Kaoru Nakada Legal historian of the Meiji to Showa periods, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo. Born: March 1, 1877 Died: November 21, 1967 Birthplace: Kagoshima Prefecture Education: Graduated from the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law, Tokyo Imperial University (1900), Graduate School of Tokyo Imperial University (specializing in Japanese legal history and comparative legal history) Degree: Doctor of Law (1910) Major Awards: Order of Culture (1946), Person of Cultural Merit (1951) Career: Assistant Professor at Tokyo Imperial University in 1902, studied in the UK, Germany, and France in 1908, returned to Japan and became a professor in 1911, in charge of the legal history course. He achieved great results in legal history, including "The Lineage of Japanese Shoen." He became a member of the Imperial Academy in 1925. He retired in 1937 and became a professor emeritus. After the war, he was a member of the House of Peers in 1946 and received the Order of Culture. His publications include "Collected Essays on Legal History" (4 volumes), "Private Law Seen in the Literature of the Tokugawa Period," "Studies on Shoen," and "Studies on Villages and Common Lands." I think his works are still essential reading if you want to study private law.