小野梓とイギリス功利主義の政治思想

抄録

The Japanese Imperial Government which started in 1868 tried to introduce European political institutions rapidly. Young Japanese statesmen/and scholars went abroad to study European political systems and ideas. Among European and American books on politics, government or law which were translated into Japanese, those of English utilitarians were numerous, Bentham's “Theory of Legislation”, “Morals of Legislation”, “Fragment on Government”, Mill's “On Liberty”, “Representative Government”, “Utilitarianism”, “Political Economy” were translated between 1860's and 1880's.
This paper will focus on and analyse Azusa Ono (1852-1885), whose political ideas were strongly influenced by English utilitarians. He studied in New York and London and then became a Japanese bureaucrat. After he resigned his office, his activity as a leader of an opposite party was remarkable. He was also a prolific writer, and in his last book entitled “Kokken Hanron” (“General Theory of Constitution”) were reflected the political ideas of Bentham's “Constitutional Code”, James Mill's “Government” and J. S. Mill's “Representative Government” :
Ono insisted that constitutional government should be established in Japan, He admired the British type of parliamentary government, but he tried to modify it by applying Bentham and two Mills' plans for political reforms to it. Though Ono died four years before the opening of the first Japanese parliament, his plan of constitutional government was far more liberal and democratic than Japanese Imperial Constitution. He was one of the distinguished statesmen who gained the insight and perspective in accepting English utilitarian political ideas in early modern Japan.