Reichstag (Japan)

The manor in a color wood print from 1899

The Teikoku-gikai ( Japanese 帝国 議会 , contemporary spelling 帝國 議會 ), the Reichstag, or more literally the “Parliament of the Empire”, was the bicameral parliament of the Greater Japan Empire from 1890 to 1947 according to the Meiji Constitution .

It consisted of an elected, bourgeois lower house, the Shūgiin (House of Representatives, literally “mass assembly” or “[mass] advisory chamber” or “house”), and a noble upper house, the Kizokuin (manor, literally “Chamber of nobility ”), Members of the hereditary nobility and members appointed by the Tennō , including some members elected by top taxpayers and academic institutions. In 1947, today's national parliament ( Kokkai , lit. "National Assembly") replaced the Reichstag; in this, the mansion was replaced by an elected upper house, the Sangiin (Senate, literally "council chamber"), and the balance of the chambers shifted in favor of the lower house.

history

The imperial edict of 1881, which announced the creation of a constitution and a parliament.

Reichstag employees growing sweet potatoes in front of the Reichstag building in June 1946.

In the early Meiji period , various opponents of the Meiji oligarchy , in particular the Jiyū Minken Undō , the "Movement for Freedom and People's Rights", called for the establishment of an elected representative body in petitions, meetings, publications, demonstrations and uprisings. In 1881, the oligarchy proclaimed the creation of a constitution and a parliament within ten years by a decree of the Tennō, the result was the Meiji constitution, based on the Prussian and to a lesser extent British model, and the establishment of the Reichstag in Chapter 3. After that, the Reichstag was involved in the legislature, a law required the approval of both chambers and the Tennō. It could also decide on the budget; in the event of a conflict, the budget of the previous year would apply. The Prime Minister and Cabinet continued to be appointed. The Shūgiin was elected under initially strict census restrictions - about one percent of the population was eligible to vote in the first election in 1890 - and could be dissolved by the Tennō at any time by a cabinet resolution, but the resulting new elections in the 1890s again brought majorities of the liberal, bourgeois parties.

In particular, after a permanent alliance between parts of the Meiji oligarchy, the ministerial bureaucracy and the liberal parties had formed in 1900 in the form of the Rikken Seiyūkai , the initially often conflicted relations between the lower house and the government improved. In the Taishō period , a more parliamentary form of government developed, in which the prime ministers were usually appointed with consideration for the majority in the lower house, the so-called Taishō democracy . The census restrictions for the Shūgiin, which had already been relaxed several times, were completely abolished in 1925 and universal male suffrage was introduced. As a result, notable “proletarian parties” of the labor movement developed for the first time. But the constitutional restrictions on parliamentary power were unchanged: the government's appeal was not formally tied to a parliamentary majority, and the mansion could block liberal bills such as unions and women's suffrage.

After the invasion of Manchuria in 1931, party rule was soon ended and, especially in the Pacific War, the government was centralized and removed from the influence of the Reichstag. After the war, at the beginning of the occupation , the Reichstag made preparations for a new political order. In 1946 he decided with the Tennō the essentially unchanged draft constitution of the occupation authorities and thus the end of the empire and its own abolition. The Constitution of the State of Japan came into force in May 1947.

List of the Reichstag

The actual session of the Reichstag is given; the individual chambers sometimes met a few days beforehand, and the closing ceremony of the Reichstag often took place one day after the end of the session, unless a dissolution of the lower house ended the session prematurely.

Legend of session type:

• R: regular session (tsūjōkai)
• S: special session (tokubetsukai)
• A: extraordinary session (rinjikai)

