Prince Shotoku's Seventeen-Article Constitution (604)

The Seventeen-Article Constitution is a set of moral and political instructions for officials of the Japanese court, dated to 604 and traditionally credited to Prince Shotoku, regent for Empress Suiko. Preserved in the Nihon Shoki chronicle of 720, it calls for harmony among officials, reverence for Buddhism and obedience to the sovereign. Although its authorship is debated, it is regarded as one of the founding documents of Japanese political thought.

Background: the Yamato court around 600

At the end of the 6th century, Japan was ruled by the Yamato court, based in the Asuka area of the Nara basin. Power was shared between the ruling royal line and powerful clans (uji), each with hereditary offices and lands. The most powerful of these clans in the 590s was the Soga, led by Soga no Umako.

Buddhism had arrived from the Korean kingdom of Baekje in the mid-6th century and divided the court. The pro-Buddhist Soga defeated their rival, the Mononobe clan, in 587. In 592 Soga no Umako arranged the murder of King Sushun, and the next year his niece Suiko took the throne, becoming the first reigning empress in recorded Japanese history.

According to the Nihon Shoki, Suiko appointed her nephew, Prince Umayado, better known by his posthumous name Shotoku (“Sage Virtue”), as crown prince and regent in 593. Together with Umako, he directed an ambitious programme of reform inspired by the newly reunified China of the Sui dynasty and by the Korean kingdoms.

Reforms of Shotoku’s time

The constitution was part of a wider set of changes. In 603 the court introduced the Twelve Level Cap and Rank System, which assigned officials ranks marked by coloured caps. In principle these ranks were granted to individuals for merit, rather than inherited by clan, an important step towards a bureaucratic state.

Buddhism received strong royal support. Shotoku is traditionally credited with founding Shitenno-ji in present-day Osaka and Horyu-ji near Nara, and with writing commentaries on three Buddhist sutras. Diplomatic missions were sent to Sui China, notably that of Ono no Imoko in 607, whose letter famously addressed the Chinese emperor as an equal, from the sovereign of the land where the sun rises to the sovereign of the land where the sun sets. The Book of Sui records that Emperor Yang was displeased by this wording.

What the constitution says

The text consists of seventeen short articles addressed to officials. Its tone is moral and advisory rather than legal; it prescribes no punishments. Key themes include:

• Harmony (Article 1): The text opens with the principle that harmony is to be valued and that factional disputes should be avoided, so that matters can be settled through reasoned discussion.
• Buddhism (Article 2): Officials are told to revere the Three Treasures: the Buddha, the Dharma (teaching) and the Sangha (community of monks).
• Obedience (Article 3): Imperial commands must be obeyed, with the sovereign compared to heaven and subjects to the earth.
• Proper conduct and fairness: Several articles call for courtesy, the rejection of bribes, fair hearing of lawsuits and the reward of merit.
• One sovereign (Article 12): Provincial authorities must not levy their own taxes, because the country has only one ruler.
• Consultation (Article 17): Important matters should not be decided by one person alone but discussed with many.

The language draws heavily on Chinese classics such as the Analects of Confucius, as well as Buddhist texts and Chinese administrative writing. Like other official documents of the time, it was written in classical Chinese.

Authorship and debate

The only early source for the constitution is the Nihon Shoki, compiled in 720, more than a century after the date it gives. In the 1930s the historian Tsuda Sokichi argued that the text was composed later, pointing to terms such as the word for provincial governors, which appear to belong to a more developed administrative system than existed in 604.

Since then scholars have remained divided. Some see the text as a later idealisation produced to glorify Shotoku and support the centralised state of the 8th century; others argue that its ideas fit the reform programme of Suiko’s court, even if the wording was edited. A few historians have questioned how much of Shotoku’s traditional role is historical at all. What is certain is that by the 8th century the constitution was accepted as his work and was revered as such.

Was it really a constitution?

The usual English name can mislead modern readers. The Japanese title, Jushichijo kenpo, uses a word that today means constitution, but in the 7th century it meant something closer to model rules or fundamental principles. The text does not set up institutions, define the powers of the ruler or protect any rights.

Instead, it is best understood as a kind of code of conduct for courtiers and officials. It tells them how they ought to behave: to come to court early and leave late, to deal promptly with business, to avoid envy, and to put public duty before private interest. In this respect it resembles Chinese instructions to officials more than a modern constitutional document.

Myths and facts

Prince Shotoku attracted legends soon after his death. According to the Nihon Shoki, he was born without labour pains in front of a stable door, which is why he was called Umayado, meaning stable door. Some modern writers have suggested a link with the birth of Jesus in a stable, but there is no evidence that Christian stories had reached Japan at that time, and most scholars reject the idea.

Another story says that he could listen to the petitions of ten people at once and answer each of them correctly. This reflects the reputation for wisdom that later generations gave him rather than an attested historical event. Even the name Shotoku is a posthumous title, not a name he used in life.

Key people

• Prince Shotoku (Umayado, traditionally 574–622): regent and royal prince, credited with the constitution and with promoting Buddhism.
• Empress Suiko (r. 593–628): the reigning sovereign in whose name the reforms were carried out.
• Soga no Umako (died 626): head of the Soga clan and the most powerful minister of the period.

Legacy

The constitution foreshadowed the larger centralising changes of the Taika Reform of 645 and the Chinese-style law codes of the late 7th and early 8th centuries. Its ideal of a single sovereign served by a merit-based bureaucracy became a central theme of Japanese political history.

Prince Shotoku himself became the object of a religious cult and is honoured as a founder of Japanese Buddhism. His portrait appeared on several Japanese banknotes in the 20th century, including the 10,000-yen note issued in 1958. The first article’s call for harmony is still quoted widely, from school textbooks to political speeches.

Timeline

• 587: The Soga defeat the Mononobe, securing support for Buddhism at court.
• 593: Suiko becomes empress; Shotoku is named crown prince and regent.
• 603: The Twelve Level Cap and Rank System is introduced.
• 604: The Seventeen-Article Constitution is issued, according to the Nihon Shoki.
• 607: Ono no Imoko leads an embassy to Sui China; Horyu-ji is founded according to tradition.
• 622: Prince Shotoku dies.
• 645: The Taika Reform begins a new phase of centralisation.
• 720: The Nihon Shoki, which preserves the text, is completed.

Why it matters

The Seventeen-Article Constitution is the earliest surviving statement of political ideals in Japanese history. Whether or not Shotoku wrote every word, it shows the Yamato court adopting Buddhist and Confucian ideas from China and Korea to build a centralised state.