Japan

Constitutional movement

Many Japanese believed that constitutions provided the unity that gave Western nations their strength. The Meiji leaders therefore sought to transform Japan in this direction. In 1868 the government experimented with a two-chamber house, which proved unworkable. Meanwhile, the emperor’s charter oath of April 1868 committed the government to establishing “deliberative assemblies” and “public discussion,” to a worldwide search for knowledge, to the abrogation of past customs, and to the pursuit by all Japanese of their individual callings.

Echoing the government’s call for greater participation were voices from below. Village leaders, who had benefited from the commercialization of agriculture in the late Tokugawa period, wanted a more participatory system that could reflect their emerging bourgeois interests. Former samurai realized that a parliamentary system might allow them to recoup their lost positions. Samurai interest was sparked by a split in the government’s inner circle over a proposed Korean invasion in 1873. At odds with Iwakura and Ōkubo, who insisted on domestic reform over risky foreign ventures, Itagaki Taisuke and several fellow samurai from Tosa and Saga left the government in protest, calling for a popularly elected assembly so that future decisions might reflect the will of the people—by which they largely meant the former samurai. Starting with self-help samurai organizations, Itagaki expanded his movement for “freedom and popular rights” to include other groups. In 1881 he organized the Liberal Party (Jiyūtō), whose members were largely wealthy farmers. In 1880 nearly 250,000 signatures were gathered on petitions demanding a national assembly.

Under these circumstances, the emperor requested the advice of his ministers on constitutional matters. Ōkuma Shigenobu, a leader from Saga, submitted a relatively liberal constitutional draft in 1881, which he published without official approval. He also revealed sensational evidence of corruption in the disposal of government assets in Hokkaido. For this he was forced out of the government’s inner circle. Ōkuma organized the Progressive Party (Kaishintō) in 1882 to further his British-based constitutional ideals, which attracted considerable support among urban business and journalistic communities.

The clamour of 1881 resulted in an imperial promise of a constitution by 1889. Meanwhile, the parties were encouraged to await its promulgation quietly. The constitution was drafted behind the scenes by a commission headed by Itō Hirobumi and aided by the German constitutional scholar Hermann Roesler. The period of its drafting coincided with an era of great economic distress in the countryside. This provided an environment in which party agitation could easily kindle direct action and violence, and several incidents of this type led to severe government reprisals and increased police controls and press restrictions. Village leaders, confronted by unruly members of their community whose land faced imminent foreclosure, became less inclined to support liberal ideas. Consequently, the parties decided to dissolve temporarily in 1884. In the interim Itagaki traveled to Europe and returned convinced more than ever of the need for national unity in the face of Western condescension.

Itō also traveled to Europe as part of the work to prepare the new constitution. In Germany he found an appropriate balance of imperial power and constitutional forms that seemed to offer modernity without sacrificing effective control. To balance a popularly elected lower house, Itō established a new European-style peerage in 1884. Government leaders, military commanders, and former daimyo were given titles and readied for future seats in a house of peers. A cabinet system, in which ministers were directly appointed by the emperor, was installed in 1885, and a Privy Council, designed to judge and safeguard the constitution, was set up in 1888. Itō became head of the council.

The constitution was formally promulgated in 1889, and elections for the lower house were held to prepare for the initial Diet (Kokkai), which met in 1890. The constitution took the form of a gracious gift from the sovereign to his people, and it could be amended only upon imperial initiative. Its provisions were couched in general terms. Rights and liberties were granted “except as regulated by law.” If the Diet refused to approve a budget, the one from the previous year could be followed. The emperor was “sacred and inviolable”; he commanded the armies, made war and peace, and dissolved the lower house at will. Effective power thus lay with the executive, which could claim to represent the imperial will. The rescript on education guaranteed that future generations would accept imperial authority without question.

Despite its antidemocratic features, the constitution provided a much greater arena for dissent and debate than had previously existed. The lower house could initiate legislation. Private property was inviolate, and freedoms, though subject to legislation, were greater than before. Even military budgets required Diet approval for increases. Initially, a tax qualification of 15 yen limited the electorate to about 500,000; this was lowered in 1900 and 1920, and in 1925 universal manhood suffrage came into effect. The government leaders found it harder to control the lower house than initially anticipated, and party leaders found it advantageous, at times, to cooperate with the oligarchs. The constitution thus basically redefined politics for both sides. It also ended the revolutionary phase of the Meiji Restoration. With the new institutions in place, the oligarchs withdrew from power and were content to maintain and conserve the ideological and political institutions they had created through their roles as elder statesmen (genrō).

The emergence of imperial Japan