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find a place in the component elements of constitutional governments have been adopted, in so far as they are consistent with the fundamental principles of the form of Imperial government that has existed from the beginning of our empire. That fundamental principle is clearly stated in the first article of the Constitution: ‘The Empire of Japan shall be reigned over and governed by a line of Emperors unbroken for ages eternal.’ That the foundation of the Constitution is the worship of Imperial Ancestors is definitely set forth in the preamble of the Constitution, which runs thus: ‘Having by the virtues of Our Ancestors ascended the throne of a lineal succession unbroken for ages eternal; remembering that Our beloved subjects are the very same that have been favoured with the benevolent care and affectionate vigilance of Our Ancestors, and desiring to promote their welfare and give development to their moral and intellectual faculties; and hoping to maintain the prosperity and progress of the State, in concert with our people and with their support: We hereby promulgate … a fundamental law of State, to exhibit the principles by which We are to be guided in Our conduct, and to point to what Our descendants, Our subjects and their descendants are for ever to conform. The rights of Sovereignty of the State We have inherited from Our Ancestors, and We shall bequeath them to Our descendants. Neither We nor They shall in future fail to wield them, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution hereby granted.’

In the course of the Imperial speech made on the occasion of the promulgation of the Constitution, His Majesty said: ‘The Imperial Founder of Our House and Our Other Imperial Ancestors, by the help and support of the forefathers of Our subjects, laid the foundations of Our Empire upon a basis which is to last for ever. That this brilliant embellishes the annals of Our Country is due to the glorious virtues of Our Sacred Imperial Ancestors, and to the loyalty and bravery of Our subjects, their love of their Country, and their public spirit.’

His Majesty further took an oath to the Imperial Ancestors at the sanctuary of the palace, to observe the provisions of the fundamental law, the terms of the oaths including the statements that the Constitution was the ‘exposition of grand precepts for the conduct of the Government bequeathed by the Imperial Founder of Our House and by Our other Imperial Ancestors,’ and that the new Constitution was intended to ‘give clearness and distinctness to the instructions bequeathed by the Imperial Founder of Our House and by Our other Imperial Ancestors, in consideration of the progressive tendency of the course of human affairs, and in order to keep in line with the advance of civilization.’