Page:A handbook of modern Japan (IA handbookofmodern01clem).pdf/167

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
CONSTITUTIONAL IMPERIALISM
121

and long-established rights. The present Emperor holds the throne according to the native tradition, perpetuated even in the language of the Constitution, by virtue of a "lineal succession unbroken for ages eternal." But even though rigid criticism compels us to reject as more or less mythological the so-called "history" of about 1,000 years; and although Yoshihito, therefore, may not be really the 123d ruler of the line from the Japanese Romulus (Jimmu), nevertheless he remains the representative of the oldest living dynasty in the world. If, then, time is a factor in confirming the claims and rights of a ruler, no king or emperor of the present day has a better title. And his father, born and bred in the atmosphere of Oriental absolutism and despotism, "in consideration of the progressive tendency of the course of human affairs, and in parallel with the advance of civilization,"[1] voluntarily and generously admitted his people to a share in the administration of public affairs.

That important document, which signed away such strongly acquired and inherited prerogatives, at the outset, however, seems far from generous. The Emperor, "sacred and inviolate," is "the head of the empire," combining in himself the rights of sovereignty; but he "exercises them according to the provisions of the Constitution." It is only "in consequence of an urgent necessity to maintain public safety or to avert public calamities," that the

  1. ↑ This and following quotations are from the Constitution itself.
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.