61-400: National Foundation Day may refer to: National Foundation Day (Japan) National Foundation Day (Korea) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title National Foundation Day . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
122-478: A constitutional monarchy for Japan. He contrasted between kokutai and seitai (政体 "government body/structure"). Brownlee explains. The Kokutai-seitai distinction enabled conservatives to identify clearly as Kokutai , National Essence, the "native Japanese", eternal, and immutable aspects of their polity, derived from history, tradition, and custom, and focused on the Emperor. The form of government, Seitai ,
183-539: A compromise on imperial democracy minpon shugi (民本主義 "people based principle/-ism"). However, as Japanese nationalism grew, questions arose whether the kokutai emperor could be limited by the seitai government. The Peace Preservation Law of 1925 forbade both forming and belonging to any organization that proposed altering the kokutai or the abolishment of private property, effectively criminalizing socialism, communism, republicanism , democracy and other anti-Tenno ideologies . The Tokkō ("Special Higher Police")
244-550: A concept to generate spiritual unity like Aizawa Seishisai in 1825, or with a political theory of Japan designed to accommodate modern institutions of government, like the Meiji Constitution. The committee of professors from prestigious universities sought to define the essential truths of Japan, which might be termed religious, or even metaphysical, because they required faith at the expense of logic and reason. (2006:13) The Ministry of Education promulgated it throughout
305-471: A democratic form, but in practice was closer to an absolute monarchy. The legal scholar Josefa López notes that under the Meiji Constitution, kokutai acquired an additional meaning. The Government created a whole perfect new cultural system around the Tennou [Emperor], and the kokutai was the expression of it. Moreover, the kokutai was the basis of the sovereignty. According to Tatsukichi Minobe, kokutai
366-609: A holiday that united the entire Japanese nation in loyalty to the emperor over the length and breadth of Japan. However, the government in Tokyo was as late as 1911 still chiding local officials in rural areas for including in Kigensetsu ceremonies to honor local Shinto gods, reminding them the purpose of Kigensetsu was to unite the Japanese nation in loyalty to the god-emperor in Tokyo, not honor local gods. Given its reliance on
427-482: A new Japan. From this pamphlet, pupils were taught to put the nation before the self, and that they were part of the state and not separate from it. It also instructed them in the principle of hakkō ichiu ("eight cords, one roof"), which would be used to justify imperialism. Brownlee concludes that after the Kokutai no Hongi proclamation, It is clear that at this stage in history, they were no longer dealing with
488-530: A secondary concept, then consisted of the historical arrangements for the exercise of political authority. Seitai , the form of government, was historically contingent and changed through time. Japan had experienced in succession direct rule by the Emperors in ancient times, then the rule of the Fujiwara Regents, then seven hundred years of rule by shōguns , followed by the allegedly direct rule of
549-584: A secular form, such as the Niiname-no-Matsuri holiday in November (which became Labor Thanksgiving Day ), the Kigensetsu holiday was effectively abolished when Japan enacted a new national holiday law in 1948. Even after the occupation ended, there was widespread opposition to reviving the holiday within Japan due to its association with militarism. However, there was also a movement to revive
610-434: A smaller scale, as classes always began in Japan with the students bowing to a portrait of the emperor, and school graduations and the opening of new schools were conducted in a manner very similar to how Kigensetsu was celebrated. When students graduated in Japan, the principal and the teachers would always give speeches to the graduating class on the theme that Japan was a special nation because its emperors were gods, and it
671-501: Is a public holiday for the purpose of "recalling the founding of the nation and cultivating a mindset of love of the nation." It is a national holiday on which each Japanese person thinks about the efforts made by our forebears from ages past in bringing the country to where it is today, and renews his or her hopes for the further development of the nation. In contrast with the events associated with earlier Kigensetsu , celebrations for National Foundation Day are relatively moderate. During
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#1732766102039732-476: Is an annual public holiday in Japan annually held on the 11th February, celebrating the foundation of Japan, enforced by a specific Cabinet Order set in 1966. 11 February is the accession date of the legendary first Emperor of Japan , Emperor Jimmu at Kashihara-gū , converted into Gregorian calendar of 660 BC which is written in Kojiki and chapter 3 of Nihon Shoki . Coincidentally, 11 February 1889
793-494: Is an ideology that values the traditional Japanese spirit and sets the tone of the state and society; it emerged in this period as a reaction to the Meiji government 's radical Europeanization policy. Nihon shugi is a kind of " kukka shugi " (国家主義, lit. "statism" or "nationalism") ideology. Nihon Shugi opposed 'Europeanism' (欧化主義), ' democracy ' and ' socialism ', which were considered unrelated to Japanese traditions, and during
