A petition to the emperor

Under the modern Emperor System (Meiji Constitution), this was a petition made independently of the Cabinet regarding military affairs and military orders. It was made by the central military agencies such as the Army Chief of Staff, the Navy Chief of Staff, and the Inspector General of Education, as well as the Ministers of the Army and Navy. A "diplomatic corps" is the headquarters that directs the military and plans operations, and since it was a petition made by the central military agencies to the Emperor, who was the supreme commander of the Army and Navy, it was commonly called a "diplomatic petition" after the battlefield. Diplomatic petitions by the Ministers of the Army and Navy were institutionalized in 1889 (Meiji 22) by Article 7 of the Cabinet Official Regulations, which stipulated that matters related to military affairs and military orders should be directly petitioned without going through a Cabinet meeting, and reported to the Prime Minister after obtaining approval. Since other ministers were required to make petitions through the Prime Minister or with his permission, the Ministers of the Army and Navy were granted the right to make petitions independently as an exception. However, the scope of military affairs and military orders was not clear, and the Army included matters related to military administration, as well as matters related to the organization of military administrative offices and military schools, in its diktat memorials. Following the Army's example, the Navy also gradually expanded the scope of its diktat memorials, leading to disputes between the Army, Navy, and Cabinet over diktat memorials. Direct orders issued by the Emperor as a result of diktat memorials were conveyed in the form of "Imperial orders..." and were called "imperial orders."

[Shigeyoshi Murakami]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

近代天皇制（明治憲法）下で、軍機・軍令に関して内閣から独立して行われた上奏をいう。陸軍参謀総長、海軍軍令部長、教育総監等軍務の中央機関と陸海軍大臣が行った。帷幄とは、軍を指揮し作戦をめぐらす本陣のことで、陸海軍を統帥する大元帥である天皇に対して、軍務の中央機関が行う上奏であることから、戦陣にちなんで帷幄上奏と通称された。陸海軍大臣の帷幄上奏は、1889年（明治22）内閣官制第7条で制度化され、軍機・軍令に関する事項は、内閣の議を経ずに直接上奏し、裁可を得たのち内閣総理大臣に報告すると定められた。一般の大臣は、内閣総理大臣を経て、あるいはその許可を得て上奏することとなっていたから、陸海軍大臣は特例として独立の上奏権を認められていたことになる。しかし、軍機・軍令の範囲は明確ではなく、陸軍は、軍政に関する事項をも含め、軍事行政官庁、軍学校の組織に関する事項も帷幄上奏事項とした。海軍も陸軍に倣って帷幄上奏事項をしだいに拡大したため、帷幄上奏をめぐって陸海軍と内閣の間で紛争が起こった。帷幄上奏の結果、天皇が発した直接の命令は、「勅を奉じ……を命令す」という形式で伝達され、奉勅命令と称された。

［村上重良］

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