Preamble

An opening passage, before the first article, saying what the law is for and what it rests on. Few Japanese laws have one; the Constitution of Japan (日本国憲法) does, and its four paragraphs are where popular sovereignty, the renunciation of war and the right to live in peace are stated. A preamble is part of the law and is cited like any other part — the Preamble, paragraph (1) (前文第一項) is its first paragraph — but it states purposes rather than rules, so it is not on its own the source of a right a court enforces.