The Emperor View Of Kita Ikki

Kita Ikki was much influenced by the idea of showing loyalty to the emperor in his early childhood. However, his emperor view had been changing along with his social experiences and his social activities. He had an absolute worship to the emperor in his childhood, but he advocated"personality"emperor in his youth, believing that the emperor should be intimate to his"subjects". Near to his middle age, Kita Ikki interposed into the events of the crown prince selecting his wife and"intervening the leadership", and further participated in"February 26th Event"so as to achieve the"Revolutionary Blueprint"of"Great Japanese Empire of Thousands of Subjects under One Emperor". His above experiences also recorded his changes from doubting, arguing, transcending the emperor view to believing in non-emperor view and even to his attempting to subvert the emperor system. His above contradictory emperor views had bearing to his undulating life experiences.The publishing of"the Subjects'Review to the History of Royal Family"in 1903 signified the end of Kita Ikki's belief in the emperor's sovereignty and the family"polity"of the emperor and the subjects. With this as a turning point, Kita Ikki further denied the state-establishing ideas of"Japan being a state of God","the state governed by the emperor"and"the state in parent's style", which were deeply preached by Meiji Government. His belief in Lotus Sutra made him transcend the belief in the emperor in his mind. When Kita Ikki wrote his"Outline of State Reform Principles"in 1919, the implication of abolishing the emperor had been loomed. The"February 26th Event"of 1936 could be seen as the defeat of the practice of abolishing the emperor.Kita Ikki pointed out sharply the binary contradiction of the emperor system under the Meiji constitution and the nature of the emperor's"on throne but not governing"and laid the theoretical foundation for Japanese Fascists to capture the regime in the issue of"intervening the leadership". After"February 26th Event", the army fascist politics in Japan was fundamentally established. Kita Ikki was thus believed to be the representative of the polity theory of Japanese Fascism. Since his emperor view was closely connected with his political idea, it is of great importance to interpret his emperor view so as to open out his idea system.