Takii Kazuhiro's The Meiji Constitution is an English-language translation of Bunmeishi no naka no Meiji kenpō (The Meiji Constitution in the History of Japanese Civilization [Tokyo: Kōdansha, 2003]). Takii's specialty is the constitutional history of modern Japan, but his major publications, best represented by Doitsu kokkagaku to Meiji kokusei (The German State-Science and the Meiji National System [Tokyo: Mineruba Shobō, 1999]), are chiefly concerned with the influence of German-language political and legal thought on the Japanese state in the Meiji period. Consequently, the present volume is heavily colored by the author's interest in the German–Japanese interface in the process of building the Meiji state's legal-administrative apparatuses, especially the roles played by nineteenth-century European legal scholars such as Lorenz von Stein and Rudolf von Gneist. Takii claims in the introduction that he wants to “depict the history of the creation of the Meiji Constitution in terms of Japan's assimilation of the Western civilization” (p. xvii). In actuality, the present volume is almost exclusively devoted to three Japanese “missions” to Europe: the famous Iwakura Mission (1871–74), Itō Hirobumi's “research trip” to Europe in 1882, and Yamagata Aritomo's similar trip in 1889.
Chapter 1, “The Iwakura Embassy,” is a rather odd mixture of observations about the Meiji state leader's obsession with “Western civilization” and critiques of the constitutional thought of Kume Kunitake, a historian, nationalist thinker, and chronicler of the mission. The author's point seems to be that the Iwakura Mission stimulated these leaders to ponder the structure and form of their government for the first time. A large chunk of the chapter is taken up by a discussion of Kume's massive Beiō kairan jikki, but little textual criticism is evident in distinguishing Kume's own ideas from those of the mission members, and in any case, Kume's “constitutional thought” is not explored in any substantive manner. Takii is correct to point out that Ōkubo Toshimichi was never a supporter of an “absolutist” monarchy and, in fact, championed a model of “dual sovereignty (kunmin kyōchi)” between the emperor and the people, although in his haste to brand Ōkubo as another German-influenced Meiji leader, Takii neglects to mention the latter's favorable appraisal of the British constitutional monarchy.
Chapter 2, “Itō Hirobumi's European Research,” will be tough going for anyone who is not familiar with the historiography of Meiji political history in the crucial half decade between 1874 and 1881. The intellectual and political background that necessitated the expulsion of Ōkuma Shigenobu from the government in 1881 and the departure of Itō Hirobumi to Europe in the following year is, frankly speaking, not coherently presented. Neither does the chapter take into consideration factors outside the state—most importantly the Popular Rights movement—that exacerbated the pervasive sense of crisis among state leaders. Takii accepts the (highly disputable) notion that Ōkuma Shigenobu's proposal was “radical” in content, and he ignores the role of public opinion in the Hokkaido Colonial Office scandal as one of the direct causes of the 1881 political crisis (pp. 51–52). Finally, Inoue Kowashi, whom Takii acknowledges as potentially the “true author of the Meiji constitution” (p. 54) disappears after a one-page description of his critique of Ōkuma's opinion letter.
The chapter is most interesting when the author focuses on the intellectual exchange between Itō Hirobumi and European legal scholars. By Takii's account, Von Gneist comes off as condescending and arrogant, while Von Stein proved to be “useful” in that he could offer to Itō an attractively moderate vision of constitutional government in which democracy was held at bay (Von Stein saw it as nothing more than a “tyranny of the majority”), but the overextended bureaucratic power of the executive body was to be constrained as well (pp. 74–79). However, after this engaging and thoughtful analysis, Takii more or less ends the chapter with spotty observations on Itō, not bothering to tell us why, for instance, Itō did not accept Von Stein's highly negative view of the parliament (pp. 83–84), or what Itō's unsent letter to his opponent Ōkuma could mean (pp. 88–89).
Chapter 3, “Yamgata Aritomo's European Tour,” concedes some space to the civilian critics of the Meiji constitution, even though Takii sticks to the pioneering works of Osatake Takeki and Inada Masatsugu, more or less ignoring forty years of scholarship on “civic constitutions” by Emura Eiichi, Irokawa Daikichi, Arai Katsuhiro, and others. He also makes a claim that the promulgation of the Meiji constitution was “a historic event announcing the formation of … a public sphere” in the Habermasian sense, and that “this public sphere arose not from the grassroots, as envisioned by Habermas, but was created by imperial fiat from within the palace walls” (p. 105). I am not certain why Takii believes that the public sphere was inaugurated only with the official declaration of the Meiji constitution, given that Japan had been wracked by vociferous, widespread, and recalcitrant (from the government's point of view, naturally) political movements in pursuit of creating a national assembly and a national constitution for more than a decade. The rest of chapter 3 contains some valuable and original research regarding the influence of Lorenz von Stein and the more obscure Johann Freiherr von Chlumecky on Yamgata Aritomo's constitutional views.
Enlightening new research notwithstanding, Takii seems to underestimate the intellectual autonomy and political skills of the Meiji state leaders, often characterizing them as passive figures ready to absorb the wise, rational counsel of European legal scholars as sponges absorb water; this is evident in his claim, “What is odd is the almost childlike dependence on the Western nations displayed by Japanese leaders” (p. 3). Silly episodes such as the “trouser button incidents” and the “impaled beefcake affair” might have been intended to lighten up the proceedings by adding humor, but ultimately reduce the Japanese protagonists to buffoon-like caricatures. In other sections, though, Takii seems to be well aware that men such as Itō were shrewd political players with the wherewithal to pick and choose among various attributes and aspects of European theories and practices (partly in order to strengthen their own political position at home), as when, for example, he praises the Chōshū stalwart for refusing to abandon the notion of the emperor as a constitutional monarch (p. 95). Similarly, he shows Yamagata to have a good handle on what kinds of questions to ask von Stein et al., and what type of counsel he was seeking. In either case, I do not see anything resembling “childlike dependence” on the rather arrogant “wise men” of Europe by these Japanese leaders.
The Meiji Constitution will have some trouble finding an appropriate niche among English-language readers. It is too specialized to be of much use to a nonspecialist, and it is limited by its rather narrow scope in its appeal within the academic community. To be sure, Takii's excellent research skills and command of the primary sources are very much in evidence throughout the book, and the insights he provides on Meiji leaders—especially Yamagata Aritomo—are occasionally provocative and incisive. Nonetheless, those who wish to learn more about the concrete processes through which the Meiji constitution came into being, or about the debates and controversies surrounding the document, will not find them in the present volume. The book would also have benefited from a stronger, less episodic narrative structure, with Itō and Yamagata firmly established as protagonists with overlapping but ultimately different agendas.
In sum, Meiji Constitution is primarily recommended to students of the legal and political history of Meiji Japan, with some prior exposure to the historiographical tradition Takii is writing from within.
David Noble's translation is very good and painstakingly detailed. I only had a few head-scratching moments, mostly regarding the nuances of certain Japanese words. For instance, seiyō bunmei no kage might have been better rendered as “the dark side of the Western civilization” rather than “shadows” (p. 125). A bibliography for the secondary sources that the author cites frequently would have been a great help. Otherwise, the production quality is high, with a generous number of black-and-white plates and an appendix that reproduces the entirety of the imperial constitution.
