A. Imperial Proclamation of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan, February 11, 1889. Having by virtue of the glories of Our Ancestors, ascended the throne of a lineal succession unbroken for ages eternal; desiring to promote the welfare of, and to give development to the moral and intellectual faculties of Our beloved subjects, the very same that have been favoured with the benevolent care and affectionate vigilance of Our Ancestors; and hoping to maintain the prosperity of the State, in concert with Our people and with their support, We hereby promulgate . . . a fundamental law of State, to exhibit the principles, by which We are to be guided in Our conduct, and to point out to what Our descendants and Our subjects and their descendants are forever to conform. The rights of sovereignty of the State, We have inherited from Our Ancestors, and We shall bequeath them to Our descendants. Neither We nor they shall in future fail to wield them in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution hereby granted. We now declare to respect and protect the security of the rights and of the property of Our people, and to secure to them the complete enjoyment of the same within the extent of the provisions of the present Constitution and of the law. The Imperial Diet shall first be convoked for the 23rd year of Meiji [1890], and the time of its opening shall be the date when the present Constitution comes into force. When in the future it may become necessary to amend any of the provisions of the present Constitution, We or our Our successors shall assume the initiative right, and submit a project for the same to the Imperial Diet. The Imperial Diet shall pass its vote upon it, according to the conditions imposed by the present Constitution, and in no otherwise shall Our descendants or Our subjects be permitted to attempt any alteration thereof. Our Ministers of State, on Our behalf, shall be held responsible for the carrying out of the present Constitution, and Our present and future subjects shall forever assume the duty of allegiance to the present Constitution. B. The Constitution of the Empire of Japan Chapter I. The Emperor Article I. The Empire of Japan shall be reigned over and governed by a line of Emperors unbroken for ages eternal. Article II. The Imperial Throne shall be succeeded to by Imperial male descendants, according to the provisions of the Imperial House Law. Article III. The Emperor is sacred and inviolable. Article IV. The Emperor is the head of the Empire, combining in Himself the rights of sovereignty, and exercises them according to the provisions of the present Constitution. Article V. The Emperor exercises the legislative power with the consent of the Imperial Diet. Article XI. The Emperor has the supreme command of the Army and Navy. Chapter II. Rights and Duties of Subjects Article XVIII. The conditions necessary for being a Japanese subject shall be determined by law. Article XXI. Japanese subjects are amenable to the duty of paying taxes, according to the provisions of law. Article XXIV. No Japanese subject shall be deprived of his right of being tried by the judges determined by law. Article XXVIII. Japanese subjects shall, within limits not prejudicial to peace and order, and not antagonistic to their duties as subjects, enjoy freedom of religious belief. Article XXIX. Japanese subjects shall within the limits of law enjoy the liberty of speech, writing, publication, public meetings, and associations.Chapter III. The Imperial Diet Article XXXIII. The Imperial Diet shall consist of two Houses, a House of Peers and a House of Representatives. Article XXXV. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members elected by the people, according to the provisions of the Law of Election. Article XXXVIII. Both Houses shall vote upon projects of law submitted to it by the Government, and may respectively initiate projects of law.Chapter IV. The Ministers of State and the Privy Council Article LV. The respective Ministers of State shall give their advice to the Emperor and be responsible for it. Context. The crowning political achievement of Japan’s late 1800s was the promulgation on February 11, 1889 of the Meiji constitution, a document that made Japan the first constitutional nation in Asia. While the constitution placed sovereignty squarely—and solely—in the emperor, it created a national legislature (Diet), established an independent judicial system, and gave citizens fundamental legal rights that they never before had had. It made democratic elections not only possible but likely. The Meiji constitution remained in effect until 1947, when a far more liberal document was adopted under the pressure of Japan’s postwar occupation forces.Questions. 1. Describe the role of the emperor in the Meiji Constitution: both in granting the constitution (as stated in the preamble) and in governing the country. In what ways did the Constitution place limits on his role? 2. What powers were given to the Japanese people in the Constitution, and how were their powers and rights restricted? 3. What features of the constitution might account for the lively growth of democracy in the decades after its promulgation? What other features might have made it possible for democracy to be curtailed in later years?Terms. 1. Ministers of State (Preamble, Article 55). This refers to the cabinet members, who stood outside the legislative system. 2. Imperial Diet (Articles 5, Chapter 3). The phrase by which the Japanese national legislature (kokkai) is most often translated into English. 3. Imperial Male Descendants. No legal provisions prevented women from ruling in Japan until 1889; indeed, numerous women served as emperor in Japan’s early centuries. The Meiji constitution changed that (Article 2), limiting the throne’s occupants to males—a practice that has continued to the present. 4. Freedoms and liberties. While allowing for legal restrictions, Articles 28 and 29 established the basic principle of free speech, religion, and assembly. 5. House of Peers (Article 33). Using European models, the constitution drafters created an upper house of the Diet, which was appointed from the ranks of Japan’s nobility. Source. The Meiji Japan Through Contemporary Sources. Vol. 1. Tokyo: Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies, 1969, 93-105 (official translation). Printable PDF Addtional Resources.
