Rikken Kaishintō

nihongo|Rikken Kaishintō (Constitutional Reform Party) |立憲改進党| Rikken Kaishintō was a political party in Meiji period Japan. It was also known as simply the ‘Kaishintō’.

The Kaishintō was founded by Ōkuma Shigenobu in April 1882, with the assistance of Yano Ryūsuke, Inukai Tsuyoshi and Ozaki Yukio. It received financial backing by the Mitsubishi "zaibatsu," and had strong support from the Japanese press, [Jansen, the Making of Modern Japan, pp. 374] and urban intellecturals. [ Sims, Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868-2000, pp.57 ]

The Kaishintō pursued a moderate approach, calling for a British-style constitutional monarchy within the framework of a parliamentary democracy. In a speech Ōkuma gave at the inauguration of the party, he emphasized the symbolic role of the monarch in the type of government he envisioned. He also argued that those extremists who supported having the emperor directly involved political decision making were in fact endangering the very existence of the Imperial institution. [Keene, Emperor Of Japan: Meiji And His World, 1852-1912, pp 365]

In the first Diet general election of 1890, the Kaishintō won 46 seats to the House of Representatives (Japan), thus becoming the second largest party after the Jiyūtō.

Afterwards, the Kaishintō adopted an increasingly nationalistic foreign policy, and in March 1896 merged with several smaller nationalist parties to form the Shimpotō.

References

*cite book
last = Jansen
first = Marius B.
year = 2000
title = The Making of Modern Japan
publisher = Belknap Press
location =
id = ISBN 0674009916
*cite book
last = Keane
first = Donald
year = 2005
title = Emperor Of Japan: Meiji And His World, 1852-1912
publisher = Columbia University Press
location =
id = ISBN 0-231-12341-8
*cite book
last = Sims
first = Richard
authorlink =
year = 2001
title = Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868-2000
publisher = Palgrave Macmillan
location =
id = ISBN 0312239157

Notes