Hō to bungaku: prolegomeni per uno studio di diritto e letteratura in contesto giapponese

In recent years, studies on Law and Literature experienced a true boom. Once an almost esoteric niche, now they became a fundamental component in many law curricula: they are even the pivotal point of some specific programs. In the United States, this field of study reached an extremely advanced level of sophistication, developing into Law in Literature, Law as Literature, and Literature as Law. No comparable development may be seen in Japan. This paper moves on two levels: the first, methodological, describes tools for legal and literary analysis necessary to apply with reference to Japan categories developed in the America socio-legal environment. The second is composed by a series of examples of how those instruments may operate when applied to literary visions from the inside (i.e. Japanese law as described by Japanese writers), outside (by foreign writers), diachronic (in historical perspective) and synchronic (in contemporary perspective).