17 article constitution

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 17 article constitution ( Japanese 十七 条 憲法 , Jūshichijō kenpō ) is considered the first constitutional document of Japan . Prince Shōtoku is said to have written the text in 604 . It is a treatise on the nature of righteous rule, shaped by Confucian and Buddhist ideas. The text is only known today from the Chronicle Nihon Shoki (720), which was written over a hundred years after its alleged creation . In particular because of Article 12, which mentions the office of kuni no tsukasa , which was only introduced at the beginning of the 8th century, it is questionable whether this is Shotoku Taishi's original wording.

The text in translation

  1. Harmony should be valued, avoidance of malicious resistance should be honored. All people are children of their class and only a few are intelligent. There are those who do not listen to their masters or fathers and those who feud with their neighbors. But when the upper ones strive for harmony and the lower ones are discerning, and when the affairs of government are settled amicably, then the correct view of things will come about by itself. What is there then that cannot be achieved.
  2. Honor the three treasures . The three treasures as there are Buddha, the [Buddhist] law ( Dharma ) and the priesthood ( Sangha ), are the final refuge of the four created beings and the center of the fate of every country. Which person in which age would not honor this law. Few are essentially bad. You can learn to obey the law. But if they do not take refuge in the three treasures, how is their bowiness supposed to be straight?
  3. When you receive an imperial order, do not hesitate to carry it out ruthlessly. The lord is heaven, the vassals are the earth. The sky spans everything, the earth rises below it. If so, the four seasons follow their course and the forces of nature unfold their effect. If the earth strives for more, the sky will collapse. Therefore the vassal is silent when the Lord speaks; when the higher acts, the lower submits. When you receive an imperial order, don't hesitate to obey it ruthlessly. When mercy plays a role in this matter, it results in decline.
  4. All ministers and officials should make good behavior their most important principle, because the first principle for government over people is good behavior. If the upper ones do not act right, the lower ones become dissolute; if they demand appropriate behavior, riot will result. But if the master and vassal obey the commandments of propriety, order is not endangered; if people act properly, the common good grows on its own.
  5. The renunciation of excess and the abandonment of dubious desires are inextricably linked to the cases presented to you. There will be a thousand every day. How many should there be in a year? If the man who handles the cases does not overcome his base motives, he will be vulnerable to bribery. Then a rich man's fall will be like a stone falling into water. A poor man's fall will be like water poured on a stone. In such circumstances the poor man will not know where to turn. Here lies the challenge for an officer.
  6. Better what is bad, reinforce what is good. This is a good old-time rule. Do not hide the good qualities of others, but do not hesitate to chastise the bad when you see it. Flatterers and seducers are like a sharp weapon in the overthrow of the state. Like a sword, they aim for the good of the people. Flatterers are able to put all the guilt of their superiors on their subordinates, and of their subordinates all of the blame on the superiors. Men of this kind seek the grace of their Lord and the goodwill of the people. For such reasons, great riots arise in the state.
  7. Each man should have his own role, and duties should not overlap. When wise men are given office, they receive praise. When men hold office without principles, unhappiness and turmoil increase. Few are born in this world with knowledge; Wisdom is the result of meditation. For all things, large and small, find the right man and they will be taken care of. In all matters, urgent or not, find a wise man and they become solvable. In this way the state will endure, and the temples of the earth and of the grain will be free from danger. For this reason, the rulers in ancient times chose the man for office and not office for man.
  8. The ministers and officials should start their duties early and finish late. State affairs cannot be postponed, and the whole day is hardly enough to get them done. If someone is late at court, an emergency cannot be processed. If officials quit early, the job cannot be done.
  9. Good faith is the basis of law. In everything let be good faith, for there is good as well as bad, success as well as failure in it. If lord and vassal treat each other in good faith, what cannot be achieved? If lord and vassal don't get along well with one another, everything, without exception, will result in failure.
  10. Let us turn away from anger and evil eyes. And let's not be sensitive when others disagree. Because all people have a heart and every heart is different. Your good is our bad and vice versa. We are not unspeakably wise and they are not unspeakably stupid. We are both just ordinary people. How can one set a rule to separate right and wrong? Because we're all wise and stupid, just like a ring has no end. Even when others upset us and mistakes become apparent, even when we believe we are alone right, we should follow the majority.
  11. Pay attention to the merits and mistakes, and give each their deserved punishment or reward. In these days, earnings are not followed by wages, and crime is not followed by punishment. All officials should make it their task to distribute punishment and wages fairly.
  12. Do not let the kuni no tsukasa nor the kuni no miyatsuko impose demands on people. There are no two masters in a country; people cannot have two rulers. The sovereign is the master of all people in the whole country. The officials he appoints are all his vassals. How can they, like the government, collect taxes from the people?
  13. All officials should perform their duties equally. Their work may be delayed due to illness or travel. But if they can do their job, let them act as if they knew what was going on. Government business should never be delayed because someone claims to have nothing to do with them.
  14. All you ministers and officials, don't be jealous. Because if we envy others, they will envy us. The wickedness of envy is limitless. If others are smarter than we are, we are not happy, if others are more capable, we are jealous. Therefore it will take us no less than five hundred years to find a wise man, and even after a thousand years we will not have acquired wisdom. But if we can't find ways how is the country supposed to be governed.
  15. Turning away from the private and towards the public, that is the way of the minister. If a man is guided by private motives, he will feel resentful. Resentment will prevent him from working harmoniously with others. If he fails to do this, he will sacrifice the public good for private interests. Resentment disturbs order and undermines the law. Therefore, the upper and lower must understand one another. The sense of the first article is the same.
  16. Let people do bondage at certain times. This is an old and good rule. Let them work during the winter months when they have free time. But from spring to autumn, when they are busy in the fields or with the mulberry trees , they should be free from labor. Because when they're not working in the field, what should they eat? If they're not working in the mulberry trees, what should they wear?
  17. Important decisions should not be made by one person alone. They should be discussed with many. But less important decisions should not be discussed. But important decisions that can go wrong should be made in consultation with many.
Source: Nihon shoki , Volume II, Suiko Tenno, 12th year (604), 4th month

Meaning of the text

The 17-article constitution is not a constitution in the current legal sense. Rather, it is a philosophical work influenced by Buddhist and Confucian ideals. It deals with reflections on the morality of the rulers and the ruled. Nevertheless, these considerations have become the root of concrete political action. The Taika reforms of 646 actually centralized power with the emperor , who ruled a centralized official state . With the Taihō decrees , the proposals for the creation of laws and the obligation to do compulsory service for the emperor were codified. Work requiring subjects of the Emperor , for built. B. the Great Buddha of Nara . The conscription army of the Nara period was also a service of the subjects to the emperor.

Significantly, the text names the old times as the origins of the government ideas and thus disguises their origins in China and Korea . In fact, a state that came close to the formulated ideal never succeeded in Japan . The call to assign offices based on qualifications failed, unlike in China. The centralization of power with the emperor only survived into the early Heian period , before envy and resentment, also scourged as dangers for the state in the present text, tore it apart again. Until the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the emperor and the constitution had become politically insignificant again. The lines of thought from Confucianism, however, influenced the status of the Edo period and codes of conduct such as the house laws of merchants or the rules of honor of the samurai ( Bushidō ) .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kenneth Doo Young Lee: The Prince and the Monk. Shōtoku Worship in Shinran's Buddhism . State University of New York Press, Albany 2007, ISBN 978-0-7914-7021-3 , pp. 36–37 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ↑ Original wording 十七 条 憲法 in the Japanese-language Wikisource