Reichstag

No.	Art	opening	Enough	Cabinet (appointed)
1.	R.	Nov. 29, 1890 (after 1st Shūgiin election , 1st Kizokuin election)	07th Mar 1891	Yamagata I
2.	R.	Nov 26, 1891	December 25, 1891 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 2nd Shūgiin election )	Matsukata I
3.	S.	0May 6, 1892	June 14, 1892
4th	R.	Nov 29, 1892	Feb. 28, 1893	Itō II
5.	R.	Nov 28, 1893	30th Dec. 1893 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 3rd Shūgiin election )
6th	S.	May 15, 1894	0June 2, 1894 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 4th Shūgiin election )
7th	A.	Oct. 18, 1894 (after the start of the war ; in Hiroshima )	Oct 21, 1894
8th.	R.	Dec. 24, 1894	23 Mar 1895
9.	R.	Dec 28, 1895	28 Mar 1896
10.	R.	Dec 25, 1896	24 Mar 1897	Matsukata II
11.	R.	Dec. 24, 1897 (after the 2nd Kizokuin election)	December 25, 1897 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 5th Shūgiin election )
12.	S.	May 19, 1898	June 10, 1898 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 6th Shūgiin election )	Itō III
				Ōkuma I
13.	S / R	03 Dec 1898	09 Mar 1899	Yamagata II
14th	R.	Nov 22, 1899	23 Feb 1900
15th	R.	Dec 25, 1900	24 Mar 1901	Itō IV
16.	R.	Dec 10, 1901	09 Mar 1902	Katsura I
17th	R.	09 December 1902 (after the 7th Shūgiin election )	December 28, 1902 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 8th Shūgiin election )
18th	S.	May 12, 1903	0June 4, 1903
19th	R.	Dec 10, 1903	Dec. 11, 1903 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 9th Shūgiin election )
20th	A.	20 Mar 1904 (after the start of the war )	29 Mar 1904
21st	R.	Nov. 30, 1904 (after the 3rd Kizokuin election)	Feb. 27, 1905
22nd	R.	Dec 28, 1905	27 Mar 1906
				Saionji I
23.	R.	Dec. 28, 1906	27 Mar 1907
24.	R.	Dec. 28, 1907	26th Mar 1908
25th	R.	December 25, 1908 (after the 10th Shūgiin election )	24 Mar 1909	Katsura II
26th	R.	Dec. 24, 1909	23 Mar 1910
27.	R.	December 23, 1910	22 Mar 1911
28.	R.	Dec. 27, 1911 (after the 4th Kizokuin election)	25th Mar 1912	Saionji II
29	A.	23 Aug 1912 (after the death of Emperor Meiji , after the 11th Shūgiin election )	Aug 25, 1912
30th	R.	Dec. 27, 1912		Katsura III ( Movement to Protect the Constitution )
			26th Mar 1913	Yamamoto I ( Siemens scandal )
31.	R.	December 26, 1913	25th Mar 1914
32.	A.	0May 5, 1914 (budget of the funeral service for Empress Dowager Shōken )	0May 7, 1914	Ōkuma II
33.	A.	June 22, 1914 (additional navy budget)	June 28, 1914
34.	A.	04th Sep 1914 (after entering the war )	0Sep 9 1914
35.	R.	0December 7, 1914	December 25, 1914 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 12th Shūgiin election )
36.	S.	May 20, 1915	0June 9, 1915
37.	R.	0Dec. 1, 1915	Feb. 28, 1916
38.	R.	Dec. 27, 1916	Jan. 25, 1917 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 13th Shūgiin election )	Terauchi
39.	S.	June 23, 1917	July 14, 1917
40.	R.	Dec. 27, 1917	26th Mar 1918
41.	R.	Dec. 27, 1918 (after the 5th Kizokuin election)	26th Mar 1919	Hara
42.	R.	December 26, 1919	Feb. 26, 1920 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 14th Shūgiin election )
43.	S.	0July 1, 1920	July 28, 1920
44.	R.	Dec. 27, 1920	26th Mar 1921
45.	R.	December 26, 1921	25th Mar 1922	Takahashi
46.	R.	Dec. 27, 1922	26th Mar 1923	Kato
47.	A.	December 11, 1923 (Measures for the Great Kantō Earthquake )	December 23, 1923	Yamamoto II
48.	R.	Dec. 27, 1923