With Emperor Meiji’s ascension to the throne in 1867, Japan theoretically restored power to the emperor, but because he was only 15 years old he had little governing power. Instead, the power rested with the new government consisting of a small, close-knit cabinet of advisers. This new cabinet immediately began implementing a series of reforms to both strengthen and unify Japan. One of their largest concerns was that Japan would not be able to regain its sovereignty if it did not modernize. With the recent display of the superior armament of the United States military with Commodore Perry in 1853, such concerns were not unfounded. The goals of the early leaders of the Meiji era were ambitious, as they established new economic, political, and social institutions that governed Japan through World War II. The majority of these reforms were greatly influenced by the West, but they never deviated significantly from Japan’s cultural and historical roots. Perhaps most dramatically, it abolished the old system of a social hierarchy based on inherited status. For example, samurai, who historically were recognized as a warrior class, could now be farmers and engage in trade and commerce, and townspeople could now join Japan’s new army. The Meiji government communicated these changes to the country by publishing the Charter Oath in 1868. This brief document outlined the intentions and policies of the new government and laid the foundation for all the reforms that would follow in the coming decades. The original text is believed to have been written by Yuri Kimimasa, an official of thefiefof Fukui.
Many early Meiji reformers believed such reforms were necessary for achieving diplomatic equality and military strength and to begin building a path toward democracy. The motto of the era was “Enrich the Country and Strengthen the Military” and at the helm of this effort was Emperor Meiji. He embraced these efforts both in practice and in appearance. He wore Western-style military clothing, styled his hair in a Western manner, and grew a kaiser mustache. The pervasive philosophy of “Civilization and Enlightenment” impacted social policy throughout Japan and aspired to “correct” Japanese culture and to cultivate the idea of “civilizing” the nation. For example, officials outlawed mixed bathing and excessive exposure of flesh in public. Government officials also consolidated power among an elite band of oligarchs. They formed a close circle around the emperor and advised him on everything. Their first priorities included implementing land tax reforms and military conscription to strengthen the government. Over the next four decades, the emperor and his oligarchs made education compulsory and invested in everything from banks to railroads to modern printing presses that increased newspaper circulation. The military adopted Western-style weapons and uniforms and took steps toward new models of military education. Some Japanese remained unaware of the changes taking place while others remained directly opposed to them. All of these changes, however, caused tremendous upheaval for a people ruled by a warrior class for centuries. None of these far-reaching reforms were put into place overnight. The ideas for the reforms largely came about as a result of trips that Japanese officials took to the United States and Europe. Five years after the emperor was restored to the throne, Meiji adviser Iwakura Tomomi led a delegation of nearly 50 government officials on an 18-month diplomatic mission to Europe and the United States. Iwakura understood that Japan would maintain sovereignty only if it embraced a certain degree of modernization. The objectives of the Iwakura Mission, as it came to be known, were twofold: to hold preliminary discussions on a revision of the “unequal treaties” signed with the Western imperial powers beginning in the 1850s and to observe and study the public and private institutions of these Western powers. While Iwakura and his delegates were largely unsuccessful in renegotiating the provisions of the treaties, they were impressed by the culture and institutions of the West and brought back many ideas for the reforming of schools and universities, factories, power plants, cultural life, the police, military, and government. One member of the delegation was the statesman Ito Hirobumi. He documented everything, from currency systems to education and technology. Ito observed the role that the constitutions of various nations played in guiding the conduct and institutions of the nations he visited. After studying the Prussian and Austrian constitutions, Ito, Japanese leaders, and Western scholars began drafting the Meiji Constitution in 1881. Eight years later it was promulgated.2The document defined the roles and responsibilities of the emperor, the rights and obligations of all Japanese citizens, and the establishment of government institutions such as the Diet (Japanese legislature) and the judiciary. In essence, the rule of law became institutionalized in Japan. In order to maintain a link between past and present, essential to the preservation of order, the framers of the Meiji Constitution maintained the imperial system while becoming a modern nation-state. In fact, the day chosen for the Meiji emperor to announce the constitution to the Japanese people was February 11, 1889, the anniversary of the ascension of Jinmu, the mythical and purportedly first emperor of Japan, to the throne 2,349 years earlier.3 Excerpts of the preamble and several articles of the constitution highlighting these changes in Japan are included below:
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What was the Meiji Constitution
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