The Declaration of Imperial Rule was a kind of coups staged by the anti-shogunate movement of Tomomi IWAKURA, Toshimichi OKUBO and others in order to justify their movement against the Tokugawa shogunate after they lost their official rationale to defeat the shogunate through Yoshinobu TOKUGAWA's voluntary Taisei Hokan (transfer of power back to the Emperor) on November 9, 1867.
王政復古の大号令は、慶応3年10月14日(旧暦)に征夷大将軍徳川慶喜が政権を返上（大政奉還）し討幕の大義名分が失われたため、討幕派であった岩倉具視や大久保利通らが、討幕の大義名分を得るために決行したクーデターであった。