In the Kojiki, Japan’s oldest chronicle, the sun goddess Amaterasu hides in the Rock Cave of Heaven. Yaoyorozu no kami, Ame no Yasu no kawara ni kamutsudoi tsudoite. The eight million gods gather in assembly in the dry bed of the river Yasu in heaven.
There they ask Omoikane, the god of wisdom, to think out a plan.
On April 6, 1868, Emperor Meiji presented the Charter Oath at the imperial palace in Kyoto, before the court nobles and the feudal lords. It was sworn to heaven, earth and the gods. Its first article reads: Hiroku kaigi o okoshi banki kōron ni kessu beshi. Assemblies shall be widely established, and all matters shall be decided by public discussion.
In 1225, during the regency of Hōjō Yasutoki, the Kamakura shogunate set up the hyōjōshū, a council. With the regent and his co-signer present, the council deliberated important matters of law and government and decided lawsuits.
In 1232, the shogunate issued the Goseibai Shikimoku, a code of law for the warrior class.
In 1988, the historian Kasaya Kazuhiko published Shukun “oshikome” no kōzō, The Structure of the Lord’s Confinement. It won the Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities. The book describes oshikome, a practice of Edo-period domains.
When a lord ruled badly, his senior retainers agreed among themselves to confine him and give him time to reform. If he did not, they retired him and installed another lord. The prize citation notes that the practice was widely accepted as legitimate and was usually carried out peacefully.
In 2014, the second cabinet of Abe Shinzō created the Naikaku jinjikyoku, the Cabinet Bureau of Personnel Affairs. It gave politicians the initiative in the appointment of senior officials.
The news site nippon.com reports both views of the change. Some observe that officials, with their promotions at stake, began to watch the reactions of politicians. The same article notes that open interference in appointments by zoku giin, lawmakers tied to a policy field, and by influential former officials has faded.
Honda describes waigaya as a culture of its own. People discuss dreams or what their work should be, nenrei ya shokui ni torawarezu, without regard to age or position. The name imitates the sound of a noisy discussion.
Honda adds that waigaya is not a place for compromise and adjustment in order to reach agreement. It is a place to clash opinions in earnest, honki de honne de, and create new value.
Sontaku (忖度) means to infer what is in another person’s mind. In 2017, it shared the grand prize of the annual buzzword award, the Shingo Ryūkōgo Taishō, with insuta-bae, looking good on Instagram.
For the award, the word stood for the Moritomo and Kake Gakuen issues, in which officials were said to have anticipated the wishes of the prime minister’s office. Testifying in the Diet, the chairman of the Moritomo Gakuen school operator said: Sontaku shita no deshō. They probably showed sontaku. The prize was accepted by the president of a company that sold sontaku manjū, sweet buns.
The Seventeen-Article Constitution, which the Nihon Shoki dates to 604 and credits to Prince Shōtoku, ends with this rule: Sore koto wa hitori sadamu bekarazu. Kanarazu shū to agetsurau beshi. Matters should not be decided by one person alone. They must always be discussed with others.
Its first article opens with a related idea. Harmony is to be valued, and avoiding opposition is to be the principle. Other early sources date the text to 602 or 605.
A ringi-sho is a proposal drafted at the lower levels of an organization and passed in turn to the relevant departments and sections. Each manager adds a personal seal, the hanko. Approval builds up level by level, and final approval rests with the head of the organization.
The political scientist Tsuji Kiyoaki studied the system in Japanese government. He criticized it because it spreads responsibility across many seals.
Nemawashi (根回し): going around the roots. In gardening, cutting the spreading roots of a tree one or two years before it is moved, so that fine new roots grow. At work, preparing a negotiation or meeting in advance so that it goes smoothly.
Sannin yoreba Monju no chie (三人寄れば文殊の知恵): when three people gather, they have the wisdom of Monju. Ordinary people who consult together in a group of three produce excellent ideas. Monju is the bodhisattva of wisdom.
Rentai sekinin (連帯責任): joint responsibility. A whole group answers for what one of its members did.