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The Art of Constitutional Legitimation: a Genealogy of Modern Japanese

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The Art of Constitutional Legitimation: a Genealogy of Modern Japanese Title Page The Art of Constitutional Legitimation: A Genealogy of Modern Japanese Political Thought by Tomonori Teraoka Bachelor of Law (LL.B.), Tohoku University, 2010 Master of International Affairs, The Pennsylvania State University, 2013 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2020 Committee Page UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Tomonori Teraoka It was defended on August 14, 2020 and approved by David L. Marshall, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Paul Elliott Johnson, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Dissertation Directors: Olga Kuchinskaya, Associate Professor, Department of Communication and Ricky Law, Associate Professor, Department of History (Carnegie Mellon University) ii Copyright © by Tomonori Teraoka 2020 iii The Art of Constitutional Legitimation: A Genealogy of Modern Japanese Political Thought Tomonori Teraoka, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2020 This dissertation examines rhetorical and historical issues of the two Japanese constitutions, the Meiji constitution (1889 − 1946) and the postwar constitution (1946 −). It examines a rhetorical issue of how persuasive narratives ground a constitution. It also examines a historical issue of modern Japan, that is to say, the re-emerging issue of whether or not, how, and how much Japan needed to domesticate foreign paradigms, a core of which was a modern constitution. The dissertation’s analysis of the two issues shows how the scholarly discourse in modern Japan (1868-) responded to the re-emerging issue of political/constitutional legitimacy across both the Meiji constitution and the postwar constitution. It uses the concept of “the rhetorical art of legitimization” to observe the distinctive methods through which leading scholars engaged in establishing political/constitutional legitimacy during different historical periods (the mid-late 19th century, the early 20th century, and the mid 20th century). In doing so, it argues that contemporary debates on constitutional revision in Japan have deep historical roots in the issue of political/constitutional legitimacy with which modern Japanese political thought constantly engaged. iv Table of Contents Preface ............................................................................................................................................ x 1.0 Introduction: The Rhetorical Issue of Constitutional Legitimacy in Modern Japan ......................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Kokutai and Its Brief Historical Background .............................................................. 7 1.2 Literature Review ......................................................................................................... 12 1.3 Approach ....................................................................................................................... 17 1.4 Text and Analysis ......................................................................................................... 24 1.5 A Preview of the Chapters ........................................................................................... 25 2.0 The Rhetorical Art of Legitimation..................................................................................... 28 2.1 Rhetoric as Political Legitimation ............................................................................... 31 2.2 Myth as Invention ......................................................................................................... 41 2.3 Myth as Faith (Pistis).................................................................................................... 47 2.4 Myth as Reconciliation ................................................................................................. 54 2.5 Contextualizing the Rhetorical Art of Legitimation in Modern Japan ................... 61 2.5.1 The Writing of History as the Method of Invention in Mitogaku in the Late Edo Era ........................................................................................................................66 2.5.2 The Image of the Body Politic as the Method of Reconciliation in Meiji Japan .......................................................................................................................................70 2.6 Chapter Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 72 3.0 Inventing Modern Japan’s Political/Constitutional Legitimacy: Between Particularity and Universality in Mid to Late 19th Century Japan ...................................... 74 v 3.1 The Contested Reading Methods of Chinese Classics: The Yoshida – Yamagata Debate .................................................................................................................................. 77 3.2 The Different Methods of Legitimizing Kokutai: The Fukuzawa – Inoue Debate . 88 3.3 The Discovery of Edmund Burke in Japan: The Kaneko – Ueki Debate.............. 101 3.4 The Place of Religion in Japan’s Legitimacy: The Kaneko – Ueki Debate ........... 116 3.5 The Discovery of Japan’s Political/Constitutional Legitimacy .............................. 127 3.6 Chapter Conclusion: Invention ................................................................................. 129 4.0 Kokka as the Unwritten Constitution: The Body Metaphors of the State at the Beginning of the 20th Century of Japan ................................................................................. 131 4.1 The Body Politic in Meiji Japan ................................................................................ 139 4.2 Kokka or the Emperor (Tennō 天皇) ........................................................................ 145 4.2.1 Hozumi Yakka ..................................................................................................145 4.2.2 Uesugi Shinkichi ...............................................................................................154 4.3 Kokka as an Organism (Yūkitai 有機体) .................................................................. 161 4.3.1 Kato Hiroyuki ...................................................................................................161 4.3.1.1 “Nature” as the Absolute Law of the Evolution of Organisms ....... 163 4.3.1.2 The Analogical Metaphor of “Kokka as an Organism”.................... 166 4.3.2 Kita Ikki ............................................................................................................172 4.4 Kokka as a Legal Person (Hojin 法人) ...................................................................... 182 4.4.1 Minobe Tatsukichi ...........................................................................................182 4.4.2 Ariga Nagao ......................................................................................................190 4.5 Kokka as the Unwritten Constitution ........................................................................ 194 4.5.1 A Comparative Map ........................................................................................194 vi 4.5.2 Kokka as the Unwritten Constitution ............................................................197 4.6 Chapter Conclusion: Reconciliation ......................................................................... 200 5.0 (Dis-) Continuity of Tradition: The Rhetorical Invention of Constitutional Legitimacy in Postwar Japan ................................................................................................... 202 5.1 The Postwar Exigency of Rhetorical Invention: A Historical Context ................. 206 5.2 Literature on the Postwar Constitution ................................................................... 210 5.3 Rhetorical Analysis and Text Selection .................................................................... 213 5.4 The Postwar Liberals on the Discontinuity of Tradition ........................................ 218 5.4.1 Miyazawa on Hachigatsu Kakumei .................................................................218 5.4.2 Maruyama on Bunmei Seishin no Jyūniku ....................................................226 5.5 The Postwar Conservatives on the Continuity of Tradition ................................... 238 5.5.1 Tsuda on Seishinteki Ken-i ..............................................................................238 5.5.2 Watsuji on Kokumin Zentaisei no Hyogensha ................................................244 5.6 (Dis-)Continuity of Tradition .................................................................................... 250 5.7 Chapter Conclusion: Rupture & Divide................................................................... 253 6.0 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 258 6.1 A Genealogy of Japanese Constitutional Legitimacy .............................................. 258 6.2 The Rhetorical Art of Legitimation .......................................................................... 260 6.3 East Asian Modernity As an Alternative.................................................................. 263 6.4 Future Research.........................................................................................................
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