72 Emperor Meiji

(an omission)
Everyone understood that the Emperor Meiji would seriously study waka (Japanese poetry). This poem from when the Emperor was five has come down to us:
As I look at the moon,
wild geese fly by.
This is reflected
also
in the water.

Is this not a pleasant poem ? He also wrote many poems that were highly regarded by the public. Over the course of his reign, he wrote an unprecedented 93,312 (or 93,032) poems. One can understand his true feelings from reading the following examples.
One now repents,
the childish heart
that thought
writing practice
to be boring.
Now think back
to when
I neglected writing practice,
preferring instead my stilts.
(an omission)

When I see the things
I used to read
when I was young,
I recall
the person who taught me.
Are people's hearts
like clouds in the sky,
which come together
and then part
as I watch them ?
(an omission)

On the mountain
of the Path of the Gods
even along with my people
shall I pray,
unmoving.
(an omission)

On the historical 11th day of the 2nd month of the 22nd year (1889), the new Imperial constitution was formally promulgated. It consisted of seven chapters. Let us take a look at several of the articles under Chapter One, "The Emperor."
Article 1. The Empire of Japan shall be reigned over and governed by a line of Emperors unbroken for ages eternal.
Article 2. The Imperial Throne shall be succeeded to by Imperial male descendants, according to the provisions of the Imperial House Law.
Article 3. The Emperor is sacred and inviolable.
Article 4. The Emperor is the head of the Empire, combining in Himself the rights of sovereignty, and exercises them, according to the provisions of the present Constitution.
Article 5. The Emperor exercises the legislative power with the consent of the Imperial Diet.
Article 6. The Emperor gives sanction to laws, and orders them to be promulgated and executed.
Article 11. The Emperor has the supreme command of the Army and Navy.
Article 13. The Emperor declares war, makes peace, and concludes treaties.
Article 15. The Emperor confers titles of nobility, rank, orders and other and marks of honor.

Chapter Two was on the "Rirgts and Duties of Subjects," Chapter Three was "The Imperial Diet," Capter Four was "The Ministers of State and the Privy Council," Chapter Five was "The Judicature," Chapter Six was "Finance," and finally, Chapter Seven was "Supplementary Rules."
(an omission)

A year after the promulgation of the constitution, in the 7th month of the 23rd year of Meiji (1890), the first elections were held for the new Imperial Diet. In the 11th month, the Diet convened its first session.

The problem, however, was the slide in public morals.
Since the Restoration, the old abuses of the shohunate had been done away with, but Western civilization was being adopted with a vengeance. Twenty-one years had passed since the Westerners came, and the teaching of unique ways of Japan had been discarded without looking back. More and more, people sought new ways, hastened of the toward the practical, thought only of their own rights.

In the 10th month 19th year of Meiji (1886), the Emperor instituted the Imperial universities. To counter the advance of Western leaning, lamenting that there was none sufficient in the study of Chinese and Japanese ethics, he consulted with the president of the university. The result was the institution of a faculty of Japanese history in the 22nd year of Meiji (1889).

In addition, he decided to issue an Imperial rescript to promote the morality of the public at large. It was issued on the 30th day of the 10th month of the 23rd year of Meiji (1890), and was called the Imperial Rescript on Education. This is wtat it said:

(See "Know ye, Our subjects" above.)

On that day, the Emperor summoned the prime minister, Yamagata Aritomo, and the minister of education, Yoshikawa Akimasa, to the Imperial palace and gave them the rescript. Their signatures do not appear on it as countersignatures, however. In other words, this rescript was the Emperor speaking directly to his subjects, without the involvement of the ministers of state.

Thus with the constitution was the foundation of the state decided, and with the rescript the spirit of the people given direction. The way people should go was clearly shown to them and they relied on constant effort to behave as the Emperor hoped. Saigou and Ohkubo had already fallen, and Kido and Iwakura in turn died of illness. The Court, having lost the elder statemen of the Restoration, was becoming a lonely place; but in their stead, through direct command Emperor Meiji had bound all the people into one. It had become a system to calm anything no matter how unsettling. This is one of Emperor Meiji's poems:
This nation
of Yamato
will not be moved
If I and others continue
to protect the Way.
I was gladdened,
single-mindedly
following the Way
from
the age of the gods.
As with one heart,
the people kept it -
the teaching
of the gods
of my distant fathers.
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