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was a Japanese statesman and scholar of
constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in fed ...
. His interpretation of the role of the monarchy in the pre-war
Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent for ...
was a source of considerable controversy in the increasingly radicalized political environment of Japan in the 1930s. His wife was the daughter of
Dairoku Kikuchi Baron was a Japanese mathematician, educator, and education administrator during the Meiji era. Biography Early life and family Kikuchi was born in Edo (present-day Tokyo), as the second son of Mitsukuri Shūhei, a professor at Bansho Sh ...
, and his son Ryokichi Minobe was governor of Tokyo (1967–1979).


Biography

Minobe was born in Takasago city,
Hyōgo prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, ...
to a doctor of Chinese medicine. He graduated from the law school of
Tokyo Imperial University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...
in 1897, where one of his mentors was future Privy Councilor
Ichiki Kitokurō Baron was a Japanese statesman. He served as Minister of Education (1914), Home Minister (1915), Imperial Household Minister (1925), and Chairman of the Privy Council (1934-1936). He served as Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan for one ...
. He went to work for the
Home Ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...
, and was sent for further studies to
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
and the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, returning to Japan in 1902 to take up a position as a professor at Tokyo Imperial University. In 1912, Minobe published a work on constitutional interpretation, which came to be known as the “emperor organ theory”. Per Minobe, the “State”, or '' kokutai'' was supreme, and even the
emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( e ...
was only an “organ of the State” as defined through the constitutional structure, rather than a sacred power beyond the state itself. Minobe used the metaphor of the head of the human body to describe the role of the emperor. This thesis was influenced by the work of
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
legal philosopher Georg Jellinek, whose work, ''Allgemeine Staatslehre'' (''General Theory of the State'') was published in 1900, and also by the British concept of a
constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies di ...
. Minobe warned that the emperor’s right of supreme command over the military needed to be carefully limited by the
Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paral ...
if Japan were not to end up with a dual government in which the military would become completely independent and above the rule of law and unaccountable to civilian authority. From 1924 to 1927, Minobe was the Director of the Faculty of Law at Tokyo Imperial University. From 1911 for 34 years, he was also a counselor in the Bureau of Legislation where he participated in the enactment of several laws. He entered the House of Peers by appointment in 1932. Minobe’s interpretation of the constitution was generally accepted by bureaucrats and even imperial household until the 1930s, although it had been challenged from the beginning by imperial absolutists such as Yatsuka Hozumi and Shinkichi Uesugi, who held that the emperor was, by definition, the personification of the State itself, and therefore politically unaccountable for his actions, however arbitrary, as defined in Article 3 the
Meiji Constitution The Constitution of the Empire of Japan (Kyūjitai: ; Shinjitai: , ), known informally as the Meiji Constitution (, ''Meiji Kenpō''), was the constitution of the Empire of Japan which was proclaimed on February 11, 1889, and remained in for ...
. In the increasingly militant environment of the 1930s, Minobe’s liberal interpretation of the role of the emperor came under attack from military officers and ultranationalists increasingly disillusioned by
liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into ...
and corruption in government, which they felt could only be addressed through a Shōwa Restoration in which the emperor would take personal
totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...
control. On February 18, 1935, Baron Takeo Kikuchi, a retired general and member of the House of Peers, launched a public campaign to demand that
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
Keisuke Okada was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, politician and Prime Minister of Japan from 1934 to 1936. Biography Early life Okada was born on 20 January 1868, in Fukui Prefecture, the son of a samurai of the Fukui Domain. He attended the 15th ...
ban Minobe’s works, which he termed to be “traitorous thoughts”. Minobe addressed the Diet of Japan a week later in his own defense, while right-wing groups and '' Kōdōha'' officers held a demonstration in downtown Tokyo denouncing him. In early March, Major General Genkuro Eto charged in the lower house of the Diet of Japan that Minobe’s books, specifically ''Kenpo Satsuyo'' (Compendium of the Constitution) and ''Tsuiho kenpo seigi'' (Additional Commentaries on the Constitution) were works of lese-majeste, and that Minobe should be arrested. Bowing to severe political pressure, Okada asked Minobe to resign from his posts later that month, banned some of his works, and initiated a government-sponsored campaign to discredit his works in favor of the tenets supporting the concept of the divine right of the emperor, which quickly merged with emperor worship and national chauvinism. Following the surrender of Japan after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, Minobe was active as an advisor in the creation of the post-war
Constitution of Japan The Constitution of Japan (Shinjitai: , Kyūjitai: , Hepburn: ) is the constitution of Japan and the supreme law in the state. Written primarily by American civilian officials working under the Allied occupation of Japan, the constitution ...
, as well as an advisor to the Privy Council.
National Diet Library Bio He died in 1948.


Notes


References

* Herbert Bix, Bix, Herbert P. (2000). ''
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan ''Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan'' is a book by Herbert P. Bix covering the reign of Emperor Hirohito of Japan from Shōwa period, 1926 until his death in 1989. It won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. Much of the informa ...
.'' New York:
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...
. ; * Gordon, Andrew. (2003). ''A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press. ;
OCLC 49704795
* Miller, Frank Owen. (1965). ''Minobe Tatsukichi - Interpreter Of Constitutionalism in Japan.'' Berkeley: University of California Press
OCLC 562979985
* Jansen, Marius B. (2000). ''The Making of Modern Japan.'' Cambridge:
Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the reti ...
.
OCLC 44090600
* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia.''
Cambridge:
Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the reti ...
.
OCLC 58053128
*
MINAMINO Shigeru Minamino (written: 南野 lit. "south plain") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese professional wrestler *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese idol, singer and actress Fictional characters *, a protagonist of th ...
. (2008, French)
''MINOBE Tatsukichi''
Olivier Cayla et Jean-Louis Halpérin (sous la dir. de), Dictionnaire des grandes oeuvres juridiques, Paris, Dalloz.


External links


National Diet Library Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minobe, Tatsukichi 1873 births 1948 deaths Politicians from Hyōgo Prefecture University of Tokyo alumni University of Tokyo faculty Scholars of constitutional law Members of the House of Peers (Japan) Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun