The new Meiji government was set up after the demise of the Edo bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) in April 1868, established a Fu-han-ken sanbusei (fu-han-ken tripartite governance system) under the Constitution of 1868 in which daimyo domains were made into han (domains) in the local system and daimyo (Japanese feudal lords) were assigned as governors, leaving the form of territorial lords being in control.
慶応4年（1868年）4月、江戸幕府の解体により成立した明治新政府は、政体書において地方制度では大名領を藩とし、大名を知事に任命して諸大名統治のかたちを残す府藩県三部制を確立する。