854-554: Is no government-sponsored ceremony. However, the "National Foundation Day Celebration Central Ceremony" sponsored by the "Japan's National Foundation Day Celebration" is held every year since 2020. There is also an ambassador's attendance. The "National Foundation Day Celebration" and the "Celebration Steering Committee" reorganized into "Japan's National Foundation Day Celebration" and hold their own ceremonies. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force has full dressing of self-defense ships moored at bases and general ports. They hoist
915-553: Is the day of the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution . The origin of National Foundation Day is New Year's Day in the traditional lunisolar calendar . On that day, the foundation of Japan by the legendary Emperor Jimmu was celebrated based on the Nihon Shoki , which states that Emperor Jimmu ascended to the throne on the first day of the first month. There is, however, no compelling historical evidence that
976-599: Is understood as the "shape of the Estate" in the sense of "Tenno as the organ of the Estate", while the authoritarians gave the kokutai a mystical power. The Tennou was a "god" among "humans", the incarnation of the national morals. This notion of kokutai was extra-juridical, something more cultural than positive. (2006:n.p.) Defunct Defunct This stemmed from drafter Itō Hirobumi 's rejection of some European notions as unfit for Japan, as they stemmed from European constitutional practice and Christianity. The references to
1037-664: The Hanyu Da Cidian , the oldest guoti usages are in two Chinese classic texts . The 2nd century BC Guliang zhuan ( 榖梁傳 ; 'Guliang's Commentary') to the Spring and Autumn Annals glosses dafu ( 大夫 ; 'high minister', 'senior official') as guoti metaphorically meaning "embodiment of the country". The 1st century AD Book of Han history of Emperor Cheng of Han used guoti to mean "laws and governance" of Confucianist officials. The historical origins of kokutai go back to pre-1868 periods, especially
1098-628: The Edo period ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868). Aizawa Seishisai (会沢正志斎, 1782–1863) was an authority on Neo-Confucianism and leader of the Mitogaku (水戸学 "Mito School") that supported direct restoration of the Imperial House of Japan . He popularized the word kokutai in his 1825 Shinron (新論 "New Theses"), which also introduced the term Sonnō jōi ("revere the Emperor, expel
1159-477: The Emperor's sovereignty; Japanese constitution " or nation . Kokutai originated as a Sino-Japanese loanword from Chinese guoti ( Chinese : 國體 ; pinyin : guótǐ ; "state political system; national governmental structure"). The Japanese compound word joins koku ( 國 , "country; nation; province; land") and tai ( 體 , "body; substance; object; structure; form; style") . According to
1220-591: The Japanese Embassy to the United States (1860) . His 1875 "Bunmeiron no Gairyaku" (文明論の概略 "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization") contradicted traditional ideas about kokutai . He reasoned that it was not unique to Japan and that every nation could be said to have a kokutai "national sovereignty". While Fukuzawa respected the Emperor of Japan , he believed kokutai did not depend upon myths of unbroken descent from Amaterasu. The Constitution of
1281-653: The Nihon Shoki . The date was 29 January 1873 of the Gregorian calendar, but later that year it was changed to 11 February, probably to avoid conflict with the celebrations of Lunar New Year. 11 February was also the day when the Constitution of the Empire of Japan was proclaimed in 1889. In its original form, the holiday was named Kigensetsu ( 紀元節 ) , translated by one pre-war scholar as "Festival of
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#17327661020391342-544: The State Shinto , the nationalistic version of Shinto which is the traditional Japanese ethnic religion and its reinforcement of the Japanese nobility based on the Japanese nationalism and militarism , Kigensetsu was abolished following the surrender of Japan following World War II . In a 1948 memorandum, the chief of the occupation authorities' religious and cultural resources division, W. K. Bunce, recommended
1403-723: The Taishō and Shōwa era , it emphasized the Kokutai ideology centered on the emperor as opposed to Marxism . From the Xinhai Revolution to the enactment of the Peace Preservation Law (1911–1925), the most important pre-World War II democracy movement " Taishō Democracy " occurred. During the Taishō Democracy, the political theorist Sakuzō Yoshino (1878–1933) rejected Western democracy minshu shugi (民主主義 lit. "people rule principle/-ism") and proposed
1464-471: The government of Meiji Japan designated the day as a national holiday as part of the modernization of Japan under the Meiji Restoration . Under the bakufu , people in Japan worshiped the emperors as living gods, but regional loyalties were just as strong as national loyalties, with most people feeling an equal or a stronger loyalty to the daimyō ("lord") ruling their province as they did to
1525-502: The kokutai were the justification of the emperor's authority through his divine descent and the unbroken line of emperors, and the unique relationship between subject and sovereign. The "family-state" element in it was given a great deal of prominence by political philosophy. Many conservatives supported these principles as central to Nihon shugi ( Nihon gunkoku shugi , Japanese militarism ), "Japanism", as an alternative to rapid Westernization. Nihon shugi (日本主義, lit. "Japan-ism")
