This paper addresses the issue of the emperor's political action within the context of the Dajokan cabinet system of the early Meiji period. The autor analyzes documents from the emperor's imperial tour of the country (junko) and probes his relationship to Dajokan cabinet councilors (daijin and sangi). In Part I, the focus is on the 1876 nationwide tour to show that documents regarding this event were handled differently from usual Dajokan procedures in this case under the authority of the attending councilor. Iwakura Tomomi. Part II identifies changes in decision-making procedures that occurred during the imperial visit of 1877. A new secretariat (shokikan) was established, and the Dajokan moved into the temporary imperial residence at Akasaka. As a result, the Dajokan and the emperor in a sense merged, and documents now bore the official seal signifying the emperor's approval. In December, a cabinet decision enabled Dajokan councilors (sangi) to inform the emperor directly of his duties and in the process, the Dajokan was transformed into an organ entirely centered on the emperor. Part III analyzes the imperial tour of 1878. The documentation attests to the fact that the cabinet now conceived of the tours as a way to bolster the authority of "His Majesty's government". During the first decade of the Meiji era, Dajokan ministers (daijin) had the power to make decisions and participated in the imperial tours as servants of the emperor. Beginning in 1887, however, ministers participated in order to bolster the emperor's authority and testify to the legitimacy of his decisions.
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