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Unlock This CourseAfter 1868 Japan was run by a small group of leaders, mostly former samurai from Satsuma and Choshu, who ruled in the name of the emperor. Historians call them the oligarchs. Nobody had elected them. By the middle of the 1870s they were under pressure to share power.
Key terms:
Itagaki Taisuke had resigned from the government in 1873. In 1874 he and others asked for an elected assembly. He then helped to lead the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, which held meetings, wrote newspaper articles and set up political groups. Many of its members were former samurai, but landowners and townspeople joined too. In 1881 Itagaki formed Japan's first national party, the Liberal Party.
The oligarchs wanted Western countries to treat Japan as an equal and to give up the unequal treaties. They knew that Western states had constitutions and parliaments. A constitution would show that Japan was a modern, "civilised" country.
The oligarchs did not want to give way too fast. In 1875 the emperor promised that constitutional government would be introduced step by step. Then, in 1881, a quarrel broke out. Okuma Shigenobu, a member of the government, asked for an elected parliament within two years, on the British pattern. The other oligarchs were furious and dismissed him. But they also saw that they needed a plan. In October 1881 an imperial announcement promised a parliament by 1890. Now the oligarchs could choose the shape of it themselves.
The job of planning the constitution went to Ito Hirobumi, the Choshu leader who had been on the Iwakura Mission. In 1882-83 he travelled to Europe to study how governments worked. In Berlin and Vienna he listened to German and Austrian legal experts, who told him that a strong ruler and a strong government should not be tied down by parliament.
This suited the oligarchs. The British system gave great power to the elected House of Commons. The German system, under Kaiser Wilhelm I and his chancellor Bismarck, left most of the power with the ruler and his ministers. Ito chose the German model.
Back in Japan, Ito built the new system in stages:
The constitution was announced on 11 February 1889. It was presented as a gift from the emperor to his people, not as something the people had won. It came into force when the Diet first met in November 1890.
The emperor was "sacred and inviolable", which meant that he could not be criticised or blamed. He held the power to rule. He was commander of the army and navy, could declare war and make treaties, chose the ministers and could dissolve the Diet. The Cabinet answered to the emperor, not to the Diet. In practice the oligarchs made the decisions in his name.
The Diet had two houses. The House of Peers was made up of nobles and men chosen by the emperor. The House of Representatives was elected. The Diet had to agree to new laws and new taxes. But if it refused the budget, the government simply used the previous year's budget again.
People were called "subjects" of the emperor, not citizens. They were promised freedom of speech, of assembly and of religion, but only "within the limits of law". The government could pass laws to restrict them.
Only men aged 25 or over who paid at least 15 yen a year in national taxes could vote. This gave an electorate of about 450,000 people, roughly 1 in every 100 Japanese. Women could not vote.
The first election to the House of Representatives took place on 1 July 1890. Although so few people could vote, most of them did. The oligarchs had hoped for a friendly Diet. Instead the parties that opposed the government, including Itagaki's followers, won most of the 300 seats. The Diet met in November 1890, and the oligarchs soon found that the representatives used their power over taxes and the budget to challenge them.
For the first time Japan had a written constitution, an elected House of Representatives and political parties. The ruler's powers were set out in law.
Power stayed with a small group around the emperor. The Cabinet did not answer to the Diet, and ninety-nine people out of every hundred had no vote.
Remember that in 1853 Japan was ruled by the Tokugawa shogun and his government (the bakufu) in Edo, while the emperor lived in Kyoto.
Explain TWO ways in which the government of Japan in 1890 was different from the government of Japan in 1853. [6 marks]
Remember: each way must say something about both years. One way alone scores no more than 3.
One difference is the role of the emperor. In 1853 the emperor lived in Kyoto and had little real power, because the shogun ruled from Edo. By 1890 the Meiji Constitution made the emperor sovereign in Tokyo, with power to command the army and appoint ministers.
A second difference is elected government. In 1853 nobody was elected and the shogun's officials made every decision. By 1890 there was a Diet with an elected House of Representatives, chosen in July by about 450,000 male taxpayers, although the oligarchs kept most power.
What lifts this to the top level: both ways compare 1853 and 1890 directly, each with precise facts from both years.
Build each paragraph as "In 1853 ... whereas by 1890 ...", with one precise fact on each side of the comparison.