Documents with Commentaries Part 2 Creation of Various Proposals to Reform the Constitution
Tatsuji Fuse was a lawyer and social activist working for the protection of human rights since the end of the Meiji Era. He was involved in such activities as the Rice Riots of 1918 and the March 15th Incident of 1928 (Suppression of the Communist Party) as well as lending his legal skills to such issues as the tenant farming disputes, labor disputes, and the emancipation of the Buraku (descendents of feudal outcasts). He was also a central figure in the Japan Lawyers Association for Freedom (founded in 1921).
In this Constitutional Reform Draft, Fuse attempts to harmonize the Japanese democratization and the maintenance of the National Polity from the view of "government by the monarch and his subjects in union" to which he had devoted his speculations on the impetus for the suffrage movement. The first chapter establishes the sovereignty of the people while the third chapter makes provisions for the Emperor System. Besides that, some of the features of this draft were that the Diet was to be a single body divided into two parts, and it would be convened twice a year, first to discuss the budget and then again to discuss the financial results for the year, and replacing military service with volunteer civil service.
| Actual Title of Source | Kenpo Kaisei (Shian) Fuse Tatsuji Kian |
|---|---|
| Date | |
| Document Number | Irie Toshio Papers: 11 |
| Repository (reproduction) | |
| Repository | National Diet Library |
| Note |
