Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan (大日本帝国; Dai Nippon Teikoku) was the official title of Japan before the end of World War II. The names Imperial Japan and Japanese Empire are also used.

The empire had the Meiji Constitution (1889) which states the Japanese Emperor is the head of state and has sovereignty over the nation.

(Below is a translation of the Japanese Entry)

Yoshinobu Tokugawa, the 15th Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, returned power to the Emperor with "The Return of Sovereignty" (大政奉還; Taisei Houkan), afterwhich the Imperial Court declared “The Restoration of the Monarchy" (王政復古; Ousei Fukko). With this, the feudal anti-shogunate clans, Satsuma and Choushuu, formed the base of the new Meiji-government and with the intentions of becoming an empire the country was renamed to “The Grand Imperial Nation of Japan.”

The country was formally known as “The Grand Imperial Nation of Japan” in accordance to “The Constitution of the Grand Imperial Nation of Japan” (大日本帝国憲法 Dai Nippon Teikoku Kenpou). However “Japan” （日本 Nihon）, “Great Japan” (大日本 Dai Nippon), “The Great Nation of Japan” (大日本国 Dai Nippon Koku), “The Empire of Japan” (日本帝国 Nippon Teikoku) were misused, and it was not until 1936 that the proper title of the country was standardized.

In 1946, the year after the close of the war, Japan restructured as part of their defeat, and the country’s title was revised to “The Country of Japan” (日本国 Nihon Koku).