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Before descending into the authoritarianism of the World War II era, Japan
made considerable progress in implementing a democratic system of
government. This flowering of liberalism, known as “Taishō Democracy” for its
rough correspondence with the reign of Emperor Taishō, though weakened
and ultimately destroyed by assassinations and coup attempts, helped lay the
foundations for full democracy after 1945.
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Japanese Democracy Before World War II
Now that a century has passed since the start of World War I, what links that era
with the Japan of today? Human rights and democracy have become the basis for
Japan’s contemporary political system, and their influence extends beyond politics
to every corner of society. Democracy in Japan is commonly associated with the
reforms implemented during the Allied Occupation following World War II,
particularly the adoption of a new constitution including explicit provisions for a
parliamentary system of government. But the origins of Japan’s democracy predate
this period. Even the Allies who defeated Japan in 1945 realized this: Among the
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terms for surrender given in the Potsdam Declaration, there is reference to the
removal of obstacles to “the revival and strengthening of democratic tendencies
among the Japanese people.” This demonstrates the need to look back to Japan’s
political history in the period before World War II.
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Phenomenon
Japan experienced a groundswell of liberalism in the early twentieth century that
was dubbed “Taishō Democracy” by historians in the 1950s.(*1) The term “Taishō
Democracy” refers to the flourishing of new ways of thinking, strengthening of
social movements, and development of party politics in a period centered on the
Taishō era (the reign of Emperor Taishō, 1912–26). From 1924 to 1932, seven
successive cabinets were formed by political parties, laying the foundations for
Aug. 1, 2022
genuine party politics in the Diet; this was lauded at the time as “the normal course
of constitutional government” and had a high degree of legitimacy. In this article, I
will consider the World War I centennial from the perspective of Taishō Democracy,
sketching the history of the party politics that developed in Japan’s interwar period.
(*2)
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An Era of Change in Japanese Politics
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Japan declared war on Germany in August 1914, entering World War I on the side of
the Allies shortly after the conflict broke out in Europe. At the time, Japanese
politics was in an era of change. Following the overthrow of the Tokugawa
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shogunate in 1867 and formal restoration of imperial rule under Emperor Meiji (the
Meiji Restoration) the following year, Japan embarked on the construction of a new
set of political institutions befitting a modern nation-state, including its first
constitution, the Constitution of the Empire of Japan (Meiji Constitution), adopted
in 1889, and a national legislature, the Imperial Diet, established in 1890. In the early
years following the establishment of the Diet, the government continued to be
dominated by hanbatsu, the cliques of former samurai from the domains of
Satsuma and Chōshū who played leading roles in the Meiji Restoration. However,
around the turn of the twentieth century, hanbatsu dominance came under
challenge from political parties, particularly Rikken Seiyūkai (Friends of
Constitutional Government), a party founded in 1900 by Itō Hirobumi.
Japan entered a new era of politics in the twentieth century in two senses. The first
was that older leaders from the time of the Meiji Restoration passed on the torch to
a new generation. The second was that the political order shifted from one strongly
influenced by the genrō, senior statesmen from the hanbatsu, to a more open
system of governance. From 1901 to 1913 power alternated between the nextgeneration leaders Katsura Tarō, a Chōshū bureaucrat and former army general,
and Saionji Kinmochi, who succeeded Itō Hirobumi as the head of Seiyūkai, the
majority party in the House of Representatives.
This transitional stability did not last. In 1912, the first year of the Taishō era,
Japanese politics entered into turmoil. When Saionji would not increase the army
by two divisions, the army refused to supply a minister and his second cabinet fell.
The first Movement to Protect Constitutional Government erupted with calls for
abolishment of hanbatsu government. Under the Meiji Constitution, the prime
minister was appointed by the emperor, with the selection being made in practice
through discussion among the genrō, but the new movement demanded “the
normal course of constitutional government,” a prime minister chosen by the
majority party in the House of Representatives (the lower house of the Diet). Social
pressure reached a boil in the Taishō Political Crisis of 1913, forcing Katsura, who had
just replaced Saionji and started his third term as prime minister, to resign after
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little more than 50 days in office. A naval corruption scandal in early 1914 brought
further outrage and political upheaval.
society
economy
Hara Takashi and Japan’s First Party Cabinet
In some ways, World War I boosted the
development of party politics in Japan,
culture
politics
jiji press
lifestyle
covid-19
health
coronavirus
history
though in other respects it held it back.