1586-540: The shōgun who ruled from distant Edo , let alone the emperor who reigned in the equally distant city of Kyoto . Moreover, Shintoism has a number of deities, and until the Meiji Restoration, the emperors were just one of many Shinto gods, and usually not the most important. During the Meiji era, the government went out of its way to promote the imperial cult of emperor-worship as a way of ensuring that loyalty to
1647-697: The Accession of the First Emperor and the Foundation of the Empire". The national holiday was supported by those who believed that focusing national attention on the emperor would serve an unifying purpose, holding the kokutai together with all Japanese people united by their love of the god-emperor. Publicly linking his rule with the legendary first emperor, Jimmu, and thus the Sun Goddess Amaterasu , Emperor Meiji declared himself
1708-570: The Army at once, and many objected on the grounds that they did not come from samurai families. The new holiday was introduced to help promote the imperial cult underpinning the kokutai . This coincided with the switch from the lunisolar calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1873. The holiday was proclaimed on the Lunar New Year of 1872, on the accession of Emperor Jimmu according to
1769-405: The Emperors again after the Meiji Restoration . Each was a seitai , a form of government. In this understanding, the modern system of government under the Meiji Constitution, derived this time from foreign sources, was nothing more than another form of Japanese government, a new seitai . The Constitution was nothing fundamental. (2000:5) Fukuzawa Yukichi was an influential author translator for
1830-523: The Empire of Japan of 1889 created a form of constitutional monarchy with the kokutai sovereign emperor and seitai organs of government. Article 4 declares that "the Emperor is the head of the Empire, combining in Himself the rights of sovereignty", uniting the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, although subject to the "consent of the Imperial Diet". This system utilized
1891-657: The Nazi councils they were copying, this was part of a program to create a classless national unity. Because many religions had figures that distracted from the central emperor, they were attacked, such as the Oomoto sect condemned for worshipping figures other than Amaterasu , and in 1939, the Religious Organization authorized the shutting down of any religion that did not conform to the Imperial Way, which
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1952-561: The Tokugawa era), which had caused people to forget their nature. To recover their traditional identity, Japanese citizens had to actively participate in the war effort. "Japanist" unions endeavoured to win support by disavowing class violence and pledging support for nation and emperor. Nevertheless, because of the mistrust of unions in such unity, the Japanese went to replace them with "councils" in every factory, containing both management and worker representatives to contain conflict. Like
2013-465: The abolition of Kigensetsu to General Douglas MacArthur 's chief of staff, writing that: This holiday, based entirely on Shinto mythology, has been an occasion for propagandizing the divine origin and superiority of the Japanese race. Due to its official recognition of historical absurdities, it has served as a stumbling block to honest research into the early history of the Japanese people. Although some other prewar religious holidays were retained in
2074-669: The anniversary of the Constitution of Japan of 1947) and 3 April (the anniversary of the Seventeen-Article Constitution of 604). National Foundation Day was added as a national holiday by the revision of the Public Holiday Law in 1966 (Shōwa 41), and was applied from 11 February 1967 (Shōwa 42). Article 2 of the Law Concerning National Holidays (Holiday Law, Law No. 178, 20 July 1948 (国民の祝日に関する法律) ) stipulates that
2135-473: The authorities promptly used. Hirohito evoked the Kokutai in his surrender broadcast , which announced the Japanese acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration (unconditional surrender). By the surrender of Japan in 1945, the significance of kokutai diminished. In autumn 1945, GHQ forbade circulation of the Kokutai no Hongi and on 15 October repealed the 1925 Peace Preservation Law . By
2196-549: The barbarians"). Aizawa developed his ideas of kokutai using the idea that the Japanese national myths in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki were historical facts, believing that the Emperor was directly descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu-ōmikami . Aizawa idealized this divinely-ruled ancient Japan as a form of saisei itchi (祭政一致 "unity of religion and government") or theocracy. For early Japanese Neo-Confucian scholars, linguist Roy Andrew Miller (1982:93) says, " kokutai meant something still rather vague and ill defined. It
2257-469: The commemoration should be absorbed into New Year's Day to lessen financial impact, author Seiichi Funahashi objected to governmental sponsorship of the holiday, and journalist Sōichi Ōya resigned from the group prior to its final meeting without contributing a vote. In addition, agronomist Azuma Okuda included a separate opinion that the holiday should celebrate the land of Japan rather than glorify its people. Two new national holidays were established at
