Directory_and_Chronicle_1908 — Page 572

JAPAN

CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT

The government of the Japanese Empire was formerly that of an absolute monarchy. In the year 1868 the now ruling sovereign overthrew, after a short war, the power of the Shogun, together with that of the Daimios, or feudal nobles, who, on the 25th June, 1869, resigned their lands, revenues, and retainers to the Mikado, by whom they were permitted to retain one-tenth of their original incomes, but ordered to reside in the capital in future. The sovereign bears the name of Emperor; but the appellation by which he has been generally known in foreign countries is the ancient title of Mikado. Mutsu-hito, the reigning monarch, was born at Kyoto, on November 3rd, 1852; succeeded his father, Komei Tenno, 1867; married December 28th, 1868, to Princess Haru-ko, born April 17th, 1850, daughter of Prince Itchijo. The reigning Emperor is the 121st of an unbroken dynasty, which was founded 660 B.. By the ancient and regular law of succession the crown devolves upon the eldest son, and, failing male issue, upon the eldest daughter of the sovereign. This law has often been disregarded in consequence of the partiality of the monarch or the ambition of powerful ministers, which was one of the principal causes that culminated in the dual system of Government in Japan. The Throne has frequently been occupied by a female. A new law of succes- sion was promulgated in February, 1889, which excludes females from the Imperial Throne.

The power of the Mikado was formerly absolute, but its exercise was controlled to some extent by custom and public opinion. His Majesty, in 1875, when the Senate and Supreme Judicial Tribunal were founded, solemnly declared his earnest desire to have a constitutional system of government. The Mikado has long been regarded as the spiritual as well as the temporal head of the Empire, but although the Shinto faith is held to be a form of national religion, the Emperor does not interfere in religious mat- ters, and all religions are tolerated in Japan. The Ecclesiastical Department was in 1877 reduced to a simple bureau under the control of the Minister of the Interior. The Mikado acts through an Executive Ministry divided into nine departments, namely:- Gwaimu Sho (Foreign Affairs), Naimu Sho (Interior), Okura Sho (Finance), Kaigun Sho (Navy) Rikugun Sho (Army), Shiho Sho (Justice), Mombu Sho (Education), Noshomu Sho (Agriculture and Commerce), and Teishin Sho (Communications). In 1888 a Privy Council, modelled on that of Great Britain, was constituted. The new Constitution, promised by the Mikado in 1881, was proclaimed on the 11th February, 1889, and in July 1890, the first Parliament was elected, and met on the 29th November. The Parliamentary system is bicameral, the House of Peers and the House of Representatives constituting the Imperial Diet.

The Empire is divided for administrative purposes into three Fu, or cities (Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka), and forty-three Ken, or prefectures, including the Loochoo Islands, which have been converted into a ken and named Okinawa. The island of Yezo is under a separate administration called Hokkaido-cho, and Formosa is governed as a colony. These fu and ken are governed by prefects, who are all of equal rank, are under control of the Naimu Sho, and have limited powers, being required to submit every matter, unless there is a precedent for it, to the Minister of the Interior. Nor have they any concern in judicial proceedings, which come under the cognizance of the forty-eight local Courts and the seven Supreme Courts at Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Miyagi, and Hakodate, over which the Daishin In presides at Tokyo.

Previous to the last change of Government, which restored the ancient Imperial régime, the administrative authority rested with the Shogun (Military Commander), whom foreigners were at first led to recognise as the temporal sovereign, and with whom they negotiated treaties of peace and commerce. The Shogunate was founded in 1184 by Yoritomo, a general of great valour and ability, and was continued through several dynasties until 1869, when the Tokugawa family were dispossessed of the usurped authority. Under the Shogun three hundred or more Daimios (feudal princes) shared the administrative power, being practically supreme in their respectiva domains, conditionally upon their loyalty to the Shogun; but their rank and power disappeared with the Shogunate. On the 7th July, 1884, however, His Majesty issued an Imperial Notification and Rescript rehabilitating the nobility, and admitting to its ranks the most

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