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The Meiji Constitution in Practice: The First Diet
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2011
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The problem of historical explanation is presently engaging the deep interest of philosophers of history. Accepting the view that writing history partakes of the artistic in that the same material may be used, with controls, to support different conclusions, we will attempt to reevaluate certain premises on the early nature of parliamentary government under the Meiji Constitution. To facilitate the discussion, however, we should first present the traditional views on the development of parliamentary government prior to and soon after the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution.
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References
1 See, e.g., Mandelbaum, Maurice, “Historical Explanation: The Problem of ‘Covering Laws,’” History and Theory, Studies in the Philosophy of History, I (1961), 229–242.Google Scholar
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4 Ōtsu Junichirō, the author of the classic, Dai Nihon kensei shi [Japanese Constitutional History], was elected from Ibaraki prefecture. He divides the “quasi-government party” votes as follows: Taiseikai, 79 and Kokumin Jiyūtō, 5. There were 45 Independents. Ōtsu, Dai Nikon kensei shi, III (Tokyo, 1927–1928), 542Google Scholar. An extremely helpful source for determining party affiliations is the “Dai ikkai Teikoku Gikai yori dai kyūjunikai Teikoku Gikai ni itaru shūgiin tōseki roku” (“A Record of the Party Affiliations of Members of the House of Representatives from the First to the Ninety-second Diets”), compiled by the Shūgiin Jimukyoku (Tokyo, 1957).
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9 Oka, Gikai, pp. 46–49Google Scholar; Tokutomi, , Matsukata, II, 355Google Scholar. See also, Kikuo, Nakamura, “Shoki gikai to Hoshi Tōru” (Hoshi Tōru and the Early Sessions of the Diet”), Hōgaku kenkyū, XXVII (02 1954), 13–14Google Scholar. A series of three, Nakamura's articles present a readable background of the first through the fifth sessions of the Diet.
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15 Itō was at this time president of the House of Peers. He was clearly unwilling to serve as the president. See Kaneko, , Itō, II, 702–732Google Scholar. Itō's attitude underscores the growing antagonism between Itō and Yamagata. In a letter written to Nakai Hiroshi at the time of his acceptance, Itō complained: “Although I greatly deplore stepping forward as president, we have exhausted all possibilities for a compromise solution and the only (other) alternative is to open a major (political) fight. I would like to have you look with sympathy upon the unavoidable situation mentioned above.” Quoted in Kaneko, , itō, II, 731.Google Scholar
16 Brilliant, dynamic, highly controversial, and certainly one of the handsomest men in Meiji public life, Itō Miyoji served Itō long and well. Like Inoue Kowashi, Itō Miyoji eventually drifted away from Itō, but at this time, was one of Itō's closest confidants. Itō Miyoji is discussed in a series of nine articles in Chūō kōron, XXXII (07, 1917)Google Scholar, under the general title, “Seikai no hyōmen ni noridashite kita Itō Miyoji shi” (“Count Itō Miyoji's ‘Reappearance’ on the Political Scene”).
17 Letter from Itō Miyoji to Itō, dated February 13, 1891, in Itō Hirobumi, compiler, Hisho ruisan: Takoku Gikai shiryō [Classified Collection of Private Papers: Materials on the Imperial Diet], I (Tokyo, 1934), 180Google Scholar. In this letter, Itō Miyoji is repeating back to Itō what he reported to Yamagata as Itō's original outburst. Hara Kei supports Itō's views. “Of late, the government's attitude toward the Diet has been extremely confused and its policy pronouncements have always been ill-timed. There is much room for concern about the future. Mutsu [Munemitsu] got up from his sick bed to visit Yamagata to discuss problems, but he still doesn't know what the government's policies are.” Hara, Nikki, I 522.Google Scholar
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23 Quoted in Shimbun shūsei Meiji hennen shi [A Meiji Chronological History Compiled from Newspapers], ed. Nakayama Yasumasa, VIII (Tokyo, 1934–1936), 35.Google Scholar
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25 See, e.g., Tokumi, Kojima, “Meiji Taishō seitō hattatsushi” (“A Discourse on the Development of Political Parties in the Meiji and Taishō Eras”), Taiyō, XXXIII (03 1927), 86Google Scholar; Ōtsu, Kensei shi, III, 597Google Scholar; Takeshige, Kudō, Meiji kensei shi [Meiji Constitutional History], I (Tokyo, 1922) 355–356Google Scholar; Scalapino, , Democracy and the Party Movement, 157Google Scholar and footnote 23.
