ABSTRACT
On the afternoon of April 25, 1935, one hundred and fifty rural reservists assembled on the flat roof of the Military Club in Tokyo and with wooden faces watched the burning of three books: Essentials of Constitutional Law, A Course in the Constitution of Japan Article by Article, and Fundamental Doctrines of the Japanese Constitution. The books had been discussed in parliament, and the Prime Minister, Admiral Okada, had said the House of Representatives was not a suitable forum nor its members suitable persons to discuss legal theory. For himself, he said, he had tried to read the books but was unable to understand them.
