Theory Of The Emperor As An Organ Of Government And Declaration Of The National Polity Movement

Tatsukichi Minobe was a famous scholar of modern Japanese constitutional law.As a typical theorist in Taisho Period,his theory of emperor organ was well-known to every household.In 1912,Minobe published a work on constitutional interpretation,which came to be known as the “Emperor Organ Theory”.It included that the emperor was only an organ of the state and even the supreme one.In the same year,he took a constitutional debate with Hostsumi yatsuka and Uesugi shinkichi who advocated the emperor sovereignty theory.Emperor organ theory won the fame in the end to be the mainstream of constitutional interpretation theory.It also provided theoretical support for party politics centered on parliament,as a result,it was widely accepted by different sectors of the society.Represented by the emperor organ theory,the constitutional interpretation theory attempted to find out the theoretical joint between the Mikado and Western Constitutionalism so as to use the basic theory of Western Constitutionalism to explain the Meiji Constitution.However,this constitutional interpretation must have potential dangers in the absolute Mikado system.A movement started with attacking the emperor organ theory in the early Sh?wa period.It mainly demanded the government to clearly put forward a concept that the Mikado is the main ruler of the country,while Japan is a country ruled by Mikado.It also managed to break the balance point structured by the emperor organ theory between the Mikado and Western Constitutionalism,the supreme state of the Mikado was put forward as well.Integrating the reign of Emperor with the country's constitution aimed to make the emperor supreme over constitution.While this movement required to abolish the emperor organ theory,the more important thing was to suppress the liberalism behind this theory and the power of status quo.It mingled with attacking force to Okada cabinet and a high-ranking official group.Finally,the emperor organ theory was found guilty and completely destroyed in two statements announced by the government.With its profound historical background,this movement plays an important role in the way that military fascist battles for the leadership in law,meanwhile,the innovation force and fascist force in modern Japan has been constantly put ahead.