			Jan. 31, 1924 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 15th Shūgiin election )	Kiyoura (2nd constitution protection movement)
49.	S.	June 28, 1924	July 18, 1924	Kato
50.	R.	December 26, 1924	30th Mar 1925
51.	R.	December 26, 1925 (after 6th Kizokuin elections)	25th Mar 1926
				Wakatsuki I
52.	R.	December 26, 1926	25th Mar 1927
53.	A.	0May 4, 1927 ( Financial Panic Measures )	0May 8, 1927	Tanaka
54.	R.	December 26, 1927	Jan. 21, 1928 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 16th Shūgiin election )
55.	S.	Apr 23, 1928	0May 6, 1928
56.	R.	December 26, 1928	25th Mar 1929
57.	R.	December 26, 1929	Jan. 21, 1930 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 17th Shūgiin election )	Hamaguchi
58.	S.	Apr 23, 1930	May 13, 1930
59.	R.	Dec. 26, 1930	27 Mar 1931
				Wakatsuki II
60.	R.	December 26, 1931	Jan. 21, 1932 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 18th Shūgiin election )	Inukai
61.	A.	20 Mar 1932 (supplementary budget for Manchuria, Shanghai)	24 Mar 1932
62.	A.	0June 1, 1932 (recognition of Manchuria, especially rural investment program ( jikyoku kyōkyū ) )	24 Mar 1932	Saitō
63.	A.	23 Aug 1932 (investment program; after 7th Kizokuin elections)	04th Sep 1932
64.	R.	Dec 26, 1932	25th Mar 1933
65.	R.	December 26, 1933	25th Mar 1934
66.	A.	Nov 28, 1934 (Muroto typhoon, crop failure in Tōhoku)	Dec 10, 1934	Okada
67.	R.	December 26, 1934	25th Mar 1935
68.	R.	December 26, 1935	Jan. 21, 1936 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 19th Shūgiin election )
69.	S.	0May 4, 1936	May 26, 1936	Hirota
70.	R.	December 26, 1936
			31 Mar 1937 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 20th Shūgiin election )	Hayashi
71.	S.	July 25, 1937	0Aug 7, 1937	Konoe I.
72.	A.	04th Sep 1937 (armaments budget, inter alia at the beginning of the war )	08 Sep 1937
73.	R.	Dec 26, 1937	26th Mar 1938
74.	R.	December 26, 1938
			25th Mar 1939	Hiranuma
75.	R.	December 26, 1939 (after the 8th Kizokuin election)		Abe
			26th Mar 1940	Yonai
76.	R.	Dec 26, 1940	25th Mar 1941	Konoe II
				Konoe III
77.	A.	Nov 16, 1941	Nov 20, 1941	Tōjō
78.	A.	December 16, 1941 (at the beginning of the "Great East Asian War " / expansion of the war to the USA and allies)	December 17, 1941
79.	R.	December 26, 1941	25th Mar 1942
80.	A.	May 27, 1942 (after the 21st Shūgiin election )	May 28, 1942
81.	R.	Dec 26, 1942	25th Mar 1943
82.	A.	June 16, 1943	June 18, 1943
83.	A.	Oct. 26, 1943	Oct 28, 1943
84.	R.	Dec 26, 1943	24 Mar 1944
85.	A.	0Sep 7 1944	Sep 11 1944	Koiso
86.	R.	Dec 26, 1944	25th Mar 1945
87.	A.	0June 9, 1945	June 12, 1945
88	A.	04th Sep 1945		Suzuki
			05th Sep 1945	Higashikuni
89.	A.	Nov. 27, 1945	Dec. 18, 1945 (dissolution of the Shūgiin → 22nd Shūgiin election )	Shidehara
90.	A.	June 20, 1946 (constitutional consultation)	Oct 11, 1946	Yoshida I
91.	A.	Nov 26, 1946	Dec 25, 1946
92.	R.	Dec 28, 1946	31 Mar 1947 (dissolution of the Shūgiin)

literature

• Peter Duus (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 6: The Twentieth Century. Cambridge University Press, 1991. Part I: Domestic Politics.
• Marius B. Jansen: The Making of Modern Japan. Harvard University Press, 2002.

Web links

• National Parliamentary Library : Database of the minutes of the Reichstag

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hidehisa Ōyama: 『帝国 議会 の 運 営 と 会議 録 を め ぐ っ て』 , pp. 46–48 in Reference ( refarensu , Journal of the National Parliamentary Library ) 2005.5