Shidehara Kijūrō and the Japanese Constitution's war-abolishing Article 9

Abstract

The origin and purpose of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution seem shrouded in secrecy. This paper places Article 9 in the context of the UN Charter and peace constitutions which were emerging globally that aimed to limit state sovereignty in favor of international organization and the renunciation of war in the aftermath of WWII (Schlichtmann 2009b). It is a provision the Japanese people have upheld for more than seventy years. With the gradual return of block confrontation during the 1990s and the revival of the ‘balance of power’ concept, however, Japan came under pressure to change its Constitution and participate in military defense alliances. This has led to a noticeable shift in policy. Although Shidehara Kijūrō (1872–1951) had been well-known and respected for his peace diplomacy as foreign minister during the interwar period, it soon became expedient to deny him any direct involvement in the drafting of Article 9 when he was Prime Minister after the war.

Keywords:

• Shidehara Kijūrō
• abolition of war
• collective security
• United Nations
• Hague Peace Conferences
• transitional security arrangements

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Paragraph (3) of the German Grundgesetz, promulgated May 23, 1949. The first two paragraphs read: (1) The Federation may by legislation transfer sovereign powers to international organizations. (2) With a view to maintaining peace the Federation may become a party to a system of collective security; in doing so it shall consent to such limitations upon its sovereign powers as will bring about and secure a peaceful and lasting order in Europe and among the nations of the world.

2 The following Resolution was adopted in both Houses of the American Congress in 1949: ‘Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that it should be a fundamental objective of the foreign policy of the United States to support and strengthen the United Nations and to seek its development into a world federation open to all nations with defined and limited powers adequate to preserve peace and prevent aggression through the enactment, interpretation, and enforcement of world law’ (U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Foreign Affairs 1949, 1–2). Britain in 1953 had the same idea but gave up developing the United Nations into ‘a World Federation open to all nations, with defined and limited powers adequate to preserve peace and prevent aggression through the enactment, interpretation and enforcement of world law’. See the discussion in the House of Lords, HL Deb 07 May 1953 vol. 182 cc348-85, online at https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1953/may/07/world-federation.

3 Already in 1955 the Committee had issued ‘An Appeal to the 10th General Assembly of the United Nations’: ‘Whereas on November 3, 1946, the Japanese people, aspiring to an international peace based on justice and order, renounced war’, etc. Apparently calling for Charter Review under Article 109, the undersigned appealed ‘to the 10th General Assembly of the United Nations now in session to convene in September, 1956, a conference to reconsider the United Nations…’ The ‘Appeal’ was signed by seven eminent Japanese, Shimonaka Yasaburō (Chairman, Japanese Union for World Federal Government), Maeda Tamon (Chairman, Japanese National Committee, UNESCO), Dr. Sc. Kaya Seiji (President, Science Council of Japan), Dr. Sc. Yukawa Hideki (Kyoto University), Hiratsuka Raichi (President, Federation of All Japan Women’s Organizations), Uemura Tamaki (President, YMCA of Japan), and Jōdai Tano (President, Japan Section, Woman’s International League for Peace and Freedom). Online http://worldpeace7.jp.

4 There was toward the end of the war ‘a group of political figures around Shidehara Kijūrō, Akizuki Satsuo, Yoshida Shigeru, and Kuroki Yūkichi’, working together to achieve ‘an early termination of the Greater East Asian War’ (dai tōa sensō no sōki kōwa) (Schlichtmann 2009a, Vol. 2, 136).

5 See also Ian Brownlie (1963), p. 423, who, referring to the League Covenant’s provision of Article 10, says ‘there is a legal duty or obligation not to recognize situations resulting from the illegal use of force which rests on state practice, general principle, and considerations of policy’.

6 In Japan recently the Campaign to ‘second’ (endorse and promote) Article 9 in the UNGA had much media attention. See https://sites.google.com/view/ipranewsletter/ipra-newsletter-2019-v9 (The ‘SA9 Campaign’).

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Klaus Schlichtmann

Klaus Schlichtmann is a peace historian and a historian of international law and diplomacy. Born in Hamburg, he holds a PhD from Kiel University, Germany. He studied Indian traditional culture early in his life while teaching in India. In 1992 he came to Japan on a scholarship from the Japanese-German Center Berlin. He has been teaching Peace Studies courses and language. Email: [email protected]