In Hagi, a white-walled medieval castle town in Japan’s western prefecture of Yamaguchi, stands a little bronze statue. It depicts Motonari Mori, a feudal lord, telling his three sons the parable of the three arrows. Just as a single arrow was easy to snap, but three arrows together could not be easily bent, so too, he explained, sticking together was better than feuding.
It is a piece of homespun wisdom borrowed by Shinzo Abe to describe Abenomics, the triple shafts of monetary, fiscal and supply-side policy that are meant to revitalise the Japanese economy. Much of his political inspiration can be traced to the mix of deep conservatism and reformist zeal of the 1860s, when Yamaguchi joined three other rebellious fiefdoms to launch the Meiji Restoration that set Japan on the path to modernisation.
Those events may seem a world away from yesterday’s election in which the public (those who bothered to vote) appeared to endorse Mr Abe’s first seven months in office by giving his Liberal Democratic party an upper house majority. This will give the Mr Abe, whose party controls the lower house, a much freer hand in pursuing legislation.