The purpose of this paper is to survey penal legal institutions particular to "dynastic" Japan of the mid-and late-Heian period, to ascertain how the penal system worked, to examine the logic behind the system, and to probe the historical background to it. Chapter 1 discusses the penal law in the preceding ritsu-ryo period. Under the strong influence of the ancient Chinese penal system, the ritsu-ryo codes specified such punishments as corporal punishment, deportation, confiscation, penal servitude, and depfivation of social standing. The code reveals the government's total control and exploitation of criminals. The author argues that the formation of the code stemmed from ritsu-ryo Japan being born under international pressures of the time and forced to develop a bureaucratic and centralized nation following Chinese precedents, while preserving Japan's indigenous tradition. Chapter 2 breaks down dyndstic Japan's penal system into three categories: (1)Kurodo-to-Hosai: Under this law, the emperors judged their vassals' minor offenses, and the Kurodo-no-To, who was in charge of the vassals, executed the judgments. (2)Dajo-kan-Hosai: Under this law, the emperors, with the help of the Dajo-kan (the Cabinet), judged both the offenses committed by court nobles of the 5th or higher rank and all serious offenses. (3)Shicho-Sai: Under this law, the Kebiishicho (Department of Investigation) judged ordinary offenses committed by people of the 6th or lower rank. By examining these three categories, the auther demonstrates that dynastic Japan's penal code was centered around "exclusion" - deportation, deprivation, and detention - and that corporal punishment and confiscation existed only as unofficial of exceptional punishments. Chapter 3 examines the historical background which led to the formation of the dynastic Japan's penal laws based on exclusion. First, the author illustrates the jurisprudential construction which formed the dynastic code out of its ritsu-ryo predecessor. Secondly, he argues that the elaboration of taboos against impurity and crime had a decisive influence over the formation of the exclusion-based punishments of dynastic Japan. The paper concludes with an explanation of how corporal punishment and confiscation, once regarded as unofficial and exceptional by aristocratic legislators, came to be incorporated into the dynastic penal code by the end of the Heian period. This transformation coincided with the emergence of the warrior class and religious powers, which did not hesitate to use such penalties as corporal punishment. When the Kamakura-Bakufu was established, it reorganized penal law strictly based on corporal punishment and confiscation.

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In the early 20 century, the Qing dynasty instituted many kinds of political reform, called xinzheng 新政. These reforms stimulated local elite to take part in local self-government. In historical perspective, the meaning of this movement can be understood in terms of the relationship between zhixian 知県 districts and local elite. There were three phases involved. The first phase was implementation of local self-governance, which was begun under the xinzheng reforms. In BaoShan-Xian 寶山県, as the result of a local elite involved very actively in public affair (gong 公), a successful network was created among elites. Their political power was spread via this network, but the local elite's political connection with the bureaucracy (guan 官) was kept in balance. The Second phase was characterized by friction, which happened by a stretching of political power between local elite and guan. This friction is represented by the arrest of Sun Qilin 孫啓麟 a local elite by guan authorities, followed by a movement led by Qian Gan 銭淦 in which the BaoShan-Xian elite united in an effort to release Sun from the authorities. In this phase, the relationship was greatly strained. The third phase was the completion of local self-governance, called xianren zhixian 県人治県. At this time, because of an overissue of copper coins, called tong yuan 銅元, the market price of silver rose, and price of copper declined. This phenomenon brought about a tax increase, by which the Qin government Ordered local officials to collect taxes in the same amount as before. However, Hu Diaoyuan 胡調元, prefectural governor of Baoshan disregarded this order. The Local elite blamed Hu in the local assembly, which ordered him to obey the order. In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution 辛亥革命 broke out. Hu was purged by revolutional army and Qian Gan was appointed to the head of prefectural civil administration (minzhengzhang 民政長), at which time local self-government came into existence there.

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The present article takes up an activist by the name of Zama Shisui 座間止水, who began as a socialist during the Meiji era, but during the following Taisho and Showa eras joined the establishment as a member of the youth movement and educational promotion leagues. Zama himself is not a very well known figure and appears only rarely in the intellectual history of prewar Japan. The reason for the author taking up the case of Zama is because his career seem to be a summary of the whole intellectual character of modern Japan. That is to say, on the one hand, 1)Zama was the first known elementary school teacher in Japan to become a member of the Socialist Party, 2)he played for a time a central role in the Socialist right wing's Diet policy faction together with Katayama Sen and Nishikawa Kojiro, and 3)he was at the same time an advocate of "village socialism". On the other hand, after his turn away from socialism at the end of the Meiji era, he became completely emersed in the establishment's philosophy of "leading the masses towards goodness and enlightenment". While tracing Zama's activities and intellectual development, the author attempts to clarify the following points. First, what is the meaning of the heretofore obscure term "village socialism" and its signiticance within early Japanese socialism? Secondly, how are we to evaluate the career of Zama Shisui? Finally, in terms of the first and second points, what are the problems involved in the study of early Japanese socialism? In Chapter 1, the author traces Zama's career from his elementary school teaching to his membership in the Socialist Party, his aggressive speaking tours through the Tokai and Sanyo regions of Honshu, his involvement as a socialist member of the Diet policy faction advocating "village socialism", and his employment by the newspaper, Kokumin Shinbun. Chapter 2 takes up his career during the Taisho era, in which we find him editing a magazine called Teikoku Seinen (Young Men of the Empire), while acting as a lecturer at the Youth Association's central headquarters. His activities during the Showa era are also covered and include his deep involvement in the educational promotion league movement up to the end of World War II. In his concluding section, the author attempts offer Zama's career and intellectual conversion as one problematic for studying understanding the history of modern Japanese thought.

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