y of the State, We have inherited
from Our Ancestors, and We shall bequeath them to Our
descendants. Neither We nor they shall in the future fail to
wield them, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution
hereby granted.

We now declare to respect and protect the security of the
rights and of the property of Our people, and to secure to them
the complete enjoyment of the same, within the extent of the
provisions of the present Constitution and of the law.

The Imperial Diet shall first be convoked for the 23rd year
of Meiji and the time of its opening shall be the date, when the
present Constitution comes into force.

When in the future it may become necessary to amend any of
the provisions of the present Constitution, We or Our successors
shall assume the initiative right, and submit a project for the
same to the Imperial Diet. The Imperial Diet shall pass its vote
upon it, according to the conditions imposed by the present
Constitution, and in no otherwise shall Our descendants or Our
subjects be permitted to attempt any alteration thereof.

Our Ministers of State, on Our behalf, shall be held
responsible for the carrying out of the present Constitution, and
Our present and future subjects shall forever assume the duty of
allegiance to the present Constitution.

CHAPTER I. THE EMPEROR

Article 1. The Empire of Japan shall be reigned over and
governed by a line of Emperors unbroken for ages eternal.

Article 2. The Imperial Throne shall be succeeded to by
Imperial male descendants, according to the provisions of the
Imperial House Law.

Article 3. The Emperor is sacred and inviolable.

Article 4. The Emperor is the head of the Empire, combining
in Himself the rights of sovereignty, and exercises them,
according to the provisions of the present Constitution.

Article 5. The Emperor exercises the legislative power with
the consent of the Imperial Diet.

Article 6. The Emperor gives sanction to laws, and orders
them to be promulgated and executed.

Article 7. The Emperor convokes the Imperial Diet, opens,
closes, and prorogues it, and dissolves the House of
Representatives.

Article 8. The Emperor, in consequence of an urgent
necessity to maintain public safety or to avert public
calamities, issues, when the Imperial Diet is not sitting,
Imperial ordinances in the place of law.

(2) Such Imperial Ordina