meiji constitution
Zachary Thomas
HIST 285
The Meiji Constitution and the Western Challenge
A modern constitution was the bedrock upon which Japan could build its modern industrialized state. The document, named for the newly “restored” emperor served as the legal basis for a state which would rapidly evolve in the decades beyond its drafting in 1889 until American occupation nullified the old order in 1945. The Meiji constitution was similar to the other events of Meiji’s restoration because it copied elements of the western tradition while adapting to Japan’s uniquely Asian self-identity. This period of rapid transition from thousands of years of feudal tradition into a powerful state created profound new questions about what kind of power Japan would become. Meiji’s constitution reflects an identity crisis between the promising ideals of modernity and the familiar tone of an ancestral past. The Meiji period is called a “restoration” because of the constitutional language set forth by Ito Hirobumi, which reestablishes the Emperor as the ultimate authority in Japanese politics. The paradox of the Meiji constitution is that even though it contains the basic principle of a liberal constitution: that the government it creates is subject to laws consented by the people, the status of the emperor as the sovereign executor of this popular will leads to an authoritarian state. Therefore, the Meiji constitution represents a confounding synthesis of western constitutional theory and classical Japanese filial loyalty to a strong emperor, the father of the nation state. Similarly, the Meiji constitution’s strong centralization of authority with the emperor and the oligarchical political elite facilitated the growth of militaristic and nationalist ideals within the masses, aiding japan in its pursuit of militarism and imperialism in east Asia.
Brief Pluralism
As restoration swept the nation, clamors for a constitution became deafening. The intellectual debates of the early 1880’s were
HIST 285
The Meiji Constitution and the Western Challenge
A modern constitution was the bedrock upon which Japan could build its modern industrialized state. The document, named for the newly “restored” emperor served as the legal basis for a state which would rapidly evolve in the decades beyond its drafting in 1889 until American occupation nullified the old order in 1945. The Meiji constitution was similar to the other events of Meiji’s restoration because it copied elements of the western tradition while adapting to Japan’s uniquely Asian self-identity. This period of rapid transition from thousands of years of feudal tradition into a powerful state created profound new questions about what kind of power Japan would become. Meiji’s constitution reflects an identity crisis between the promising ideals of modernity and the familiar tone of an ancestral past. The Meiji period is called a “restoration” because of the constitutional language set forth by Ito Hirobumi, which reestablishes the Emperor as the ultimate authority in Japanese politics. The paradox of the Meiji constitution is that even though it contains the basic principle of a liberal constitution: that the government it creates is subject to laws consented by the people, the status of the emperor as the sovereign executor of this popular will leads to an authoritarian state. Therefore, the Meiji constitution represents a confounding synthesis of western constitutional theory and classical Japanese filial loyalty to a strong emperor, the father of the nation state. Similarly, the Meiji constitution’s strong centralization of authority with the emperor and the oligarchical political elite facilitated the growth of militaristic and nationalist ideals within the masses, aiding japan in its pursuit of militarism and imperialism in east Asia.
Brief Pluralism
As restoration swept the nation, clamors for a constitution became deafening. The intellectual debates of the early 1880’s were
Bibliography: Beckmann, George M. The Making of the Meiji Constitution: The Oligarchs and the Constitutional Development of Japan, 1868-1891. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas, 1957. Ito, Hirobumi. Commentaries on the Constitution of the Empire of Japan: Transl. by Miyoji Ito. Nachdr.d.2.ed.Tokio 1906. ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Pr., 1978.