26 Oka, Gikai, p. 68Google Scholar. See also, Hakuai, Saiga, Ōe Tenya denki [Biography of Ōe Tenya] (Tokyo, 1926), pp. 572–576Google Scholar. There seems to be one piece of indirect evidence that bribery may have been used sometime during the first session. In a letter to Itō, dated December 12, probably in 1891, Mutsu speaks of “the customary method of corruption” with which the government hopes to inveigle the Diet members, and Mutsu expressed fears that this method would prove effective “in this session.” Quoted in Itō ke monjo [The Itō Papers] unpubl. LII, 190a.
27 Sec letter from Mutsu to Matsukata, dated February 24, 1891, quoted in Tokutomi, Matsukata, II, 370Google Scholar; Seizaburō, Shlnobu, Mutsu Munemitsu (Tokyo, 1938), p. 195Google Scholar. See also, Ōtsu, Kensei shi, III, 596.Google Scholar
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30 Article LXIV, quoted in Quigley and Turner, The New Japan, p. 420.Google Scholar
31 Itō appears to have contradicted himself when he ordered the consecutive dissolutions of the 5th and the 6th sessions of the Diet. These dissolutions were only indirectly related to contitutional questions. Japan at this time was on the verge of realizing treaty revision. The opposition was making matters uncomfortable for the government by attacking it for “weakness” in the face of foreign governments. Itō, therefore, had to show the foreign governments dramatically that he was master in his own house.
32 Letter dated December 14, 1890, quoted in Hackett, , “Yamagata,” pp. 220–221.Google Scholar
33 “Mainly as a result of the Sino-Japanese War and the growing armament and colonial enterprises which followed in its wake, the expenditures of the national government tripled from 1893 to 1903.” Lockwood, William W., The Economic Development of Japan, Growth and Structural Change 1868–1938 (Princeton, 1954), p. 35Google Scholar. Cf. the problem of the Tokugawa rulers as described by John W. Hall with the budget problem faced by the Meiji oligarchs. Hall, Tanuma Okitsugu: Forerunner of Modern Japan (Cambridge, Mass., 1955), pp. 5–6Google Scholar. Even without an expanding budget, the government would suffer if a budget was not passed by the Diet and the previous year's budget had to be used. This argument was made by Miura Katsundo, another participant in the first session. His reasoning was: The Finance Law strictly stipulates that the respective ministries cannot spend money for any other purpose than for that which the money was specifically appropriated. The aims and structure of each year's budget differ from year to year, and that which is considered important one year may not be in another year. Hence the government, when it chooses or is forced to use the previous year's budget, will often find that it will have money to spare for activities it considers not vital while it faces fiscal starvation for critical projects. See his “Zennendo no yosan wo shikkō suru rigai” (“The Pros and Cons of Carrying Over the Previous Year's Budget”), in Dai ikki kokkai shimatsu, pp. 89–98.Google Scholar
34 See, e.g., views of McLaren, Walter W., A Political History of Japan During the Meiji Era, 1867–1912 (London, 1916), p. 212Google Scholar; Reischauer, Robert K., Japan, Government-Politics (New York, 1939), p. 112Google Scholar; Kametarō, Hayashida, Ninon seitō shi [A History of Japanese Political Parties], I (Tokyo, 1927), 383.Google Scholar
35 Ike, Nobutaka, The Beginnings of Political Democracy in Japan (Baltimore, 1950), p. 188Google Scholar. Scalapino tends toward this point of view, though less positively. For example, he cites Suzuki Anzō's view that the nine years between the announcement that a Constitution would be granted and the actual promulgation gave the government nine vital years “to mold die interpretation of the document so as to freeze the status quo.” Scalapino, Democracy and the Party Movement, pp. 86–87Google Scholar, footnote 129. See also his comments, pp. 86–87, 149–151. Cf. Scalapino, Robert A. and Masumi, Junnosuke, Parties and Politics in Contemporary Japan (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1962), p. 13.Google Scholar
36 Japan Weekly Mail, 04 20, 1889, p. 380Google Scholar. Fukuzawa Yukichi also was of the opinion diat party cabinets were inevitable, particularly after “second generation” statesmen who could not boast of meritorious services to their country took over from the oligarchs. See, Zoku Fukuzawa zenshū [Collected Works of Fukuzawa, Second Series], ed. Shigeo, Iwanami, II (Tokyo, 1933), 617–619Google Scholar. See also, Japan Weekly Mail, 06 14, 1890, p. 613Google Scholar; and May 2, 1891, p. 511, quoting articles from the Jiji: Shimpō.
