Mutsuhito , posthumously honored as Emperor Meiji , was the 122nd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration, a series of rapid changes that witnessed Japan's transformation from an isolationist, feudal state to an industrialized world power.

The Empire of Japan, also referred to as the Japanese Empire, Imperial Japan, or simply Japan, was the Japanese nation-state that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the reformed Constitution of Japan in 1947. From 29 August 1910 to 2 September 1945, the Empire of Japan included the naichi and the gaichi. It also ruled colonies such as Kwantung, South Seas, Mantetsu, and its concessions. The naichi was under Japanese direct rule while the gaichi was not, however both were parts of the empire. In the closing stages of World War II, with Japan defeated alongside the rest of the Axis, on 2 September 1945 the formalized Japanese Instrument of Surrender was issued in compliance with the Potsdam Declaration of the victorious Allies; and Japanese territory was immediately much reduced when lost Taiwan, Korea, Kuril and Karafuto as it is today.