Rikken Kaishintō
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rikken Kaishintō (Constitutional Reform Party) (立憲改進党 Rikken Kaishintō ?) was a political party in Meiji period Japan. It was also known as simply the ‘Kaishintō’.
The Kaishintō was founded by Ōkuma Shigenobu in April 1882, with the assistance of Yano Ryūsuke, Inukai Tsuyoshi and Ozaki Yukio. It received financial backing by the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, and had strong support from the Japanese press, [1] and urban intellecturals. [2]
The Kaishintō pursued a moderate approach, calling for a British-style constitutional monarchy within the framework of a parliamentary democracy. In a speech Ōkuma gave at the inauguration of the party, he emphasized the symbolic role of the monarch in the type of government he envisioned. He also argued that those extremists who supported having the emperor directly involved political decision making were in fact endangering the very existence of the Imperial institution. [3]
The Kaishintō won 46 seats to the House of Representatives (Japan) in the Diet election of 1890, thus becoming the second largest party after the Jiyūtō.
Afterwards, the Kaishintō adopted an increasingly nationalistic foreign policy, and in March 1896 merged with several smaller nationalist parties to form the Shimpotō.
[edit] References
- Jansen, Marius B. (2000). The Making of Modern Japan. Belknap Press. ISBN 0674009916.
- Keane, Donald (2005). Emperor Of Japan: Meiji And His World, 1852-1912. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12341-8.
- Sims, Richard (2001). Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868-2000. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0312239157.