37 Japan Weekly Mail, 01 24, 1891, p. 86Google Scholar, quoting the Hōchi Shimbun.
38 Kalō Seinosuke, describing a period slightly later than the time under consideration, recalled: “Those who belonged to government parties were extremely unpopular. There were incredible stories to the effect that [members of government parties] would wait for dark and cover their heads with hoods when they visited a state minister's residence. Even those who were disinterested felt sorry for the way government party men were rejected by the people.” Quoted in Itō Hirobumi Hiroku [Private Papers of Itō Hirobumi], ed. Atsushi, Hiratsuka, (Tokyo, 1929), p. 122Google Scholar. On June 25, 1892, Hara Kei was asked to join the Kokumin Kyōkai, a quasi-government party. Hara refused on the ground that, “these parties never succeed.” Hara, Nikki, II (a), 45Google Scholar. For other comments on the status of government parties in the eyes of the public, see Ōkuma Shigenobu, “Nihon no seitō” (“Japanese Political Parties”) in Meiji kensei keizai shi ron [Discourses on Meiji Constitutional and Economic History] (Tokyo, 1919), p. 140Google Scholar; Anzō, Suzuki, Jiyū minken undō shi [A History of the Movement for Parliamentary Government] (Tokyo, 1948), p. 90.Google Scholar
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49 “Since this was the first constitutional régime not conducted by the white race, and because this [was destined] to destroy the proud boast that only the white race was capable of carrying out constitutional government, a seriousness [in making the experiment succeed] permeated the entire nation, so as to prevent being laughed at by foreigners.” Takeki, Osatake, Meiji Taishō seiji shi kōtva [Lectures on the Political History of the Meiji and Taishō Eras] (Tokyo, 1943), p. 90.Google Scholar
50 The Hōchi Shimbun's statement on the subject is representative: “Is not this a circumstance of which we may well be proud before all the countries of the world? … It is memorable … that we have been able to receive the light of constitutional government before every other nation in the Orient. It is memorable … that we have been able to demonstrate that the parliamentary system is not indigeneous (sic) to Europe and America alone, and that it can be introduced without shedding a drop of blood.” Quoted in Japan Weekly Mail, 12 6, 1890, p. 558Google Scholar. See also Itō's speech in the House of Peers, 1891, quoted in Kaneko, Itō, II, 741–742Google Scholar; Itō's speech at Ōtsu, 1898, quoted in Japan Weekly Mail, 05 4, 1898, p. 432.Google Scholar
51 It should be re-emphasized that the party leaders, as much as the oligarchs, felt that in the national interest constitutional government had to be made workable. See, Jansen, Marius, Sakamoto Ryōma and the Meiji Restoration (Princeton, 1961), p. 368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
52 Kaneko was another of Itō's intimate supporters, and, with Inoue Kowashi and Itō Miyoji, closely connected with the drafting of the Meiji Constitution. He studied law at Harvard from October, 1876 to November, 1878. A promising young bureaucrat, Kaneko was working for Terajima Munenori in the Genrō-in when he first came to Itō's attention. Kaneko had drawn up a long list of questions on specific constitutional problems, probably to embarrass Itō, who was in Europe. The fact that Itō did not let this deter him from appointing talent where he found it is typical of him.
