Japan replaced the older Daijō-kan (Grand Council of State) structure with a Western-style cabinet system. Itō Hirobumi became the first prime minister, helping centralize executive decision-making ahead of constitutional government. This change set the administrative framework needed to operate a modern constitution.
By about 1886, work on a constitution moved from general discussion to sustained drafting within the state leadership. Officials and advisers compared foreign constitutional models while trying to preserve strong imperial authority. This shift marked the start of the final push toward a written constitution.
From June to August 1887, Itō Hirobumi and close collaborators refined a key draft later known as the “Natsushima Constitution,” after the location where it was discussed. The draft drew on earlier work by Inoue Kowashi and the German adviser Hermann Roesler. This became a major stepping-stone toward the final text.
In 1888, the constitution draft entered final-stage review and clean-copy preparation. Itō presented an original proposal to the Privy Council as the government moved toward promulgation. These steps turned internal drafts into a formal state document ready for the emperor’s approval.
An imperial ordinance created the Privy Council to deliberate on the constitution draft and advise the emperor on major state matters. Itō Hirobumi served as its first president, placing the final drafting process under an elite advisory body. This helped keep constitutional design tightly controlled from above.
Emperor Meiji promulgated the Constitution of the Empire of Japan, commonly called the Meiji Constitution. It created an Imperial Diet (a bicameral legislature) and described rights and liberties that operated “within the limits of law.” At the same time, it placed sovereignty in the emperor and gave the emperor major control over the military.
The constitutional system was paired with rules governing the imperial household and succession, reinforcing the emperor-centered state structure. In practice, these arrangements helped define what was treated as outside ordinary politics, such as imperial family matters. This supported a constitutional order where the emperor’s status remained politically central.
After promulgation, the government moved to implement procedures for electing members of the House of Representatives, the new lower house of the Imperial Diet. The franchise was limited, tying voting eligibility to tax payments and excluding most of the population. This design aimed to introduce elections while keeping political participation narrow.
Japan held its first national election for the House of Representatives, selecting 300 members. Only a small share of the population could vote under the tax-based rules, but the election still created an organized arena for political parties and opposition voices. This was a key practical step from constitutional text to parliamentary politics.
The Imperial Rescript on Education set a national moral message for schools, emphasizing loyalty and duty. It helped shape how the new constitutional order was taught and justified to the public, linking civic life to deference to imperial authority. This complemented the constitution’s political structure by strengthening the state’s ideological foundation.
The constitution went into effect, turning its institutions from plans into operating parts of the state. From this point, the rules defining the Imperial Diet, the cabinet, and the courts formally structured national governance. The shift mattered because it tied government actions to a written constitutional framework, even while preserving strong imperial powers.
On the same day the constitution took effect, the first Imperial Diet convened, launching regular national-level lawmaking and budget debates. The bicameral structure combined an elected House of Representatives with a House of Peers dominated by elites. Early Diet sessions exposed tensions between elected politicians seeking influence and cabinets that were responsible primarily to the emperor.
Promulgation and implementation of the Meiji Constitution (1885-1890)