The purpose of this article is to examine the process of building the war leadership system during the Showa Wartime period in Japan and the significance of attempts to establish a multilayered system by strengthening military assistance through the revival of the emperor's Supreme Military Advisory Council（Gensuifu 元帥府）, which had been hollowed out at the time.
　After the 2nd Sino-Japanese War, it became difficult to establish a war leadership system based on the integration of political and military strategies and the unification of land and sea forces. In order to overcome the decentralized structure of the Meiji constitutional system, attempts at integration were made through the establishment and operation of the Imperial Headquarters and the Imperial Council. On the other hand, with regard to the Showa Emperor, the issue of active war guidance by the Admiralty had taken root, and the issue of a war guidance system that incorporated the Emperor's military assistance system had reached a stalemate. However, the fact that the Emperor did not immediately approve a report from the General Staff at the time of the fall of Saipan in June 1944, waiting instead for the General Staff Council to make a decision before doing so, suggests that the Emperor tried to make decisions carefully at critical junctures by giving assistance other than that of the military authorities. In light of this fact, it is necessary to reexamine the Emperor's war guidance and the process of establishing a guidance system from the perspective of military assistance. Therefore, the author turns to the idea of reviving the Office of the Commander-in-Chief that involved the Emperor, the Imperial Household, and the Army during wartime.
　After the 2nd Sino-Japanese War, the war leadership system under the imperial family manager ceased to function, and the Showa Emperor requested his removal and the restoration of the Gensuifu. It was Tojo Hideki who promoted the revival of the “deputy supreme commander” （shinka gensui 臣下元帥）and the reorganization of ministries and agencies for the purpose of simultaneously unifying the Army and Navy and integrating political and military strategies. It was Tojo's intention to utilize the Gensuifu to eliminate chief ministers who had no military responsibilities. As the war situation worsened, Tojo and the Emperor tended more and more toward “making the Supreme Commander overlord”, which ultimately came to fruition in the form of convening the Gensui Conference.
　In light of the above results, the author shows that the Showa Emperor sought to provide more prudent war guidance, while attempting to integrate a decentralized structure by actively seeking the assistance of a body independent of the military authorities, such as the Gensuifu.

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This article analyzes various aspects of the Rikken Seiyukai 立憲政友会 party's attempts at self-modification at the end of the Taisho era, in order to view the transformation of the Party during the chairmanship of Tanaka Giichi from a new angle. In so doing, the author clarifies the details of various plans for party reconstruction during the time and its development within the political process.
　To begin with, Yokota Sennosuke, a leading figure in the Seiyukai leadership faction, proposed a risky split in the Party to purify it into a “populist” political organization. Yokota's scheme was realized after the second Movement to Protect Constitutional Government leading to the secession of the Seiyu Honto 政友本党 party. Then attempts began to reunite the Seiyukai with the Seiyu Honto with Mizuno Rentaro advocating “party innovation” based on the Seiyukai's founding spirit, which was to build a nationwide-oriented “public party” that would bring together bourgeoisie and intellectuals from all fields through reunification. For this purpose, Yokota began to search for a way to strengthen the Seiyukai by changing its political platform in response to universal male suffrage in order to split the Seiyu Honto. After Yokota's death, Yamaguchi Giichi and other young party members took up Yokota's call for party innovation by advocating a “new-liberalism” based on the spirit of the Liberal Party （Jiyuto 自由党）, the predecessor of the Seiyukai, and trying to transform it into a centrist party that would mediate between the existing parties and the emerging proletarian parties.
　These attempts at party reform and political realignment were projected into the political process after the enactment of the Universal Male Suffrage Act. In other words, during the unification of the Seiyukai and the Reformist（Kakushin 革新）Club immediately after the 50th session of the Diet, Yokota's colleague Koizumi Sakutaro and others aimed to realize Yokota's political realignment plan at the same time the like-minded Reformist Club members planned to transform the Seiyukai into a buffer force that would mediate between the old and new forces that emerged after the Universal Male Suffrage Act was enacted. However, after unification ended unsuccessfully, the argument for the reunification of the Seiyukai and the Seiyu Honto advocated by Mizuno emerged within the Seiyukai, and a new party platform under the chairmanship of Tanaka began to take shape.

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