The concept of placing the imperial palace in Edo and making it Tokyo was a plan that appeared in the Keiseika (intellectuals) that Nobuhiro SATO wrote in 1823, during the last of the Edo period titled "The Secret Merger Plan," and it is said that Toshimichi OKUBO was influenced by this and advocated moving the capital to Tokyo.
江戸に皇居を置き東京とするという構想は、江戸時代後期の経世家である佐藤信淵が文政6年（1823年）に著した『混同秘策』に既に現われており、これに影響を受けて大久保利通も東京奠都を建言したという。