Historedia
Episode 2 of 2

Official Promulgation

When
11 February 1889
Where
Empire of Japan
Part of
The Meiji Constitution is promulgated in Japan

Emperor Meiji officially promulgated the Meiji Constitution on 11 February 1889, marking the transition from absolute monarchy to a constitutional framework.

The promulgation occurred on the anniversary of the National Foundation Day. Itō Hirobumi had established the Privy Council to review the drafts. The constitution remained in force until 1947, though it did not come into effect until November 1890.

Sources

  1. Meiji Constitution Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-25
  2. Itō Hirobumi Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-14

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.