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The was promulgated at the enthronement of Emperor Meiji of Japan on 7 April 1868.^[1] The Oath outlined the main aims and the course of action to be followed during Emperor Meiji's reign, setting the legal stage for Japan's modernization. It remained influential, if less for governing than inspiring, throughout the Meiji era and into the twentieth century, and can be considered the first constitution of modern Japan.^[2]

Contents

Text

Origin and subsequent influence

Notes

References

Further reading

Text

As the name implies, the text of the Oath consists of five clauses:

Origin and subsequent influence

The first draft of the Oath was written by junior councilor Yuri Kimimasa in January 1868, containing progressive language that spoke to the frustrations that the radical but modestly born Meiji leaders had experienced in "service to hereditary incompetents."^[3] Yuri's language was moderated by his colleague Fukuoka Takachika in February to be "less alarming," and Kido Takayoshi prepared the final form of the Oath, employing "language broad enough to embrace both readings."^[3] The Oath was read aloud by Sanjo Sanetomi in the main ceremonial hall of the Kyoto Imperial Palace in the presence of the Emperor and more than 400 officials. The purpose of the oath was both to issue a statement of policy to be followed by the post-Tokugawa bakufu government in the Meiji period, and to offer hope of inclusion in the next regime to pro-Tokugawa domains. This second motivation was especially important in the early stages of the Restoration as a means to keep domains from joining the Tokugawa remnant in the Boshin War. Later, military victory "made it safe to begin to push court nobles and daimyo figureheads out of the way."^[5]
The promise of reform in the document initially went unfulfilled: in particular, a parliament with real power was not established until 1890, and the Meiji oligarchy from Satsuma, Chōshū, Tosa and Hizen retained political and military control well into the 20th century. In general, the Oath was purposely phrased in broad terms to minimize resistance from the daimyo and to provide "a promise of gradualism and equity:"^[6]
The Oath was reiterated as the first article of the constitution promulgated in June 1868, and the subsequent articles of that constitution expand the policies outlined in the Oath.^[7] Almost eighty years later, in the wake of the Second World War, Emperor Hirohito paid homage to the Oath and reaffirmed it as the basis of "national policy" in his famous Ningen-sengen rescript.^[8] The ostensible purpose of the rescript was to appease the American occupiers with a renunciation of imperial divinity, but the emperor himself saw it as a statement of the existence of democracy in Meiji era.^[9]

Notes

1. Keene, p. 137. Other translations are seen in the literature, such as 'Five-Article Oath' or 'Charter Oath in Five Articles'.
2. Keene, p. 340, notes that one might "describe the Oath in Five Articles as a constitution for all ages."
3. Jansen (2002), p. 338.
4. Jansen (2002), p. 338.
5. Jansen (2002), 342.
6. Jansen (2002), p. 339
7. De Bary ''et al.'', pp. 672-3.
8. De Bary ''et al''., p. 1029. Jansen (2002), p. 339.
9. Dower, 1999, pp.314, 317.

References

★ Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. II: 1600 to 2000, , William, De Bary, Columbia, 2005, ISBN 0-231-12984-X

★ Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, , John, Dower, Norton, 2000, ISBN 0393046869

★ The Making of Modern Japan, , Marius B., Jansen, Harvard, 2002, ISBN 0-674-00991-6

★ Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852–1912, , Donald, Keene, Columbia, 2005, ISBN 0-231-12340-X

★ Japanese Government Documents, , W. W., McLaren, University Publications of America, 1979, ISBN 0-313-26912-2

Further reading

★ Meiji 1868: Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Japan, , Paul, Akamatsu, Harper & Row, 1972, ISBN 0-06-010044-3

★ Foundations of Constitutional Government in Modern Japan 1868-1900, , George, Akita, Harvard, 1967, ISBN 0-674-31250-3

★ The Rise of Modern Japan: Political, Economic and Social Change Since 1850, , W. G., Beasley, St. Martin's Press, 1995, ISBN 0-312-23373-6

★ Japan in Transition: From Tokugawa to Meiji, , Marius B., Jansen, Princeton, 1986, ISBN 0-691-10245-7

★ East Asia: A New History, , Rhoades, Murphey, Addison Wesley Longman, 1997, ISBN 0-321-42141-8