From holy prince to legal ancestor
Shōtoku in Japan’s modern constitutional imagination
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12239778 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Orion Klautau (0000-0001-8475-9409, Tohoku University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-26 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Japan Forum (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0955-5803 • E-ISSN: 1469-932X |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09555803.2026.2616781 |
| OpenAlex | W7127121080 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 16 |
This article examines one strand in the modern development of the image of Prince Shōtoku (Shōtoku Taishi, 574–622), the semi-mythical statesman portrayed in the Nihon shoki as an ideal ‘sagely king’. While Shōtoku-related lore has been repeatedly reimagined, the twentieth century saw a decisive shift to a secularized image that presented him as a lay Buddhist exemplar, pioneer of diplomacy, champion of meritocracy, and architect of constitutional governance. Focusing on this last dimension, this article begins with recent examples from politics, education, and popular media that depict Shōtoku and his Seventeen-Article Constitution as foundations of a distinctively Japanese democratic tradition. It then traces the roots of this narrative to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, showing how the Seventeen Articles were reinterpreted from a moral admonition with little legal ‘efficacy’ to a precursor and even counterpart of the Meiji Constitution. The article focuses in particular on the ideological climate after the Russo-Japanese War and on the transformation of Shōtoku’s image in the years following Emperor Meiji’s death in 1912; ultimately, it shows how appeals to Shōtoku’s text function as active instruments in the construction of constitutional memory and the imagining of an ‘ideal country’ in modern Japan.
Constitutional right · Japanese History and Culture · Jury Decision Making Processes · Stonefly species taxonomy and ecology
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |