Japanese family precepts research

Author: Li Zhuo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-02-01
Features: Family precepts, also known as court precepts, family admonitions, or family norms in China, are often referred to as family constitutions, family decrees, or family cautions in Japan. They are the admonitions and maxims prescribed by parents within the family for their family members, or by ancestors for their descendants, concerning how to conduct oneself and manage household affairs. They are the rules that family members must abide by. The precepts for family harmony originated from Confucian classics and extended to the governance of states. Using family precepts to maintain family unity and educate children is a distinctive feature of traditional Chinese culture, as well as one of the aspects that neighboring Japan actively learned from and imitated in absorbing Chinese culture. The basic approach of this book is to first elaborate on Japan's family system, family ethics, and the fundamental content of family precepts, and then discuss them in chapters in the order of martial artist family precepts, merchant family precepts, and women's precepts.
The "Instructional Correspondences" (Awase-bun) belong to the category of children's enlightenment materials. Many of them were compiled for family talent and widely used in the enlightenment education of common households, making them highly functional in family education. Therefore, this book includes a chapter dedicated to the study of "Instructional Correspondences."
Modern family constitutions and corporate slogans are extensions or derivatives of pre-modern family precepts, representing a characteristic feature of the development of Japanese family precepts. Thus, they are also a key focus of this book's discussion. In the appendix, representative examples of martial artist family precepts, merchant family precepts, women's precepts, instructional correspondences, corporate slogans, and corporate ethics are translated into Chinese to provide readers with convenience for learning and research.