2318-459: The dominant caste, but the aggressive militarism of the samurai was not embraced by the other castes, who could not legally own weapons. One of the Meiji era reforms was the introduction of conscription of all able-bodied men at age 18, to serve in either the Army or the Navy. This required the ideology of Bushido ("the way of the warrior") from people who historically had been encouraged to see war as
2379-410: The embodiment of kokutai . A sailor might give his life to save the picture of the Emperor on a submarine. During World War II, some anti- modernist intellectuals argued that prior to the Meiji Restoration , Japan was always a classless society under a benevolent emperor, but the restoration had plunged the nation into Western materialism (an argument that ignored commercialism and ribald culture in
2440-633: The establishment of an empowered class of aides to the emperor was akin to the creation of a new shogunate. For the leaders of Japan's "fascist-nationalist clique", writes Miller (1982:93), " kokutai had become a convenient term for indicating all the ways in which they believed that the Japanese nation, as a political as well as a racial entity, was simultaneously different from and superior to all other nations on earth." This term, and what it meant, were widely inculcated in propaganda. The final letters of kamikaze pilots expressed, above all, that their motivations were gratitude to Japan and to its Emperor as
2501-485: The exclusive concern of the samurai. The imperial cult of emperor-worship was promoted both to ensure that everyone would be a part of the kokutai and to ensure that all men embraced Bushido , and would willingly serve in the military. After conscription was introduced in 1873, a group of teenage rickshaw drivers and shop clerks were ordered to attend a lecture where they were informed that "Now that all men are samurai," they were to show "manly obedience" by enlisting in
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2562-646: The flag of the JMSDF and/or signal flags on MSDF ships and held for expressing good wishes on National Foundation Day. There are also illuminated ships after sunset. The National Foundation Day Celebration Parade is held annually in Tokyo on 11 February. Kokutai Kokutai ( 国体 , "national body/structure of state") is a concept in the Japanese language translatable as " system of government ", " sovereignty ", "national identity, essence and character", "national polity; body politic ; national entity; basis for
2623-437: The handing out of sweets and buns to children, with the highlight of the Kigensetsu always being a rally where ordinary people would kowtow to a portrait of the emperor, which was followed up by the singing of the national anthem and patriotic speeches whose principal theme was always that Japan was a uniquely virtuous nation because of its rule by the god-emperors. Kigensetsu provided the model for school ceremonies, albeit on
2684-474: The holiday, in which the Association of Shinto Shrines played a major role. The holiday was re-established as National Foundation Day in 1966 following the creation by Prime Minister Eisaku Satō of an exploratory council that was chaired by civic reformer Tsûsai Sugawara . Of the ten members of the council, seven voted to advise the prime minister to adopt the holiday; economist Genichi Abe believed
2745-431: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Foundation_Day&oldid=1180755132 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages National Foundation Day (Japan) National Foundation Day ( 建国記念の日 , Kenkoku Kinen no Hi )
2806-514: The legendary Emperor Jimmu actually existed. Emperor Kinmei (539–571) is the earliest generally agreed upon historical ruler of Japan. During the Kofun period (300–538), Yamato was the first central government of the unified state in the Kinai region of central Japan. The first historical records did not appear until the 8th century, with the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki . In the Meiji era ,
2867-493: The national government in Tokyo would outweigh regional loyalties. Moreover, the process of modernization in Meiji era Japan was intended to ensure that Japan adopted Western technology, science and models of social organization, not the values of the West; it was a fear of the government that the Japanese people might embrace Western values like democracy and individualism. This led the government to insist that all Japanese should hold
2928-456: The one, true ruler of Japan. The claim that the emperors of Japan were gods was based upon their supposed descent from Amaterasu , the most important of the Shinto gods and goddesses. With large parades and festivals, in its time, Kigensetsu was considered one of the four major holidays of Japan. The holiday of Kigensetsu featured parades, athletic competitions, the public reading of poems,
2989-464: The post- war period and up to 2000, there were two opposing sentiments: a caution to prevent ultra-nationalism and a desire to revive cultural traditions. As such people generally didn't overtly express nationalism or patriotism in public. As a public holiday , government offices, schools, banks, and many companies are closed. On the day of the event, festivals such as the "kenkoku-sai" (建国祭) are held at ( Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples ). There
3050-449: The purpose of National Foundation Day is to: Nourish a love for the country by commemorating the establishment of the country. This day is to commemorate the founding of the country, regardless of the day it was founded. The Prime Minister of Japan makes speeches and statements about the importance of National Foundation Day. For example, in 2018, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made an official statement: National Foundation Day
3111-443: The rural areas was due to the fact that the children of most peasants did not attend school or at least for very long, and it was only with the gradual establishment of a universal education system that the imperial cult caught on. Between the 1870s to the 1890s, all of the rural areas of Japan finally acquired a school, which allowed everyone to be educated. It was only about 1910 that Kigensetsu finally started to serve its purpose as
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#17327661020393172-717: The same time: Respect for the Aged Day on September 15, and Sports Day on October 10. In a 1966 public opinion poll conducted by the Public Relations Office of the Prime Minister's Office at the request of the National Foundation Day Council, nearly half of the 8,700 respondents (47.4%) favored 11 February as the date of National Foundation Day, with the next most popular choices being 3 May ( Constitution Memorial Day ,
3233-403: The same values, with any heterodoxy viewed as a threat to the kokutai . The American historian Carol Gluck noted that for the Japanese state in the Meiji era, "social conformity" was the highest value, with dissent considered a major threat to the kokutai . Up to 1871, Japanese society was divided into four castes: the samurai , the merchants, the artisans and the peasants. The samurai were
3294-575: The school system. By 1937, "election purification", originally aimed at corruption, required that no candidate set the people in opposition to either the military or the bureaucracy. This was required because voters were required to support imperial rule. Some objections to the founding of the Taisei Yokusankai or Imperial Rule Assistance Association , came on the grounds that kokutai already required all imperial subjects to support imperial rule. Conservative thinkers voiced concerns that
3355-648: The spring sky of the Shōwa Restoration . The national debates over kokutai led the Prime Minister Prince Fumimaro Konoe to appoint a committee of Japan's leading professors to deliberate the matter. In 1937, they issued the Kokutai no Hongi (国体の本義, "Cardinal Principles of the National Body/Structure", see Gauntlett and Hall 1949). Miller gives this description. The document known as the Kokutai no Hongi
3416-494: Was Emperor Meiji's birthday. It was not until about 1900 that everyone in the rural areas of Japan finally understood the meaning of Kigensetsu . Aizawa, the same deputy mayor who in 1897 who thought the holiday was Emperor Meiji's birthday, later become the mayor, in 1903 gave his first Kigensetsu speech at the local school, and in 1905 he organized a free banquet to go along with Kigensetsu , which become an annual tradition in his village. The slow penetration of Kigensetsu in
3477-566: Was actually a pamphlet of 156 pages, an official publication of the Japanese Ministry of Education , first issued in March 1937 and eventually circulated in millions of copies throughout the home islands and the empire. It contained the official teaching of the Japanese state on every aspect of domestic policy, international affairs, culture, and civilization. (1982:92) It clearly stated its purpose: to overcome social unrest and to develop
3538-478: Was appointed to the House of Peers in 1932 but forced to resign after an assassination attempt and vehement criticisms that he was disloyal to the emperor. Great efforts were made to foment a "Japanese spirit" even in popular culture, as in the promotion of the " Song of Young Japan ." Brave warriors united in justice In spirit a match for a million – Ready like the myriad cherry blossoms to scatter In
3599-407: Was established as a type of Thought Police to investigate political groups that might threaten Tenno-centered social order of Japan. Tatsukichi Minobe (1873–1948), a professor emeritus of law at Tokyo Imperial University , theorized that under the Meiji Constitution, the emperor was an organ of the state and not a sacrosanct power beyond the state. This was regarded as lèse-majesté . Minobe
3660-553: Was more or less the Japanese "nation's body" or "national structure". Katō Hiroyuki (1836–1916) and Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835–1901) were Meiji period scholars who analyzed the dominance of Western civilization and urged progress for the Japanese nation. In 1874, Katō wrote the Kokutai Shinron (国体新論 "New Theory of the National Body/Structure"), which criticized traditional Chinese and Japanese theories of government and, adopting Western theories of natural rights , proposed
3721-401: Was the duty of every student to serve the god-emperor. Reflecting the fact that for most Japanese people under the bakufu regional loyalties were stronger than national loyalties, in the 1880s and 1890s, there was some confusion in the rural areas of Japan about just what precisely Kigensetsu was meant to celebrate, with one deputy mayor of a small village in 1897 believing that Kigensetsu
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