Education in Article 26 of Japan’s Constitution
Article 26 of the inspected Japanese Constitution states that all nationals have a right to receive education equally according to ability as provided by law, and an obligation to have the children under their care receive ordinary education as provided by law; compulsory education is free.
What this does and does not establish
Documentary provision, not evidence of universal implementation. Listed under 1946, the year of official proclamation, not the date it took effect. English is an AI working translation of the Japanese source, not an official translation or a broader legal interpretation. The Japanese term 国民 appears as “the people” in the preamble and “nationals” in these article translations; these renderings do not settle its legal scope.
- Read through an AI working translation.
- Region
- East Asia
- Theme
- Culture and knowledge
- Kind of record
- What a document says. The wording of a document, which is not proof of what happened in practice.
How it is dated
- Date reference
- 昭和二十一年十一月三日憲法; catalogue 昭和21年（1946）11月
- How we use it
- Promulgation-year grouping of documentary text, not proof of commencement or realization.
The date reference is this project’s reading of the source’s date. It may give an era name, a reign or a calendar in a normalised form rather than in the source’s own words; the dating notes say what the source prints.
Dating notes from the research record
Year equivalence explicitly supplied by National Archives factual heading; no inferred implementation date
File names and line numbers in these notes, and in the limits above, refer to the project’s retained copies of the cited sources. Names such as calendar_headers are the project’s calendar look-ups, and “the investigator” is the research step that prepared the record.
Sources and quoted text
Line and character numbers under “Location” refer to the project’s retained copy of the source. For database rows, “Edition” names the batch of rows that was fetched together.
Source 1 · Supports the statement
Constitution of Japan, Japanese text
Government of Japan; Ministry of Justice Japanese Law Translation database
Quoted text (Japanese)
第二十六条 すべて国民は、法律の定めるところにより、その能力に応じて、ひとしく
教育を受ける権利を有する。
すべて国民は、法律の定めるところにより、その保護する子女に普通教育を受けさせ
る義務を負ふ。義務教育は、これを無償とする。Line breaks follow the source layout.
AI working translation into English; not official or authoritative
All nationals have the right to receive education equally according to their abilities, as provided by law. All nationals are obliged, as provided by law, to ensure that children under their protection receive ordinary education. Compulsory education shall be free.
Source credit and reuse conditions recorded for this source: Attribute the official source URL. Japanese originals and AI English translations are separate; translations are not official. Provisions are documentary statements, not assertions about implementation.
Exact source version
5a669f11e685f6220cec5ac3ef2cd4029a86cf8caf873b3f2e34a309eedcc1e2Source 2 · Supports the statement
National Archives of Japan catalogue date/title
National Archives of Japan
Quoted text (Japanese)
昭和21年（1946）11月
日本国憲法が公布される
Line breaks follow the source layout.
AI working translation into English; not official or authoritative
November, Showa 21 (1946). The Constitution of Japan is promulgated.
Source credit and reuse conditions recorded for this source: Attribute the official source URL. Japanese originals and AI English translations are separate; translations are not official. Provisions are documentary statements, not assertions about implementation.
Exact source version
9b23132faf295622922556e81753e2f8e9ddcf5677e63ebf788e2383ca9e6451Checks and changes
Source checked 2026-11-04. An independent AI evidence review supports this bounded, attributed wording. That review does not guarantee historical truth. How records are checked
Before the first public release: corrected the description of the obligation to have children receive education.
Revision p05_03_3_r3
Exact revision fingerprint
a20f958c68f906624312273098d7393568a7501afb9b7fc6c87d3ec152bde6a6