 In wartime, the Imperial Army General Staff formed part of the army section of the Imperial General Headquarters, an "ad hoc" body under the supervision of the emperor created to assist in coordinating overall command.Following the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1867 and the "restoration" of direct imperial rule, the leaders of the new Meiji government sought to reduce Japan's vulnerability to Western imperialism by systematically emulating the technological, governing, social, and military practices of the European great powers.Initially, under Ōmura Masujirō and his newly created Ministry of the Military Affairs ("Hyōbu-shō"), the Japanese military was patterned after that of France.