Shinobu Tabata

Shinobu Tabata (田畑 忍, Tabata Shinobu, January 22, 1902 – March 14, 1994) was a Japanese legal scholar specializing in constitutional law. He was a professor and president of Doshisha University and a prominent pacifist who advocated for the defense of the post-war Japanese Constitution, especially Article 9.

Biography Tabata was born in Ishibe Town, Kōka District, Shiga Prefecture. In 1916, he transferred into the second year at Doshisha Middle School, where he was influenced by sermons from , Toyohiko Kagawa, Kanzo Uchimura, and lectures by Sakuzo Yoshino.

He entered Doshisha University's preparatory course in 1920 but took a two-year leave of absence due to illness. He graduated from the Department of Politics, Faculty of Law in 1927. After serving as an assistant, he was appointed associate professor in 1933. He studied first under Shigeru Nakajima and later under .

He served as president in 1946 and again from 1952. During his second term, he withdrew the campus political activity ban issued by former chancellor Hachiro Yuasa. In 1962, he established the Constitutional Research Institute and launched its journal Eisei Chūritsu (Eternal Neutrality).

He was a well-known mentor to politician Takako Doi (former Speaker of the House of Representatives). Doi was inspired by his lecture "Pacifism and Article 9 of the Constitution" and transferred to Doshisha. Tabata later described her as “big, loud and pushy to start with,” adding that he “knew from the first day she came into my office that she would make a fine politician.” Katsumi Ueda, former vice-president of Ryukoku University, was also one of his students.

Co-translation

Ernst Rudolf Huber, World Totalitarianism Series Vol. 3: Nazi Constitutional Theory (co-translated with Yoshio Oishi, Hakuyōsha, 1939)

Selected works

Imperial Constitution Article-by-Article Essentials (Seikei Shoin, 1933-34) Basic Theory of Constitutional Studies (Nippon Hyoronsha, 1936) Article-by-Article Commentary on the Imperial Constitution (Nippon Hyoronsha, 1938) State Thought of Hiroyuki Kato (Kawade Shobō, 1939) Law and Politics (Nippon Hyoronsha, 1939) Constitutional Studies (various publishers and editions, 1949–) Politics of War and Peace (Yūhikaku, 1952) On Constitutional Amendment (Keisō Shobō, 1954) Article-by-Article Commentary on the Constitution of Japan (Yūhikaku, 1961) Japanese Pacifist Thought (Minerva Shobō, 1972) Theory of Non-War and Perpetual Neutrality (Hōritsu Bunka-sha, 1981) The Great Path to World Peace (Hōritsu Bunka-sha, 1982)

He also edited or co-edited many volumes on constitutional law, peace thought, and democracy (see full list in Japanese sources).

Memorial collection

Peace and Human Rights in the Contemporary Era: Festschrift for Professor Shinobu Tabata's 70th Birthday (Nippon Hyoronsha, 1972)