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In our country the relations between Sovereign and subject were established at the time that the State was first founded. The unity of political powers was weakened, during the middle ages, by a succession of civil commotions. Since the Restoration (A.D. 1868), however, the Imperial power has grown strong and vigorous, and the Emperor has been pleased to issue decrees proclaiming the grand policy of instituting a constitutional form of government, which it is hoped will give precision to the rights and duties of subjects, and gradually promote their well-being, by securing unity to the sovereign powers of the Head of the State, by opening a wider field of activity for serving (the Emperor), and by prescribing, with the assistance of the Minister of State and the advice of the Diet, the whole mode of the working of the machinery of State in a due and proper manner. All this is in strict accordance with the spirit of noble achievements bequeathed by the Imperial ancestors, and all that is proposed to do now is to open the way for the ultimate accomplishment of the object originally entertained by the said Imperial ancestors.

The Sacred Throne of Japan is inherited from Imperial ancestors, and it is bequeathed to posterity; in it resides the power to reign over and govern the State. That express provisions concerning the sovereign power are specially mentioned in the articles of the Constitution in no wise implies that any newly-settled opinion thereon is set forth by the Constitution; on the contrary, the original national policy is by no means changed by it, but is more strongly confirmed than ever.