Kizokuin

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"The mansion of the Reichstag" ( 帝国 議会 貴族 院 之 図 , Teikoku gikai kizokuin no zu ). Color wood print by Yōshū Chikanobu, 1899

The Kizokuin ( Japanese 貴族 院 , mansion) was after the Meiji constitution the upper house of the Japanese Reichstag . It was convened in 1890, the predecessor was the quasi-legislative Genrōin . In 1947 it was replaced by the current House of Lords, the elected Sangiin , in accordance with the post-war constitution .

The Meiji constitution was borrowed from European models, especially the British and Prussian constitutions . Accordingly, the Kizokuin was created similar to the Prussian mansion and the House of Lords as an equal counterweight to the elected Shūgiin , the lower house, in the legislature. It included members of the aristocracy created in 1869, the Kazoku , as well as representatives appointed by the Tennō ( 勅 任 , chokunin ). The Kizokuin could not be dissolved and most of the members only left the Chamber upon death.

According to the constitution, the Kizokuin was the same as the Shūgiin in the legislature; a law had to get the approval of the Tennō and both chambers. Like the government, both chambers had the right to initiate bills (Art. 38). In particular over the budget and the unequal treaties with the major European powers, there were conflicts between Shūgiin and Kizokuin. The exact competencies of the Kizokuin and its members were laid down in the giin-hō ( 議院 法 , "parliamentary law") and the kizokuin-rei ( 貴族 院 令 , "mansion edict") of 1889.

composition

Konoe Fumimaro , President of Kizokuin, reading an imperial edict to open the 1936 session

The exact composition of the Kizokuin has changed several times over the years. In general, the term of office was seven years, the members of the imperial family, the dukes and margraves and the members appointed by the Tennō had a mandate for life.

The total number of members grew from about 250 in the first session in 1890 to a maximum of over 400. In the last session in 1946 the Kizokuin had 373 members. In the last years after the Second World War, many members were banned from office by the occupation authorities ; some of them were replaced by appointed members from the field of science.

The following groups specifically belonged to the Kizokuin:

Imperial family

  • The Crown Prince if he was over 18 years old
  • Male imperial princes over 20 years of age

The number of these members was not fixed; they were not on diets . Since the members of the imperial family should not be the subject of political disputes, they limited their appearances to ceremonial tasks. (An exception was Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko , who attended meetings as Prime Minister in 1945.)

Kazoku

  • All dukes ( 公爵 , kōshaku ) and margraves ( 侯爵 , kōshaku ) over 25 years of age (from 1925: from 30 years of age)
    The number of these members was not fixed; they were not on diets. They could be forced to resign or regain their mandate on imperial orders.
  • 150 representatives of the three aristocratic ranks of counts, vice counts and barons over 25 (from 1925: 30) years of age, elected for seven years.
    The electoral process was regulated by an imperial ordinance in 1889; the first election of the noble members took place on July 10, 1890. Initially, the standard number of elected noble members for each rank was fixed at one fifth of the total; thus in 1890 14 counts, 70 vice counts and 20 barons belonged to the Kizokuin. In the 21st Reichstag (1905) there were 17 counts, 70 vice counts and 56 barons.
    In 1905, the number was set at 143 in a reform of the Kizokuin after the total number of Kazoku rose abruptly after the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War by honoring war merits. The number was later increased further: in 1909 to 150 (17 counts, 70 vice-questions, 63 barons) and in 1918 to 166 (20 counts, 73 vice-counts, 73 barons). In 1925 the age limit was raised to 30 years and the number was reduced again to 150 (18 counts, 66 vice counts, 66 barons). It was not changed again until the Kizokuin was abolished.
    The members of the Korean nobility were on the same level as the Kazoku in terms of protocol; However, they did not automatically belong to the Kizokuin and could only be appointed by imperial appointment.

Appointed Members

  • Men over 30 years of age appointed by the Tennō who have rendered services to the state or science, at the suggestion of the cabinet. When the Reichstag was set up, 61 members were selected, including 27 previous members of the Genrōin , 10 representatives of the ministries, 9 civil members, 6 representatives of the Imperial University , 6 imperial advisors and 3 representatives of the legislative office of the cabinet . Initially it was stipulated that the number of these appointed members had to be lower than the number of Kazoku, in 1905 the number was set at 125.
  • From 1925, four representatives of the “Imperial Academy” ( 帝国 学士 ​​院 , Teikoku Gakushiin ) elected from within their own ranks for over 30 years, two from the natural sciences and two from the humanities and social sciences. The election procedure was regulated in 1925 in Imperial Decree No. 233.
  • Representatives of over 30 of the largest direct taxpayers, i.e. landowners and entrepreneurs, elected from within their own ranks. The election procedure was regulated in 1889 in Imperial Decree No. 79. Initially, the 15 largest taxpayers of each prefecture (excluding Hokkaidō and Okinawa prefecture ) each elected one representative, so the total was 45. In 1918, Hokkaidō and Okinawa were also taken into account, from 1928, depending on the prefecture, 100 citizens elected one or 200 two representatives and the The total number rose to 66. In 1944 a representative from Karafuto ( Sakhalin ) was to be added, but he was never elected because of the war defeat.
  • From 1945 a maximum of ten representatives of Taiwan and Korea over 30 years on appointment by the Tennō. After the independence of both countries, this regulation was abolished in 1946. According to this regulation, eight Korean representatives and three Taiwanese members were appointed in 1945/46. In addition, Vice Count Yun Deok-yeong ( 尹 徳 栄 ), Margrave Bak Yeong-hyo ( 朴 泳 孝 , Japanese Boku Eikō ) from Korea and Gu Xianrong ( 辜 顕 栄 , Japanese Ko Ken'ei ) from Taiwan were regular members of the Tennō of the Kizokuin.

history

Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi was largely responsible for the introduction of a constitutional form of government, but saw in it primarily a means to maintain and strengthen imperial rule. In the Meiji constitution , the kizokuin was designed as a counterweight to the shūgiin, and thus limited the parties' political influence. Already through its composition of hereditary (initially majority) members appointed by the Tennō himself, it should support the position of the monarch in the political system, as the Genrō had done in the pre-constitutional period. This “ Meiji oligarchy ” based on noble families dominated the politics of the early Meiji period .

