaning of historical thinking," particularly in relation to positive law, I felt confronted by the idea that legal history researchers have an "accountability" regarding what meaning the discipline of legal history holds within jurisprudence as a whole, and that we must view the discipline objectively and engage in "reflection."

Thinking that it might provide a clue to fulfilling this "accountability," I have continued two things to this day. One is (in addition to research on Kamakura Shogunate law) researching the history of legal history itself. What significance did "historical thinking" have during the Meiji and Taisho periods when modern jurisprudence entered Japan, and how has it transitioned to the present? I think of this research as a journey of going around and asking predecessors in jurisprudence, including legal historians, "How was it in your time?"

The other is to conduct joint research with researchers from different fields who emphasize "historical thinking" from their respective perspectives and interests. Through this (though this may be more about the conduct of legal historians than the "meaning of historical thinking"), I have come to believe that legal history researchers should be more like "historians" toward researchers of positive law, and more like "legal scholars" toward researchers in other fields. I intend to continue the endeavor of re-examining the "meaning of historical thinking in jurisprudence."