Seventeen-article constitution

The Seventeen-article constitution is a foundational Japanese governmental text traditionally attributed to Prince Shotoku and dated to 604 CE according to the eighth-century chronicle Nihon Shoki, promulgated during the reign of Empress Suiko. Rather than codifying detailed legal procedure, the document sets out seventeen moral and administrative precepts addressed to court officials and the emperor's subjects, drawing heavily on Buddhist and Confucian principles; its first article calls for harmony among those who govern, and its second places reverence for the Buddhist faith above obedience to imperial authority. Historians have long debated whether the document qualifies as a constitution in the modern legal sense, since it establishes ethical expectations for governance rather than enumerated rights, offices or procedures, but it is nonetheless widely cited as one of the earliest constitution-like texts in recorded history. Its provisions remained the closest thing Japan had to a written code of governance until the Ritsuryo legal system took effect in the late seventh century, after which some scholars argue that any of its provisions not contradicted by the newer codes retained a degree of informal authority, a claim that remains contested among specialists in early Japanese legal history.