The significance of revisions made to the Japanese prefectural and county codes in 1899

Abstract

The codes relating to prefectural (fuken 府県) and county (gun 郡) districting systems were first promulgated in 1890 by the Meiji Government, under the initiative of YAMAGATA Aritomo, and aimed at eliminating the influence of political parties on local self-governance. In response, the political parties demanded that the government revise the two codes in order to expand suffrage in the name of decentralization. In every session of the Diet from the 1^<st> to the 10^<th>, the parties submitted bills to revise the articles pertaining to centralization. This article attempts to clarify how the government and the political parties reached a compromise about the code revisions during the 13^<th> session of the Diet through an analysis of the debate over revision during the previous sessions. The research to date on the extensive revisions made in 1899 is divided between two points of view. Ito Yukio has concluded that the revisions are symbolic of the democratization that took place in local autonomy during the Meiji era, because they eliminated the articles regarding both indirect elections (fukusen-ho 複選法) of the prefectural and county assemblies and the voting rights of privileged landowners in each county. On the other hand Takagi Shosaku is of the opinion that the revisions seriously damaged the interests of the political parties because they included several articles reinforcing the supervisory powers of the Minister of the Home Affairs and the prefectural governors. Concerning these two differing points of view, the author of this article argues that both are too simple and too exaggerated. While it may be true that the revision brought a modicum of democratization in local governance, the prefectural assembly elections soon after the revisions reveal that a large number political party members were elected and were able to wield a good deal of influence on local self-governance, in the same way that as their cohorts active in the central government.