<P> ARTICLE 9 . (1) Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes . (2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained . The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized . </P> <P> The failure of the collective security of the League of Nations led to the realization that a universal system of security could only be effective if nations agreed to some limitation of their national sovereignty with regard to their right to belligerency, and if the Security Council which had been a "closed shop" during League of Nations times, would open itself up to UN Members who would cede constitutional powers in favor of collective security . Like the German Article 24, which was incorporated in the post-war German Constitution, and which provides for delegating or limiting sovereign powers in favor of collective security, Article 9 was added to the Constitution of Japan during the occupation following World War II . </P> <P> The source of the pacifist clause is disputed . According to the Allied Supreme Commander Douglas MacArthur, the provision was suggested by Prime Minister Kijūrō Shidehara, who "wanted it to prohibit any military establishment for Japan--any military establishment whatsoever". Shidehara's perspective was that retention of arms would be "meaningless" for the Japanese in the post-war era, because any substandard post-war military would no longer gain the respect of the people, and would actually cause people to obsess with the subject of rearming Japan . Shidehara admitted to his authorship in his memoirs Gaikō Gojū - Nen (Fifty Years Diplomacy), published in 1951, where he described how the idea came to him on a train ride to Tokyo; MacArthur himself confirmed Shidehara's authorship on several occasions . However, according to some interpretations, he denied having done so, and the inclusion of Article 9 was mainly brought about by the members of the Government Section of Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ) (連合 国軍 最高 司令 官, Rengō - Koku - Gun - Saikō - Shirei - Kan), especially Charles Kades, one of Douglas MacArthur's closest associates . There is, however, an alternate theory by constitutional scholar Toshiyoshi Miyazawa that the idea came from MacArthur himself and that Shidehara was merely a pawn in his plans . The article was endorsed by the Diet of Japan on November 3, 1946 . Kades rejected the proposed language that prohibited Japan's use of force "for its own security," believing that self - preservation was the right of every nation . </P> <P> Soon after the adoption of the Constitution of Japan in 1947, the Chinese Civil War ended in victory for the Communist Party of China in 1949 and the establishment of the People's Republic of China . As a consequence, the United States was left without the Republic of China as a military ally against communism in the Pacific . There was a desire on the part of the United States occupation forces for Japan to take a more active military role in the struggle against communism during the Cold War . </P>

Article 9 of the japanese constitution and the rule of law