Political parties of the Empire of Japan public assembly, the press and on political discussion. The Meiji government had come to power by an elite of "samurai" from certain clans ("hanbatsu") and the "genrō" felt threatened by anything looking ever remotely like republicanism or democracy. During this period, Itagaki Taisuke and Ōkuma Shigenobu were leading figures in the legitimization of political parties. Itagaki created Japan's first political party, the Aikoku Kōtō, in 1873 in Tokyo to petition for an elected assembly, and a similar regional party based in Osaka, the Aikokusha. These groups were the basis of the Jiyutō (Liberal Party), founded in 1881 as Japan’s first
National Party (Japan) National Party (Japan) The National Party (, "Kokumintō") was a political party in Japan. A centrist party, its policies had a strong focus on education. The party was established in July 1946 as the Shinseikai ("New Politics Society") by a merger of the Shinkō Club, some independent MPs and some MPs from the Preparatory Committee for the Japan Democratic Party, which was subsequently dissolved. It initially had 40 MPs, two of whom were amongst the eight MPs who voted against the new post-war constitution. Talks were held with the Cooperative Democratic Party about a merger in August 1946, and after