Early 20th c. Political Evolution

Emperors' personal names: reign periods

Mutsuhito

*Meiji 明治 Emperor (r. 1866-1868-1912) Yoshihito) Hirohito

Yoshihito

*Taishō 大正 Emperor (r. 1912-1926)

*Hirohito

Regent 1921-26

Shōwa 昭和 Emperor (r. 1926-1989)

The End of the Meiji Period

Death of Meiji Emperor, July 30, 1912

General Nogi Maresuke and wife Shizuko

Ritual suicide, Sept. 13, 1912

Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“On the night of the Imperial Funeral, I sat in my study and listened to the booming of the cannon. To me, it sounded like the last lament for a passing age.” (quoted in McClain, Japan a Modern History, p. 316)

Why did some people feel lament for lost traditions in the face of modernization?

Constitutional division of power

How were powers divided under the Meiji Constitution?

Emperor: “sacred and inviolable”

Chief executive

Appoints prime minister

Commander of Army and Navy

Army and Navy report directly to emperor

Diet

Powers: approve budget

House of Representatives

Electorate: Adult males paying taxes of 15+ yen

5% of adult males, 1% of pop.

House of Peers

Daimyo, court nobles, Meiji leaders

Hidden power holders

Who held the most power?

Privy council of emperor

Oligarchs or Genrō: “elder statesmen”

#6 Matsukata Masayoshi

#7 Inoue Kaoru

#12 Yamagata Aritomo

#16 Katsura Tarō

#13 Kuroda Kiyotaka

#14 Itō Hirobumi

#17 Saionji Kimmochi

Bureaucracy

Independent/High social status

High salaries

Civil service exam (10% pass)

Power over elected and unelected politicians

Bureaucracy wrote 91% of laws passed by Diet 1890-1947

Evolution of political system

Spread of political consciousness

What might explain the spread of political consciousness?

See Table 8.1 "Tokyo Riots" (Gordon, p. 135)

Growing power and influence of political parties

Initially excluded from cabinet

Reasons for growing influence:

Diet approved budgets

Genrō Disagreements: #14 Ito, #12 Yamagata

Deaths of elder statesmen

Imperial weakness

Taishō period

Phases in rise of party power

1) Cabinet-Parties hostilities, 1890-4

“Transcendental cabinets”

Dissolve Diet

Parties dominate

Diet Block budgets

2) Short-lived Cabinet-Party alliances, 1895-1900

Party members on cabinet

#9 Itagaki Taisuke

#11 Ōkuma Shigenobu

Increased defense budgets

Sino-Japanese War

Preparations for war with Russia

3) Mutual accommodation, 1900-18

Seiyūkai (Political Friends Assoc.), 1900

#14 Itō is founder

#17 Saionji Kimmochi, Prime Minister 1906-8, 1911-12

*Hara Kei (Takashi), Home Minister

Appoints Prefectural Governors

Pork barrel spending

Kenseikai (Constitutional Association), 1913 (1916)

#12 Yamagata is founder

#16 Katsura Tarō, Prime Minister 1901-6, 1908-11, 1912-13

4) Party supremacy, 1918-32

“Taishō Democracy”

Prime Ministers belong to mainstream parties

*Hara Takashi, Prime Minister, 1918-21

Bureaucracy and military cooperate with parties

Debate over universal male suffrage

Tax requirements drop from 15 to 10 yen, 1902

Concession to Seiyūkai

Why at this time?

2.5% of pop. eligible to vote in 1917

Universal male suffrage, 1925

*Rice Riots, 1918 (See Table 8.1 "Tokyo Riots," Gordon, pp. 135, 157, 167)

WWI inflation

Post-WWI Recession

Tokyo earthquake, Sept. 1, 1923

*Peace Preservation Law, 1925

Bans groups against national polity and private property

What was the target of this law?