Genealogy - Keizu (English spelling)

Japanese: 系図 - けいず（英語表記）genealogy

A diagram of a genealogy that clarifies blood ties, as well as inheritance of property, status, and arts and sciences. (1) In Japan, there are two types: (a) Those that show the continuation of blood ties. There are two ways of writing them. The oldest are called vertical genealogy, in which the lines are written from top to bottom, and the paper is joined together at the bottom. The oldest surviving genealogy is said to be the Wake Genealogy (Daishi Genealogy), the Shukube Genealogy, and the Iyo Arai Family Genealogy, which were created around the 9th to 10th century. In later times, the most common type is called horizontal genealogy, in which parent-child relationships are connected by vertical lines and sibling relationships by horizontal lines, written from right to left, and the paper is joined together horizontally. Various methods of drawing lines, adding vermilion dots, and the order in which official titles and names are written have been devised, and the notation has become very complicated. In the Kamakura period, many different lineages of both aristocrats and samurai were established and each took pride in their lineage, but these were not well organized. During the Muromachi period, Toin Kinsada collected and revised genealogies for four of Japan's most representative clans: the Minamoto, Taira, Fujiwara, and Tachibana, to create a large genealogy entitled "Sonpi Bunmyaku." The Edo Shogunate compiled genealogies of various feudal lord families, such as "Kan'ei Shoka Keizuden" and "Kansei Shoshu Shokafu." The Imperial family genealogy is known as "Honcho Koin Shounroku." In Korea, the creation of genealogies was particularly popular since the Joseon Dynasty (the Yi Dynasty) in order to maintain the clan-like family system. (b) Examples of genealogies other than those of blood ties include the lineage of the transmission of the law, the lineage of succession of Buddhist relics, the lineage of religious sects, the lineage of the head priests and abbots of various temples, the lineage of the Doto-ka of waka poetry, the lineage of the succession of the biwa, and the lineage of inheritance of manors as property. (2) The most primitive and simple form of genealogy in the West is found in ancient myths and heroic epics, in which tribes and regions are often personified, for example in the history of the Israelites (Old Testament). It was during the Middle Ages, when maintaining and asserting feudal "privileges" became essential within the customary law order, that genealogies with a specific meaning were established. Both royal and aristocratic families and religious organizations such as monasteries actively created genealogies, even forging them if necessary. This situation would continue into modern times as long as the system of privileges persisted, but since the Renaissance, critical study of genealogy began with the development of philology, and in the 18th and 19th centuries, genealogy was established as an auxiliary science to history, and many accurate collections of genealogies were published.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

血縁関係をはじめ，財産，地位，学芸などの継承関係などを明らかにする系譜を図式の形で表現したもの。 (1) 日本では次の2種類に分けられる。 (a) 血縁の継続関係を示すもの。その表記法に2種類ある。古いものは竪 (たて) 系図と称し，上から順次下に書き継ぎ，紙を下につなぎ合せていく。9～10世紀頃にできた『和気系図』 (大師系図) ，『祝部系図』『伊予新井氏系図』などが現存最古のものといわれる。後世，最も普及したものは横系図と称し，親子関係を縦線，兄弟姉妹関係を横線でつなぎ，表記も右から左へ，紙も横長につなぎ合せるもので，線の引き方，朱点の加え方，官途，名のりの書き順など種々に工夫され，表記法は非常に複雑化した。鎌倉時代になると，貴族，武士ともに諸流濫立しておのおのの世系を誇ったが，よく整理されたものではない。室町時代に洞院 (とういん) 公定が，日本の代表的な氏族である源平藤橘の4氏について系図を収集，校定して『尊卑分脈』と題する一大系図を作成した。江戸幕府は『寛永諸家系図伝』『寛政重修諸家譜』などの諸大名家の系図を編纂した。なお，皇室系図には『本朝皇胤紹運録』がある。朝鮮では朝鮮王朝 (李氏朝鮮) 以来，氏族的家族制度の維持のため，系図の作成が特に盛んであった。 (b) 血縁関係以外の系図には，宗教上の系統を示す伝法血脈，仏舎利継承系図，宗派図，諸寺院の別当，住持などの系図，学芸面における和歌の道統歌，琵琶の相承系図，財産としての荘園所領の相続を示す伝領系図などがある。 (2) 西洋での系図の最も原初的で素朴な形は，古代の神話や英雄叙事詩などに見出され，そこでは，たとえばイスラエル民族の歴史 (旧約聖書) の場合のごとく種族や地方が人格化されていることが多い。固有の意味の系図が成立するのは，とりわけ，慣習法秩序のなかで封建的な「特権」を維持，主張することが本質的な意味をもつようになった中世においてであり，王侯貴族の家門も修道院などの宗教団体も，盛んに系図をつくり，必要とあらばその偽造も辞さなかった。特権のシステムが存続するかぎり，近代になってもこの状態は続くが，ルネサンス以来，文献学の発達とともに系図に対する批判的な研究が始り，18～19世紀には，歴史学の補助科学としての系譜学が成立をみるにいたり，正確な系図集成も多く刊行された。

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