February 3, 1867

Emperor Meiji

Prince Mutsuhito succeeds to Japan's imperial throne

The new sovereign was fourteen — and the shogun still governed after the ceremony ended.

The ninth day of the first month, Keiō 3

Prince Mutsuhito succeeded to the imperial throne in Kyoto on the ninth day of the first month of Keiō 3, following the death of his father, Emperor Kōmei. In Gregorian conversion that is 13 February 1867.

Some older chronologies give 3 February, apparently confusing dates around Kōmei's death. The Imperial Household Agency chronology and scholarship on accession rites support 13 February.

A sword and a jewel

The central act was the transfer of the sword and jewel of the imperial regalia to the new sovereign — not a crown and a throne. This accession rite was a distinct event from enthronement.

Mutsuhito was 14 by Western reckoning, though Japanese traditional age counting described him as 15 or 16. His formal enthronement ceremony came about twenty months later, at the Shishinden of the Kyoto Imperial Palace in Keiō 4.

What did not change that day

The accession did not abolish the Tokugawa shogunate or transfer day-to-day political power. Tokugawa Yoshinobu remained head of the military government, and returned political authority to the emperor only in November 1867.

Calling the boy “Emperor Meiji” on this date is retrospective convenience. The era name Meiji had not yet been proclaimed, and the court-centered government was established by the Restoration of Imperial Rule edict in January 1868.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes Date corrected

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

Date corrected. The research places this at 1867-02-13.

What the sources leave uncertain

Japan still used a lunisolar calendar. The official date is Keiō 3, first month, ninth day; scholarly Gregorian conversion gives February 13, 1867.
Some older or derivative chronologies give February 3, apparently confusing or mistranslating dates around Kōmei's death. The Imperial Household Agency chronology and scholarship on accession rites support February 13.
Japanese traditional age reckoning described Mutsuhito as 15 or 16, while he was 14 years old by modern Western reckoning.