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55 Quoted in Takeki, Osatake, Nikon Kensei shi no kenkyū [Studies in Japanese Constitutional History] (Tokyo, 1943), p. 330Google Scholar. Ōkuma Shigenobu agrees. He says, “The impetus for the idea that some day Japan must have a constitutional government can be ultimately traced to foreign policy.” Ōkuma Shigenobu, “Seikai no han-ei” (“On the Political World”), Taiyō, XIII (1907), 161.Google Scholar
56 The Kobe Weekly Chronicle, editorializing on the suggestion made later in the decade by Katsura Tarō that the Constitution be suspended, wrote: “Such a course would almost certainly mean the indefinite postponement of Treaty Revision, and in die view of Japanese of all shades of opinion, everything must be subordinated to the consummation of Japan's ambition in this respect.” July 2, 1898, pp. 577–578. See also, Tokio, Kimura, “Fukuzawa Yukichi no Meiji kempō kan” (Fukuzawa Yukichi's Views on the Meiji Constitution”), Shikan (06 1953) p. 48Google Scholar; Itō ke monjo, VII, 420a–420b.
57 In a letter to Itō, Inoue Kaoru cautioned Itō against carelessly mentioning Yamagata's “weak points” in “light banter with followers and others,” because there was a possibility of misunderstanding when this got back to Yamagata. Letter dated June 13, 1892, in Itō ke monjo, XVI, 388b.Google Scholar
58 Ozaki Yukio had this to say about the relationship between the two men: “They constantly fought each other, and there was unending friction. Friends on the surface, bitter enemies below the surface … [One day] Yamagata and I were reminiscing. Yamagata was using extremely honorific terminology with a great deal of feeling. I thought that he was speaking about the former Emperor. However, on listening closely, I was surprised to note that Yamagata was talking about a clash with Itō. He must have used honorific language on purpose to convey a sense of ridicule.” Yukio, Ozaki, Minken tōsō shichijūnen [My Seventy-Year Struggle for Democracy] (Tokyo, 1952), pp. 33–34.Google Scholar
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60 “The friction within the Meiji government stemmed from the propensity of cabinet members to feudalistically adhere to their own spheres of influence. This was the situation since the Restoration. The aim of the cabinet system created by Itō was to unify and strengthen the cabinet and to eliminate these conflicts. However, because [Itō] merely created it to give the government a modern appearance without infusing it with a democratic foundation, he was unable to root out this deeply entrenched tendency toward factionalism.” Shisō, Hattori and Yoshinaga, Irimajiri, Kindai Nihon jimbutsu seiji shi [A Political History of Modern Japan as Seen Through the Personalities Involved], I (Tokyo, 1955–1956), 180.Google Scholar
61 Oka states that the fact that Yamagata asked Ito Miyoji to soften the text of the February 16th speech indicates that Yamagata was hopeful for an amicable solution (Oka, Gikai, p. 66Google Scholar). Tokutomi says that Matsukata from the beginning wanted to compromise (Tokutomi, , Matsukata, II, 368Google Scholar). And as stated earlier, Itō encouraged compromise on the budget issue.
62 Suzuki, , jiyū minken, pp. 233–235Google Scholar; see also, Taku, Ōe, “Seikai kaiko dan” (“Recollections of the Political World”), Taiyō, XIII (02 1907), 175–176Google Scholar. Mutsu Munemitsu, always close with those in this group, also gave the same rationale for joining the governments—see Renzan, Maeda, Hoshi Tōru den [A Biography of Hoshi Tōru] (Tokyo, 1948), pp. 201–202, 230.Google Scholar
63 Japan Chronicle, 11 4, 1909, p. 805Google Scholar. “Ōkuma always said that Itō was a coward. I do not know whether Itō was a coward, but he was extremely prudent, thorough and conciliatory. He hated to do things by fighting with people.… He tried to accomplish everything with as much harmony as possible.” Watanabe Ikujirō, Meiji shi kenkyū [Studies in Meiji History] (Tokyo, 1944), p. 165.Google Scholar
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65 Japan Weekly Mail, 04 20, 1889, p. 381.Google Scholar
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