The exhibition was held at the National Diet Library from May 1 to 7, 1997, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Japanese Constitution. It attracted about 1,400 visitors. Over sixty documents were exhibited; the major part of them were chosen from the documents originally held by Irie Toshiro and Sato Tatsuo, who took an active part in the birth of the Constitution of Japan. The exhibition consisted of introduction and other three parts.

Introduction: the establishment of the Meiji Constitution

The Meiji Period began in 1868 when the restoration of direct imperial rule was proclaimed. The Meiji Government pursued reforms to modernize the country. The Government revived the Grand Council of State to strengthen its authority. A large part of the Meiji leadership toured America and Europe to study modern systems as part of the Iwakura mission from 1871 to 1873, and were strongly influenced by this exposure to the West. The Freedom and People's Rights Movement was triggered by Itagaki Taisuke's written petition to establish an elective assembly. Discussions on a constitution became active both in the Government and private sectors. The Constitution of the Empire of Japan (Meiji Constitution) was largely the work of Ito Hirobumi, who was strongly influenced by German constitutional theories. In 1889 the Constitution of the Empire of Japan was promulgated. In 1890 the first session of the Imperial Diet was convened. In this part of the exhibition, a draft of the written petition for establishing an elective assembly, several drafts of the Meiji Constitution, a letter of Ito Hirobumi from Berlin which he visited to study the constitutional system, the Meiji Constitution written in silk and so forth were displayed.

Part 1. Defeat and the movements toward the new Constitution

Japan surrendered to the Allied Powers in 1945, accepting the Potsdam Declaration. Soon after the end of the War, the Cabinet Legislation Bureau secretly started examining the reform of the Meiji Constitution (Picture 1. A memo by Irie Toshiro, then director of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau). From October 1945, the Japanese political parties and several other private groups published their own draft constitutions. The Constitutional Problem Investigation Committee, chaired by Joji Matsumoto, then Minister of the State, investigated at the problems in the Meiji Constitution and held discussions to prepare a draft. It officially submitted an outline of the revised constitution on February 8, 1946 to the General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (Picture 2. Outline of the Matsumoto draft submitted to GHQ). The work of the Matsumoto Committee had almost come to an end, when a newspaper published what it claimed to be very close to the Committee's final draft. GHQ found the draft reported in the newspaper too conservative to be acceptable. General MacArthur ordered the Government Section of the GHQ to prepare a draft of the new Constitution and present it to the Japanese Government (Picture 3. MacArthur note). He suggested three basic points to be "musts" in constitutional revision; succession of the empire system, renunciation of war and an end of the feudal system. Other documents exhibited included a report of the public poll on the reform of the Constitution, and several drafts of the Constitution by political parties and private groups.

Part 2. From a GHQ draft to the establishment of the new Constitution

The GHQ rejected the Matsumoto draft and submitted their own draft to the Japanese Government on February 13, 1946 (Picture 4. A draft constitution for Japan to the Chief, Government Section, GHQ). The draft placed sovereignty in the hands of the people, and wrote in clearly the renunciation of war and the protection of human rights. At the Cabinet meeting on February 22, the ministers agreed to accept the fundamental principles of the GHQ draft. The work of writing a draft of the Japanese Government along the lines of the GHQ draft went on night and day. The final draft, which was written in ordinary Japanese, was made public on April 17 (Picture 5). After deliberation at the 90th session of the Imperial Diet, the new Constitution was promulgated on November 3, 1946 and came into force on May 3, 1947. In this part of the exhibition, in addition to the above documents in pictures, an official gazette with the signatures of those who worked on the preparation of the new constitution and articles in foreign newspapers reporting the new Constitution were displayed.

Picture 1	Picture 2	Picture 3

Picture 4	Picture 5

Part 3. Preparation of related laws and publicizing the new Constitution

Along with the promulgation of the new Constitution, a body of laws suitable for the ideas represented in the new Constitution was prepared. At the same time, the Imperial Diet and the Government established an organization designed to publicize the new Constitution. Scholars and journalists as well as Diet members joined the organization and promoted various activities to make the Constitution known and accepted by the public. In this part, the documents related to the preparation of the related laws, a brochure to enlighten children about the Constitution, a picture explaining the basic principles of the new Constitution and other related documents were displayed. (Modern Japanese Political Documents Division)