The Making of Modern Japan / An Account of the Progress of Japan from Pre-feudal Days to Constitutional Government & the Position of a Great Power, With Chapters on Religion, the Complex Family System, Education, &c.

by John Harington Gubbins

The need for something of the kind in Japan was far greater than in Europe. To realize its necessity it must be remembered that the same tendencies in Japan which encouraged the system of figure-head government favoured the existence of advisory councils, whose duties were to suggest or offer an opinion on administrative policy, the carrying out of which was entrusted to executive officials. When the whole system of government was reorganized on a Western basis, the opportunity of introducing this feature of Western administrative systems was eagerly seized, as it was felt that it would in some sense fill the embarrassing gap caused by the disappearance of the groups of advisers which had played so leading a part under the old régime.

Prompt use was made of the services of the new Council. The Constitution had by this time been drafted, and was ready for the consideration of the Privy Council. Accordingly, within a fortnight of its coming into existence the new Privy Councillors were, in accordance with the duties assigned to them, discussing the draft Constitution at a series of meetings, to which the attendance of the Emperor gave an increased importance.

The year 1888 was marked by the enactment of another important measure. This was the local Self-government Act, known as the Law of Cities, Towns and Villages (Shi-chō-som-pō). The first step in the reform of local government, by which a representative character was given to it, had been taken in 1878, when drafts of the “Three Great Laws,” as they were popularly called, were prepared by the Conference of Prefects. One of these, the law creating Prefectural Assemblies, came into force, as we have seen, two years later. The operation of the other arrangements drafted at the same time, and affecting smaller areas of local administration, had been postponed. These now came into force in the spring of 1889, some changes having in the meantime been made. In the following year these arrangements, as well as the whole system of local government, underwent further revision. The revised system then introduced is now in operation in forty-five of the forty-six prefectures into which Japan proper is divided, the exception being Loochoo, known since its annexation as the Okinawa prefecture. The basis of the present system is the separation of local administration into two main branches, urban and rural. Each of these prefectures—three of which (Tōkiō, Kiōto and Ōsaka) have a separate status as urban prefectures (Fu), the rest being rural prefectures (Ken)—is now divided into urban districts, or “cities” (Shi), and rural districts, or counties (Gun). A rural district, or county (Gun), is again subdivided into towns (Chō) and villages (Son). The classification of a town as an urban district, or “city” (Shi), or a “town” (Chō), depends on its population. Unless otherwise determined by the Minister of the Interior, with whom the final decision rests, all towns of over 25,000 inhabitants have the status of “cities,” enjoying as such a somewhat larger measure of self-government than those not in this category. In each prefecture there is a prefectural assembly (Kenkwai or Fukwai, as the case may be), and an executive council (Sanjikwai). Similar assemblies and executive councils exist in each rural district and “city,” but towns and villages, though they are provided with assemblies, have no executive councils, the duties of these latter bodies being entrusted to the mayors.

Marquis Matsugata.
Took an active part in the Government formed after the Restoration. As Finance Minister he carried out specie resumption on a silver basis in 1886, and introduced the present gold standard in 1897.

Field-Marshal Prince Ōyama.
Rendered distinguished services in the war with China, and was Commander-in-Chief in the Russo-Japanese war.

The system of election to local administrative bodies is more or less the same in each administrative unit. In prefectures where the population does not exceed 700,000 an assembly has thirty members. Where the population is larger another member may be elected for each additional 50,000 inhabitants. “City” assemblies contain more members, the number varying from thirty to sixty, the latter number being the maximum. The Sanjikwai, or executive council, of a prefecture consists of ten councillors chosen by the assembly from amongst its members. The prefect presides, and is assisted by two prefectural officials. In rural districts the presiding official is the Gunchō, or district administrator, who, as in the case of prefects, is appointed by the Minister of the Interior. In “cities” the mayor of the city presides, being assisted by a deputy, or deputies, as the case may be. The chief duty of all these assemblies is to regulate expenditure, and apportion the taxation required to meet it. In the scheme of local taxation the corvée still occupies a prominent place, though, except on occasions of emergency, substitutes may be provided, or money payments made in commutation. In the election of members voting is by secret ballot. The property qualification for electors, and for those eligible as members, is determined by the annual amount of national, or Imperial, taxes paid by an individual. The age qualification is fixed at twenty-five years, the legal age at which majority is attained. The possession of civil rights is also necessary.

The legislative activity displayed in the series of administrative measures above mentioned shows how wide an effect was produced by the decision to create a Parliament, to which a Constitution became under the circumstances an essential corollary. In some cases this legislation was the direct offspring of that decision. The new peerage, the reorganization of the Ministry, the Privy Council, all had their separate places in the scheme of the Constitution. In other cases the connection, though not so close, was still obvious; for it was not possible to make a Constitution and fit it into the existing framework of government, put together, as the latter had been, piece by piece, without some sensible alterations of administrative machinery. From this point of view it will be seen that the reform of local government, and even the institution of Court Councillors, who might be chosen to sit in the Upper House, had a definite, albeit indirect, bearing on the Constitution, and on the National Parliament about to be established.

The Constitution having been considered and approved by the Privy Council, to whose deliberations on the subject an increased dignity had, as we have seen, been given by the attendance of the Sovereign, was promulgated by the Emperor in person on the 11th February, 1889. The ceremony took place in the Throne Room of the newly built palace in Tōkiō, a building of Japanese architecture, modified in some of its features by a slight admixture of foreign designs. The Emperor and Empress occupied daises of unequal height at one end of the hall, which was filled with the dignitaries of the Empire, and officials of senior grades. Seats outside the Court circle were arranged according to the new rules of precedence. The three first places were assigned to the ex-daimiōs of Satsuma and Chōshiū and to the new head of the Tokugawa family, in the order named, all three having the rank of princes in the new nobility. The head of the Tokugawa House was the cousin and adopted heir of the ex-Shōgun Kéiki, and succeeded to the headship of the family on the enforced retirement at the close of the civil war of the last of the Shōguns. The dignitaries and officials present all wore modern Court costume of European style, with the marked exception of Prince Shimadzu of Satsuma, whose appearance in Japanese costume, with hair dressed in the old-fashioned cue, bore witness to the ingrained conservatism of the clan he represented. Never before in the country’s history had a scene more impressive occurred, nor, indeed, one less in keeping with Japanese traditional ideas. Great as had always from time immemorial been the reverence felt by all classes of the people for the Crown, it was a reverence tinged with political expediency, which showed itself in the fixed policy of screening from public view the object of veneration. The atmosphere of mystery and seclusion which surrounded the monarch had naturally extended to the palace and its precincts, and in a still greater degree, for reasons common to all Oriental countries, to the person of the Imperial Consort. Now for the first time the palace was thrown open to a gathering so large as to deprive it of any very select or exclusive character, and the tradition of centuries was broken in a manner contrary, not to say repugnant, to all previous ideas by the attendance of the Sovereign and his Consort in person, the former taking an active part in the proceedings. The ceremony, therefore, in a certain sense symbolized the new spirit which inspired the nation, ushering in a different order of things. Apart from the pomp and magnificence of its surroundings, it set the seal on the new departure in State policy, and represented the final bridging of the gulf between old and new Japan.