JAPAN. Political parties in Japan, in the modern sense, can be said to date practically from the promulgation of the Constitution in 1889. al though the political groups from which they were formed have a somewhat earlier beginning. In their origin they are developments of the four old clans (Satsuma, Chce.hu, Teem, and Hizcn), and their division eras fixed by elan jealousy and not by political issues. The Sat suma and Choslm elms were more closely allied to the Emperor and more aristocratic in their tendencies than the other two. Their members formed a group which is particularly strong in the rpper Chamber of the Diet, and has played but little part as a party organization in the general elections. Their influence has been felt largely through their great leader, Marquis Ito (q.v.). They have been called Constitutional Imperialists. From the Tosa elan was the Liberal (Fyn-to) Party, and from the Hizen clan the Progressive (Shimpo-to) Party. By the
Constitution the Ministers are dependent on the sovereign by whom they are appointed. but in reality the tendency, often interrupted since 1890.
has been to make them more and more dependent on the Parliament. The result has been a euriotv.
succes-ion of partisan and non-partisan Minis tries. But the Organization in 1902 by Alarquis Ito of the Sciyu-Kul, or Constitutional Political Association, which practically amounted to an amalgamation of the old Liberal..., and the more progressive of the aristoeratie Constitutional imperialists seemed to indicate a formation of parties on new lines, and to be a practical recog nition by the representatives of the old nobility of the necessity for party government.