ON THIS DAY ·
Meiji Constitution
11 Feb 1889 — In the new palace, the emperor presented the constitution to the prime minister as a gift from the throne. The emperor remained sovereign, while an elected lower house shared in making laws. In 1890 about 1% of the population chose that house.
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The moment in context
In 1871 Japan sent about half its government’s leaders abroad on the Iwakura Mission. Ōkubo Toshimichi, Kido Takayoshi and the young Itō Hirobumi hoped, among other things, to revise the unequal treaties. They returned in 1873 without that agreement. Factories, schools and laws appeared to them essential if Japan was to claim equality with the powers they had visited. The government hired foreign experts and sent students overseas, taking different institutions as models: the navy from Britain, the army from France and later Germany, and schools from American and French practice.
From Meiji Constitution and modernisation, chapter 5 of Remaking the State: Meiji Japan 1600–1912 and Post-Soviet Russia 1964–2000 (1889).
The place: Meiji Constitution — map and full story →
Teach this in 5 minutes
- Why it happened — The Iwakura Mission taught that strength must come first. The 1871 mission sought to begin revising the unequal treaties, but Western powers politely judged Japan’s laws and institutions unacceptable.…
- The turn — The constitution, 11 February 1889. The constitution promulgated on 11 February 1889 set Japan’s political rules until 1947. It made Japan the first Asian state with a lasting written…
- What it changed — Treaty revision became possible. Britain agreed in a July 1894 treaty to end extraterritoriality from 1899; other powers followed. Japan’s constitution, cabinet and legal codes…
Then ask the room: Was the Meiji constitution a step towards democracy or a device to prevent it? The argued answer is on the chapter page →
The atlas that shows it
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