Kyoiku chokugo

   The Imperial Rescript on Education, promulgated in October 1890. Authored chiefly by Inoue, Kowashi it followed the new Meiji Constitution of 1889 and became in effect a sacred scripture to be installed with the picture of the emperor and regularly and reverently read out in educational institutions. As a government initiative to counter excessive Western influences and provide a basis for public morality, it embodied the basic tenets of the emperor system and the 'five relationships' of Confucianism, exhorting loyalty and filial piety to the sovereign as the divine descendant of Amaterasu. Elements of the Rescript were incorporated in ethics textbooks such as Kokutai no Hongi up to 1945. Because reverence for the Rescript became a test of loyalty its effect was severely to limit religious freedom (see Fukei jiken). The official English translation of the text ran as follows:

   "Our imperial ancestors have founded Our Empire on a basis broad and everlasting, and subjects ever united in loyalty and filial piety have from generation to generation illustrated the beauty thereof. This is the glory of the fundamental character of Our Empire and therein also lies the source of Our education. Ye, Our subjects, be filial to your parents, affectionate to your brothers and sisters; as husbands and wives be harmonious, as friends true; bear yourselves in modesty and moderation; extend your benevolence to all; pursue learning and cultivate arts, and thereby develop intellectual faculties and perfect moral powers; furthermore, advance public good and promote common interests; always respect the Constitution [of the previous year, 1889] and observe the laws; should emergency arise, offer yourselves courageously to the state; and thus guard and maintain the prosperity of Our Imperial Throne coeval with heaven and earth. So shall be not only ye Our good and faithful subjects, but render illustrious the best traditions of your forefathers. The Way here set forth is indeed the teaching bequeathed by Our Imperial Ancestors, to be observed alike by Their Descendants and the subjects, infallible for all ages and true in all places. It is Our wish to lay it to heart in all reverence, in common with you, Our subjects, that we may all attain to the same virtue."