The scholarly study of genealogy and lineage records has long been mischaracterized as a subfield of historiography and historical source studies (史料学), despite being an inherently independent discipline. This mischaracterization has eroded the discipline's independence through two concurrent pressures: an internal factor, namely the excessive dependence of traditional genealogical scholars on the terminology and methods of historiography and historical source studies, and an external factor, namely the encroachment of historians and source scholars into genealogical research. The root cause of both pressures is the absence of any theoretical system — not only in traditional genealogy (伝統的系譜学) itself, but equally in the historiographical disciplines upon which it has depended. The foregoing gives rise to the misconception that the study of past facts falls within the domain of history, which in turn produces a wide range of adverse consequences, including the absence of stated reasoning and the lack of reviewability, insufficient refinement of terminology, misalignment between objectives and methods, insufficient refinement of methodology, the absence of means to assert the discipline's own identity, and the lack of educational and learning resources for beginners—all of which have become chronic and entrenched, forming a vicious cycle. To dissolve this cycle and establish genealogical research as a genuinely independent academic discipline, this paper proposes the creation of Genealogical Science (系図系譜学) as a new discipline distinct from traditional genealogy, and sets out the Supreme Norms governing the foundational principles of its theoretical system. Building on the bedrock norm common to all scholarly and investigative activity — the pursuit of fact and truth through objective rational demonstration — the Supreme Norms define scholarly fact in Genealogical Science as fact established through procedural justice. On this basis, the Supreme Norms adopt the following principles: the Reviewability Principles, comprising the Principles of Logicality, Evidence-based Reasoning, Burden of Proof, Explicit Presentation, the Duty to State Reasons, and Scrutiny; the Refinement Principles, comprising the Principles of Strictness, Unambiguity, Distinction, and Hierarchical Structuring; the Principle of Anti-Authoritarianism; the Principle of Equality; and the Theoretical System Construction and Development Principles, comprising the Principles of Interdisciplinary Integration, Deductive-Inductive Iterative Construction, Construction Process Disclosure, and Theory Development. The paper further establishes that the theoretical system shall be arranged according to a combination of the Pandect method and procedural-sequence ordering, and that the Supreme Norms, together with the Theory of Purpose, the Theory of Subject Matter, and the Theory of Field Taxonomy, constitute the constitutional system of Genealogical Science.
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