Katō Takaaki was foreign minister in the
second cabinet of Ōkuma Shigenobu,
and handled diplomacy related to
Japan’s entry into the war. He was the
leader of Rikken Dōshikai (Constitutional
Association of Friends), originally
founded by Katsura Tarō, which opposed
Seiyūkai in the Diet, and tried to remove
the genrō from the decision-making
process. However, there were misgivings
about the hastiness of the government’s
resolution to go to war, combined with
domestic and international criticism of
the Twenty-One Demands, an ultimatum
that Japan attempted to force on the
Chinese government in 1915.
Prime Minister Hara Takashi. © Jiji.
When the army’s Terauchi Masatake was
appointed prime minister in the spirit of wartime national unity, it was as if the
country had returned to the days before the first Movement to Protect
Constitutional Government. But as Terauchi’s cabinet was denounced as “nonconstitutional,” he set up the Advisory Council on Foreign Relations to shore up the
government’s political legitimacy. The council allowed party leaders to participate
directly in foreign policy decision-making for the first time. Terauchi’s government
lasted until spiraling rice prices sparked the rice riots of 1918, massive disturbances
that took place throughout Japan, and he was replaced by Hara Takashi of Seiyūkai,
the country’s first prime minister from the House of Representatives.
Hara formed what was seen as Japan’s first full-fledged “party cabinet,” consisting
mainly of elected legislators from the prime minister’s party, appropriate to a
postwar era that seemed to promise new hope for democracy. Saionji Kinmochi
and former Foreign Minister Makino Nobuaki led the Japanese delegation to the
Paris Peace Conference. Although unsuccessful in its proposal to include a racial
equality clause in the Covenant of the League of Nations, Japan joined the new
international body and took a permanent seat on its council.
The postwar mood of pacifism manifested itself in various ways in Japan. In January
1920, Emperor Taishō issued an “imperial ordinance on the restoration of peace,”
exhorting citizens to take advantage of peace and move forward in line with the
progress of the age. Then, from November 1921 to February 1922, Japan, the United
States, and Britain came to agreement on reducing naval strength at the
Washington Naval Conference, helping to maintain harmony between the three
powers. Supporting party politics and this period of international cooperation were
cultured members of the imperial court with the global-mindedness sought by
Hara. Crown Prince Hirohito visited Europe and its battlefields from March to
September 1921, and would be advised by Saionji and Makino until the mid-1930s.
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(Hirohito became emperor on his father’s death in 1926, which marked the end of
the Taishō era; the new emperor’s reign was named Shōwa.)
Increased Normalization of Party Politics
The formation of the Hara cabinet in
itself was a sign of democracy, and
though some still considered the very
idea of popular rule to be a dangerous
ideology, it was strongly supported by
the opposition Kenseikai (Constitutional
Association, a successor to Dōshikai),
which under Katō Takaaki advocated
alternation of power between the ruling
and opposition parties and described
World War I as “a victory for justice,
freedom, and humanitarianism.” The
party cabinets formed by Hara and his
successor Takahashi Korekiyo were
followed by a string of cabinets made
up of bureaucrats, but people’s
aspirations for the norms of
constitutional government were
unabated. In January 1924, the
appointment of Kiyoura Keigo and the
formation of the third consecutive
cabinet dominated by members of the House of Peers, the upper house of the Diet,
triggered the second Movement to Protect Constitutional Government.
Prime Minister Katō Takaaki. © Jiji.
After Kenseikai won the most seats in the next general election, Katō was named
prime minister in June 1924, leading a three-party coalition with Seiyūkai and
Kakushin Kurabu (Reform Club). Before the collapse of the coalition in August 1925,
it passed an amendment eliminating tax payment requirements to extend suffrage
to all males over 25 and reformed the House of Peers; with a broader base of citizen
franchise, the House of Representatives naturally came to be viewed as taking
political precedence over the unelected upper house.
The era of party cabinets continued until
1932, the seventh year of the Shōwa era.
