Promulgation of the Meiji Constitution
- Date: 1889/2/11
- Japanese: 憲法発布 (kenpou hapu)
The promulgation of the Meiji Constitution on February 11, 1889, was accompanied by a series of official ceremonies which have been described as "Japan's first modern national ceremony," setting standards and precedents for national ceremonies from that time forward, particularly those held up until the end of World War II.
The events were held on kigensetsu, or National Foundation Day, the supposed anniversary of Emperor Jimmu's accession to the throne in 660 BCE, thus establishing that national holiday as being from then on also the anniversary of the promulgation of the Constitution, and thus in a sense the anniversary of the establishment of the modern Japanese nation-state. They were advertised ahead of time, and information was given to the newspapers to share with the public details of the schedule of events, and the layout of the Throne Room for the main ceremony.
While it is the more modern-style, secular national ceremony which is most familiar and associated with the Promulgation of the Constitution, and most widely reproduced in ukiyo-e prints and newspaper images from the time, the ceremonies associated with the promulgation were intimately intertwined with State Shinto and Emperor-centered ritual, and began with a set of very private rites performed by the Emperor alone and invented to evoke the idea of a continuation of ancient Imperial tradition. These rites began at the kashiko dokoro (賢所) in the innermost sanctuaries of the Tokyo Imperial Palace, where the Meiji Emperor, dressed in ceremonial robes of a classical style, made an offering of a sacred sprig. He also made a vow to Amaterasu, to uphold the foundational laws of the new State, and to maintain the Imperial institution and lineage. After repeating these oaths to his imperial ancestors at the kôreiden, he paid worship to a variety of kami enshrined at the palace's shinden.
The Emperor then changed into modern ceremonial military uniform, and made his way to the new Throne Room, patterned after a European hall in its furnishing, design, and ornamentation. There, in a ceremony widely reproduced in vividly colored ukiyo-e prints, the Emperor read out a formal Imperial Speech on the Promulgation of the Constitution, and handed a copy of the Constitution itself to Prime Minister Kuroda Kiyotaka, symbolizing or performing the idea that the Constitution was being bestowed upon the people as a gift of Imperial benevolence. As the Emperor did so, he was flanked by two of the Imperial Regalia[1] and surrounded by Imperial Princes, Princesses, the Empress, and other members of the Imperial family. Members of the newly-formed European-style Japanese peerage (aristocracy), the chief ministers of government, governors of the various prefectures of Japan and heads of the prefectural assemblies (legislatures), foreign diplomats, and reporters for ten Tokyo-based newspapers, five provincial Japanese newspapers, and three English-language papers.
In the meantime, Imperial messengers reported the news of the constitutional promulgation to the gods at Ise Shrine, and to Imperial ancestors and the spirits of national heroes at Yasukuni Shrine and at the graves of Emperor Jimmu, Emperor Kômei, Iwakura Tomomi, Kido Takayoshi, and Ôkubo Toshimichi. Similar reports were also made by the governors of each prefecture at kankoku heisha (central government Shinto shrines) throughout the realm.
References
- Takashi Fujitani, Splendid Monarchy, University of California Press (1996), 107-.
- ↑ The Sacred Sword Kusanagi no tsurugi and the Sacred Jewel Yasakani no magatama.
