In 1881, Ito Hirobumi announced that the government would draft the Meiji Constitution in a decade.

It was adopted on February 11, 1889 and went into effect in Japan on November 29, 1890. The first Diet of Japan convened on that day as well. The constitution stipulated that a representative assembly based on the Prussian Diet be established, while keeping all sovereign power in the hands of the Emperor. The structure of the Diet had Prussian and British influences, most notably the creation of the House of Peers and the Speech from the Throne.

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• Full text of constitution at wikisource: Full text of the Constitution