Government of Meiji Japan in the context of "Chōshū Domain"

Bakumatsu (幕末; Japanese pronunciation: [ba.kɯ.ma.tsɯ], 'end of the bakufu') were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as sakoku and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji government. The major ideological-political divide during this period was between the pro-imperial nationalists called ishin shishi and the shogunate forces, which included the elite shinsengumi swordsmen.

Although these two groups were the most visible powers, many other factions attempted to use the chaos of bakumatsu to seize personal power. Furthermore, there were two other main driving forces for dissent: first, growing resentment on the part of the tozama daimyō (or outside lords), and second, growing anti-Western sentiment following the arrival of Matthew C. Perry. The first related to those lords whose predecessors had fought against Tokugawa forces at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, after which they had been permanently excluded from all powerful positions within the shogunate. The second was to be expressed in the phrase sonnō jōi, or "revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians". The turning point of the Bakumatsu was during the Boshin War and the Battle of Toba–Fushimi when pro-shogunate forces were defeated.

The abolition of the han system (廃藩置県, haihan-chiken) in the Empire of Japan and its replacement by a system of prefectures in 1871 was the culmination of the Meiji Restoration begun in 1868, the starting year of the Meiji period. Under the reform, all daimyos (大名, daimyō, feudal lords) were required to return their authority to the Emperor Meiji and his house. The process was accomplished in several stages, resulting in a new centralized government of Meiji Japan and the replacement of the old feudal system with a new oligarchy.

The Supreme War Council (軍事参議院, Gunji sangiin) was an advisory body to the Emperor of Japan on military matters, established in 1903 and abolished in 1945. The council was created during the development of representative government in Meiji-era Japan to further strengthen the authority of the state. Its first leader was Yamagata Aritomo (1838–1922), who is credited as founder of the modern Imperial Japanese Army and was the first constitutional Prime Minister of Japan.

The Supreme War Council developed a German-style general staff system, with a chief of staff who had direct access to the Emperor and who could operate independently of the army minister and civilian officials. The Supreme War Council was the de facto inner cabinet of Japan prior to the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Shinbutsu-shūgō (神仏習合, "syncretism of kami and buddhas"), also called Shinbutsu-konkō (神仏混淆, "jumbling up" or "contamination of kami and buddhas"), is the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism that was Japan's main organized religion up until the Meiji period. Beginning in 1868, the new Meiji government approved a series of laws that separated Japanese native kami worship, on one side, from Buddhism which had assimilated it, on the other.

When Buddhism was introduced from China in the Asuka period (6th century), the Japanese tried to reconcile the new beliefs with the older Shinto beliefs, assuming both were true. As a consequence, Buddhist temples (寺, tera) were attached to local Shinto shrines (神社, jinja) and vice versa and devoted to both kami and Buddhist figures. The local religion and foreign Buddhism never fused into a single, unified religion, but remained inextricably linked to the present day through interaction. The depth of the influence from Buddhism on local religious beliefs can be seen in much of Shinto's conceptual vocabulary and even the types of Shinto shrines seen today. The large worship halls and religious images are themselves of Buddhist origin. The formal separation of Buddhism from Shinto took place only as recently as the end of the 19th century; however, in many ways, the blending of the two still continues.

Prince Saionji Kinmochi (Japanese: 西園寺 公望; 7 December 1849 – 24 November 1940) was a Japanese statesman and diplomat who twice served as Prime Minister of Japan, in 1906–1908 and 1911–1912. He was the last surviving member of the genrō, the small group of unofficial elder statesmen who dominated Japanese politics during the Meiji and Taishō periods. As a member of the Kyoto court nobility (kuge), Saionji forged a close relationship with the imperial house from a young age and participated in the Boshin War that overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate. He spent nearly a decade studying in France, where he became a heartfelt Francophile deeply influenced by European liberalism.

Upon his return to Japan, Saionji held a series of high-ranking posts in the Meiji government, including diplomat and cabinet minister, often under the patronage of Itō Hirobumi. In 1903, he succeeded Itō as president of the Rikken Seiyūkai political party and entered into a political compromise with his rival, General Katsura Tarō. For the next decade, a period known as the Keien era, the two men alternated as prime minister, with Saionji leading cabinets from 1906 to 1908 and again from 1911 to 1912.

The Aikoku Kōtō (愛国公党; "Public Party of Patriots") was a political party in Meiji-period Japan.

The Aikoku Kōtō was formed on 12 January 1874 by Itagaki Taisuke, Etō Shinpei, Gotō Shōjirō and others as part of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. Its purpose was to petition the Meiji government to establish a national assembly and on 17 January submitted to the government a "Written Proposal for the Establishment of a House of Representatives".