Western and Japanese constitutional thought in the shaping of the role of the Japanese emperor in the 1889 and 1946 constitutions

Abstract

The article deals with the combined influence of the Japanese and the Western traditions and legal thoughts in the shaping of the imperial institution in the two Japanese Constitutions, the 1889 Meiji Constitution and the 1946 “American” Constitution. The Meiji Constitution, modelled after the 1850 Constitution of Prussia, enshrines the sacred and eternal characters of the imperial system, within a Western framework; while the 1946 Constitution completely alters the imperial system, modifying the sovereignty principle and assigning a mere symbolic role to the Emperor.