Opens with the brief speech by Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru to the lower house of the Diet that invited the Diet's examination of the government's draft revision. It sets forth the preliminary exposition of the text offered by Kanamori Tokujirō, the cabinet member charged with defending the so-called “government draft.” It presents initial reactions by Diet members, from Kita Reikichi on the right to Morito Tatsuo and Nosaka Sanzō on the left, indicating that the debate would be lively and spirited. It shows how early skirmishing centered on kokutai (the form of the polity, heretofore based on the authority of the emperor) and the renunciation of war.
Keywords: government draft, Kokutai, Kita Reikichi, renunciation of war, Nosaka Sanzō, Yoshida Shigeru, Morito Tatsuo, Kanamori Tokujirō