The last of the surviving genrō, Saionji
Kinmochi, was distrustful of Kenseikai for
its connection to the Twenty-One
Demands made to China in 1915, which
worsened relations with Britain and the
United States as well as with China.
However, Katō described Japanese,
British, and US battleships in the Pacific
Ocean as “symbols of civilization and
peace” in the region and appointed
Shidehara Kijūrō, Japan’s plenipotentiary
at the Washington Naval Conference as
foreign minister, ushering in a period of
harmonious “Shidehara diplomacy.”
Reassured by these actions, Saionji
approved the transfer of power between
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Prime Minister Saionji Kinmochi. © Jiji.
parties, and generally took a hands-off
approach to the politics of the time.
Taishō Democracy has sometimes been described as combining the pursuit of
constitutional government at home with imperialism overseas, but in the years
after World War I there was both increased democracy within Japan and
cooperation in the international arena.
Constitutional politics fostered democratic government, and by 1927, when Rikken
Minseitō (Constitutional Democratic Party) was formed as a successor to Kenseikai,
a political system with two major parties—Minseitō and Seiyūkai—and popular
elections based on universal male suffrage was in place. Meanwhile, disarmament
efforts continued, and though Britain and the United States failed to resolve their
differences at the Geneva Naval Conference of 1927, a treaty to limit naval strength
was successfully signed at the London Naval Conference of 1930.
The Kellogg–Briand Pact on the renunciation of war was concluded in 1928, and
Japan ratified it despite some grumbling that a treaty with the phrase “in the
names of their respective peoples” was not appropriate to a country where the
emperor had the final say in matters of war and peace. Saionji responded to such
criticisms by saying that he had participated in the Paris Peace Conference with
the emperor’s ultimate authority firmly in mind.
Great Depression Sets Back Democracy
Meanwhile, further reform of domestic politics was under consideration. Typically
power transfers took place when the majority party reached an impasse and ceded
power to the opposition, which then became the new majority party at the next
election, but some argued for a more direct connection between elections and
changes in government. There were also calls to give women the vote, at first in
local elections and later in national elections. And with the introduction of universal
male suffrage, the “proletarian” (socialist) parties gained a voice in national politics
from the 1928 election onward.
However, under the heavy impact of the Great Depression that started in 1929, the
tide began to turn away from democracy. Anticipating all-out war following the
army’s provocation of the Manchurian Incident in 1931, the army and navy resisted
toeing the line drawn by party politicians and strongly opposed further
development of party politics and pursuit of international disarmament. And they
undertook an unabashed propaganda campaign aimed at turning the people
against the party-led government.
Amid the heightening discord between politicians and the military, Prime Minister
Inukai Tsuyoshi was assassinated in the May 15 Incident of 1932, an attempted coup
d’état. Saionji set up a temporary cabinet of bureaucrats, while calling for a future
return to party politics. But with the February 26 Incident of 1936, another
unsuccessful but destabilizing coup attempt, all hope of a return to “the normal
course of constitutional government” was lost. Having ended its post–World War I
domestic movement toward democracy, it was only natural that Japan would go on
to reject the international order of the time.
An Important Turning Point
Japan’s democracy after World War II was based on a rebuilding of its democracy
from between the wars—a return to the combination of popular rule at home and a
foreign policy based on international cooperation. It was a revived and
strengthened version of the country’s post–World War I Taishō Democracy. In that
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sense, World War I was an important turning point in Japanese politics, acting to
open the curtain to the modern age in Japan in the same way it did in the West. As
we look back in this centennial year, we are reminded once more of the clear fact
that Japanese history is not some separate domestic matter but a part of global
history. In the same way, today’s popular efforts to bring about a more peaceful
world are inextricably linked to those of the post–World War I era.
Major Events of the Party Cabinet Era
1st Katō Takaaki Cabinet (parties: Kenseikai, Seiyūkai, Kakushin
Kurabu)
June 11,
1924–
August 2,
1925–
Tenant Dispute Mediation Law, Soviet–Japanese Basic Convention,
revision of House of Representatives Election Law to allow
universal suffrage for males over 25, Peace Preservation Law, fourdivision reduction of army strength by Army Minister Ugaki
Kazushige, reform of House of Peers Cabinet resigns due to
disagreement between coalition members.
