Sakamoto Ryoma’ Eight-Point Proposal

Of the many samurai who devoted themselves to helping our country before Japan was westernized, there was one famous national samurai hero, named Sakamoto Ryoma. Most Japanese people know his name well, and how he made a great contribution to Japan’s rapid modernization. Sakamoto Ryoma was a low ranking samurai who played a major role in Japan’s transmutation from a feudal society into a unified state intent on modernizing itself and overtaking the West. He appeared at a critical stage in history, and had a more fundamental effect on events than anyone could have expected granted, his low stature in society and the short time during which he was politically active. It is took Sakamoto Ryoma just five years to leave his mark on Japan and a legacy that altered the course of history. In the 1860’s, Ryoma was keen to work all around Japan to reform the national political and economic system so that it would be similar to Western countries which had great power. To overthrow the bakufu he decided to try to bring together the two greatest anti-bakufu power clans, Satsuma and Choshu. As a result of Ryoma’s efforts, an alliance was finally formed in secret between Satsuma and Choshu, called the “Sacho Domei,” in 1866. The next year, in 1867, he introduced an Eight-Point Program that was a guideline for the new government and cabinet system of Japan. As I can see, Sakamoto’s program contained various elements, interpreted as a whole, it could be described as a plan for a constitutional monarchy. Where point 1 is problematic though, as it could be taken as granting absolute power to the emperor. Vagueness as to the role of the emperor was in fact a feature of the Meiji Constitution; a fact which played a large part in Japan’s prewar descent into military dictatorship, which was neither particularly reformist nor conservative for the times. Points 3 is quite radical, while points 4, 6, 7 and 8 deal with pragmatic considerations all-important for Japan’s self defense, and