ABSTRACT
The visitor, who had come from Tokio to attend the review, was Prince Sanjo, the first Prime Minister of Japan, and leader of the newly formed Government of the Restored imperial Rule. Sanjo had always, even during the lifetime of the present Emperor's father, sided with those who recognised the need of reforms, and when, in the autumn of 1868, the Department of the So-sai was abolished and the Dai-jo-kwan, or Supreme Governing Council, was constituted, thus resuscitating an ancient advisory body that had a prior existence in the eighth century, he succeeded to the post of president, or Dai-Jo-Dai-Jin, thereof, and occupied it from that time forth until the dissolution of the Council on the reconstitution of the Government in the year 1886. Prince Sanjo belonged to the eighth Kuge family, and was therefore a descendant of the Fujiwara house which has from very early days provided consorts for the Emperors.
