Jewels in Her Crown: Treasures of Columbia University Libraries Special Collections

184.  Yatsuka Hozumi (1860-1912).  Kenpō Teiyō [Outline of the Constitution]. Tokyo: Yuhikaku, 1911. Arthur W. Diamond Law Library, Toshiba Library for Japanese Legal Research

"[T]he Emperor is the state." (p. 79, v. 1). This often-cited line eloquently summarizes Hozumi's view of the state. According to him there are two forms of state (kokutai), monarchical and democratic, depending on the bearer of sovereignty, and two forms of government (seitai), absolute and constitutional. The kokutai is eternal while the seitai is not. "In a society," he claimed, "there is from the start a heaven-sent leader." Within that framework, Japan's millenary imperial lineage constituted the "unbroken monarchical state. Hozumi's conservative views conformed to the intent of the constitution's authors, and helped him reach an influential position in academia as well as in the government. As with most prominent scholars of the time, Yatsuka Hozumi studied law in Germany for several years. Upon his return to Japan, he taught at the Imperial University of Tokyo from 1889 until his death in 1912. Kenpō Teiyō is considered his most important work. The book displayed is the second edition of the original published in 1910.

Gift of the Family of Justice Jiro Tanaka, 1982