During the Taishō democracy in the 1920s, there was a public debate about reforming or abolishing the Kizokuin. Prime Minister Katō Takaaki (Kenseikai), under whose government the census restrictions in Shūgiin elections were abolished, implemented some changes in 1925, but without affecting the basic structure of the Kizokuin. The influence of the Kizokuin continued until the Second World War: Liberal bills that found a majority in the bourgeois Shūgiin, such as the introduction of women's suffrage (passed by the Shūgiin in 1931) or the approval of trade unions, were rejected by the Kizokuin.

After World War II, the 1947 constitution replaced the old Meiji constitution and the kizokuin was abolished, as was the kazoku system. In the legislature, the Sangiin , also elected, was created as a counterweight to the Shūgiin .

Factions

The Kizokuin was understood as a counterweight to party politics and was only intended to serve the interests of the state. No parties were formed in the Chamber, and it was considered an unwritten law that members who joined a party resigned from their mandate. However, political groups were formed to maintain contacts and exchange information.

During the heyday of party rule in Taishō democracy - in the last years of the Taishō period and at the beginning of the Shōwa period - there were some factions that expressed their closeness to parties in the Shūgiin . However, the binding force of the parliamentary groups remained low, mainly because most members did not have to be re-elected. In concrete terms, this meant that most of the parliamentary groups did not have any group restrictions under the motto “One man, one party” ( 一 人 一 党 ). (However, in the largest faction, the Kenkyūkai, there was a strong group compulsion, which was criticized both inside and outside.) The factions of the Kizokuin continued to exist after the establishment of the Taisei Yokusankai (and the establishment of the unitary faction Yokusan Seijikai ) in World War II.

After the dissolution of the Kizokuin, some members ran for the Sangiin in 1947. Many of the elected candidates there formed the Ryokufūkai faction , which also saw itself as impartial and was at times the largest faction.

The main factions

  • Kayōkai ( 火 曜 会 )
    The Kayōkai consisted of dukes and margraves. It was a small faction; but since all of its members belonged to the Kizokuin as a rule for life, it was considered influential. It included the presidents of the Kizokuin Tokugawa Iesato , Konoe Fumimaro , Tokugawa Kuniyuki and Tokugawa Iemasa .
  • Kenkyūkai ( 研究 会 , "Research Council")
    The Kenkyūkai emerged from the Shōyūkai ( 尚 友 会 ) after the Kazoku election in 1890 and remained the largest faction for a long time. It consisted mainly of counts and vice counts, later it also included many representatives of the ministerial bureaucracy appointed by the Tennō. Among other things, the 6th Kizokuin President Matsudaira Yorinaga was a member of the Kenkyūkai.
  • Kōseikai ( 公正 会 )
    The Kōseikai was founded in 1919 and consisted mainly of barons.
  • Sawakai ( 茶話会 )
    The Sawakai around Hirata Tōsuke consisted mainly of bureaucrats appointed to Kizokuin by the Tennō. It gathered the followers of Yamagata Aritomo and developed into a strong opponent of party     rule . It lost many members in the 1920s and was dissolved in 1928.
  • Kōyū Kurabu ( 交友 倶 楽 部 , "Club of Friends")
    The Kōyū Kurabu was created in 1912 based on the ideas of Hara Takashi from members of the bureaucracy appointed by the emperor. In it, supporters of Itō Hirobumi and Saionji Kimmochi , who were sympathetic to party     democracy , gathered . The Koyu Kurabu developed into an ally of the Rikken Seiyūkai in the Kizokuin.
  • Dōseikai ( 同 成 会 )
    The Dōseikai was founded in 1919 as the successor to the Doyōkai ( 土 曜 会 ) that had existed since 1901 . Many of its members sympathized with the Rikken Minseitō .
  • San'yōkai ( 三 曜 会 )
    The San'yōkai belonged to the first factions of the Kizokuin and consisted mainly of noble members. Among other things, the Kizokuin President Konoe Atsumaro belonged to him .
  • Dōwakai ( 同 和 会 )
    The Dōwakai was one of the successors of the Sawakai and assembled mostly independent, appointed members. As an opponent of the Kenkyūkai and the sympathizers of the Rikken Seiyūkai, it was considered together with the Dōseikai as an ally of the Rikken Minseitō .

In July 1920, the 397 deputies were grouped as follows: Kenkyūkai 143, Kōseikai 65, Sawakai 48, Kōyū Kurabu 44, Dōseikai 30, Independent 67. In March 1947, shortly before the dissolution of the Kizokuin, the factions had the following strengths: Kenkyūkai 142, Kōseikai 64, Kōyū Kurabu 41, Dōseikai 33, Kayōkai 32, Dōwakai 30, Mushozoku Kurabu ("Independent Club") 22, Independent 8.

Diets

The diets of the MPs were set in the Giin-hō . From 1920 to 1947 they received the same annual amounts as the members of the Shūgiin: 7,500 yen for the Speaker of Parliament, 4,500 yen for his deputy, and 3,000 for all other MPs.

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