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Medieval Japanese Crime and Punishment Compared to Medieval European Crime and Punishment
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How does medieval Japanese crime and punishment compare to medieval European crime and punishment?
By Luke Buchanan
What were similar punishments between the two countries?
Similar crimes resulted in similar punishments, however for a lot of cases the Japanese liked to be more creative. Similar punishments included being hung, being burned at the stake (for different crimes in each country), beheading, crusifiction and execution.
Different Punishments
Japanese
The differences in punsihments generally came from the culture of the two countries. In Japan if you were caught talking poorly or planning to overthrow the Shogun then it would be a death penalty, arson was also a big crime in Japan because the walls of the houses were generally made from paper, arson in Japan would lead to being burned, like a taste of your own medicine. In Europe there were much less death penalties, Europe's punishments were made to teach the person a lesson and pursuade others to not do the same, however they were not wasteful, people were usefull so they tried not to kill people unless absolutely necessary.
European
Similar Punishments For Different Crimes
Similar punishments such as being burned, beheading, or basically a death sentence of any form, were often for different reasons between the two countries. Being burned in Europe was often a punishment of witchery or heracy, whereas in Japan being burned was a result of someone who had been guilty of arson, considering arson was a problem in Japan (because walls in houses were often made from paper, which burns very easily) the punishment was a taste of your own medicine. Beheading in Europe would mean you have commited a crime such as thievery (stole from an important person), murder or heracy; in Japan beheading was a more common punishment and didn't need such strong crimes to have that outcome. Death penalties were a lot less common in Europe because they wanted to preserve their workers, however if it needed to be done there would be no hesitation, in Japan they were less concerned and often punished people in public no matter what severity of the sentence.
Public Death Sentence in Medieval Japan
Did Certain People Have Privilege When It Came To The Law
In Japan, the Samurai were extremely privileged when it came to the law, the Shogun and Emperor were completely above the law, they could do anything and not be punished. The Samurai were legally allowed to kill someone and walk away, their punishment would be immensely different to that of a peasant for the same crime, Samurai were only punished for killing too many people, killing someone important or a capital crime, they were barely ever incarcarated, they were usually just put under house arrest and for an extremely serious crime, Seppuku (a form of creative suicide) was the punishment. In Europe the Knights were punished less than a peasant would be, however Knights were unlikely to commit a crime as they respected the law and their Lord and King, Nobles were almost completely above the law, again they were unlikely to commit a crime because of their relationship with the King, the King was completely above the law, peasants were more likely to commit crimes and the punishments were more harsh, peasants had a weak bond with the King and they were treated poorly so crime was more common.
What Crimes Were Not Considered Crimes in the Other Country?
Europe and Japan were both strict in their own ways, however some crimes in Europe were not considered crimes in Japan, and vise versa.
Different Common Crimes
In Europe if a woman was to hvae sexual relations with a man and word got out, she would either be branded or her hair would be cut off, however in Japan: rape, incest, child abuse, molestation, and prostitution weren't crimes, in Europe prostitution was a common punishment for women. A similarity between the countries was that men were above these crimes, in both Japan and Europe, men got away with adultery, yet women suffered consequences. On a different level, speaking poorly of the Shogun or even critisising him in Japan would have you killed, however the punishment was quite as harsh to critisise the King, while it wasn't something you really wanted to do, the sentence often wasn't immediate death.
What were the most common crimes in both countries?
While crime was a lot less common back then (even though it is much harder to commit a crime nowadays) there was still crime, but which were the most common ones?
Japan
Common Crimes and Common Punishments in Medieval Japan
Crime was not difficult to commit in Medieval Japan, especially if you were a woman or a peasant (lord help you if you were both), and the punishments for these were more than unnecessary. The most common crime for a woman to commit was adultery, punishments were harsh for this, punishments varied from having to crawl naked through the street, to simply shaving your head, all the way to being forced to become a prostitute (keep in mind men weren't punished at all for this). For a man the most common crimes were theft and being a Christian. Theft would lead to incarceration or mutilation, if you stole from someone important it could even lead to death, being a Christian would lead to interrogation to reveal other Christians, which would then lead to being hung upside down in pits or even being thrown in a tub of snakes.
Europe
Common Crimes and Common Punishments in Medieval Europe
Common crimes in medieval Europe included murder and theft, which lead to fairly serious punishments, which varied depending on how many times you had done it, who you did it to, and your social status. Other common crimes included treason, arson and rape, however the punishments for those crimes were not as severe as those for murder and theft. Common punishments for more minor crimes included being put in the stocks for the public to ridicule you or hit you without being able to retaliate, and mutilation. Crimes for more serious yet still common crimes such as murder and theft would result in anything from mutilation (to a greater extent than mutilation for a more minor crime) to execution.
What Were the Least Common Crimes in Both Countries
Some crimes were just more common than others, but what are the others?
Least Common Crimes in Medival Japan
Japan
In Japan there were certain crimes you didn't want to commit because the punishments were quite extreme. The least common crime was speaking poorly of the Shogun, this had the same outcome as planing to overthrow or assassinate the Shogun, which was imediate execution, this was least common because people were scared of the outcome.
Least Common Crimes in Medieval Europe
Europe
If you were a peasant it would be in your best intrest to not speak poorly of your king or lord, this wouldn't lead to execution however it didn't end well. However even less common than that was heracy, the punishments for this were awful, and could lead to being tied up and thrown in a river or even being burned alive.
TOMACPRU
This source is undated, however based on the colour and the detail of the surroundings it can be assumed that this is primary. In this image we see people being punished, with a bit of research we can discover that this was the punishment for being a Christian. This source is useful for historians, authors, or anyone interested in the subject. This was possibly made to illustrate the punishments used in this time period for future reference.
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This source is undated, however based on the quality of the drawing, the colour, and the depiction of what is happening based on what we know, we can assume that it is a primary source. This source is useful for authors, historians, those generally interested in the topic, or possibly film directors. Based on what we know from some light research we can determine that this was a punishment for a minor crime. This source could possibly have been created for future reference, or possibly for personal enjoyment.
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In this picture we can see the illustration of a public beheading, with some light research we can discover that in medieval Japan death penalties were often public to try to prevent others from committing the same crime. This source is undated, however, based on the art style and the quality of the picture we can suggest that it is a primary source. This source is useful for historians, teachers, authors, or anyone else interested in the subject. This source could have possibly been created for an insight to the way of life for future generations, or possibly as a statement piece at a home.
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In this image we can see a form of punishment (some would say extreme) in medieval times. This image is undated however a lot of paintings from the time had these sort of bleached tones to them, and body figure was drawn in the way shown in the image, so we can assume this is a primary source. This source could have been made for future reference or possibly for personal use or enjoyment. This source could be useful for historians, film directors, authors, teachers, or people who are just interested in the topic.
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https://www.quora.com/What-were-the-typical-crimes-of-the-Medieval-era-and-how-were-they-punishable
Bibliography
http://year8medievaleurope.weebly.com/
https://www.worldhistory.biz/sundries/46047-ritual-murder-medieval.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_punishment_in_Edo-period_Japan#Death_penalty
https://crimereads.com/crime-and-punishment-in-shogun-japan/
http://www.criminalelement.com/crime-and-punishment-a-la-medieval-japan/
https://prezi.com/y9qwp3uwlrk4/crime-punishment-in-japan/