2nd Katō Takaaki Cabinet (Kenseikai)
Katō leads Kenseikai cabinet following collapse of coalition.
Cabinet resigns due to death of Katō from pneumonia.
1st Wakatsuki Reijirō Cabinet (Kenseikai)
January
30, 1926–
Labor Dispute Mediation Law, introduction of universal male
suffrage in local elections, end of Taishō and start of Shōwa era,
Shōwa Financial Crisis
Cabinet resigns due to opposition from Privy Council.
Tanaka Giichi Cabinet (Seiyūkai)
April 20,
1927–
Establishment of two major parties, Geneva Naval Conference,
Shandong Expeditions, Jinan Incident, crackdown on communism,
assassination of Zhang Zuolin, Kellogg-Briand Pact
Cabinet resigns due to criticism from the emperor.
February 20, 1928: first House of Representatives election is held
following the introduction of universal male suffrage.
Results: Seiyūkai 217, Minseitō 216, Others 33
Hamaguchi Osachi Cabinet (Minseitō)
July 2,
1929–
Wall Street Crash (start of Great Depression), lifting of gold
embargo, Shōwa Depression, London Naval Conference, dispute
over violation of imperial right of supreme command, attempted
assassination of Hamaguchi, March Incident (attempted coup)
Cabinet resigns due to Prime Minister Hamaguchi’s poor health
following assassination attempt.
February 20, 1930: House of Representatives election is held.
Results: Minseitō 273, Seiyūkai 174, Others 19
April 14,
1931–
December
2nd Wakatsuki Reijirō Cabinet (Minseitō)
Manchurian Incident, October Incident (attempted coup)
Cabinet resigns due to internal discord.
Inukai Tsuyoshi Cabinet (Seiyūkai)
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13 1931–
May 26,
1932
The Rise and Fall of Taishō Democracy: Party Politics in Early-Twentieth-Century Japan | Nippon.com
Reimposition of gold embargo, Shanghai Incident, League of
Blood Incident, May 15 Incident
Cabinet resigns due to Inukai’s assassination in May 15 Incident.
February 20, 1932: House of Representatives election is held.
Results: Seiyūkai 301, Minseitō 146, Others 19
(Originally published in Japanese on July 30, 2014. Banner photo: Sannō Hotel in
Akasaka, Tokyo, the base for the February 26 Incident of 1936, one of a series of
attempted coups that contributed to the waning of democracy in Japan in the
period before World War II. © Jiji.)
(*1) ^ For a systematic presentation of “Taishō Democracy,” see Mitani Taichirō, Taishō
demokurashī ron: Yoshino Sakuzō no jidai (On Taishō Democracy: The Yoshino Sakuzō
Era), 3rd ed. (Tokyo: Tokyo University Press, 2013).
(*2) ^ Quotations from historical documents and other details are taken from the author’s
books: Seitō naikakusei no seiritsu: 1918–27 nen (The Establishment of the Party Cabinet
System 1918–1927) (Tokyo: Yūhikaku, 2005) and Seitō naikakusei no tenkai to hōkai: 1927–
36 nen (The Development and Breakdown of the Party Cabinet System 1927–1936) (Tokyo:
Yūhikaku, 2014). This article mainly discusses the establishment of party politics, but both
books also consider Yoshino Sakuzō, Ichikawa Fusae, and other thinkers of the time as
well as the development of social movements based on party politics. Frederick R.
Dickinson, World War I and the Triumph of a New Japan, 1919–1930 (New York:
Cambridge University Press, 2013), also takes a multifaceted look at Japan in the post–
World War I era.
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Murai Ryōta
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Professor, Faculty of Law, Komaza University. Specializes in
the political history of Japan. Received his doctorate in law
from Kobe University. Has been a researcher at the Japan
Society for the Promotion of Science and the Reischauer
Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University. Published
works include Seitō naikakusei no seiritsu: 1918–27 nen (The
Establishment of the Party Cabinet System 1918–1927) and
Seitō naikakusei no tenkai to hōkai: 1927–36 nen (The
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Development and Breakdown of the Party Cabinet System
1927–1936).
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