Police services of the Empire of Japan

The Police System (警察制度, Keisatsu Seidō^?) of the Empire of Japan comprised numerous police services, in many cases with overlapping jurisdictions.

During the Tokugawa bakufu (1603–1867), police functions were based on a combination of appointed town magistrates of samurai status, who served simultaneously as chiefs of police, prosecutors and judges. The magistrates were assisted by a professional police force with samurai status officers, and deputized jittemochi commoners with powers of arrest. The citizenry was organized into gonin-gumi (Five-family associations), the forerunner of the tonarigumi, whose members were collectively responsible for the actions and activities of any one of their members. The official formula used in feudal times to inform a subject that he had been placed under arrest was to simply shout "Go yo!" – the expression was also used to mean "Official business!" or "Clear the way!".

As part of the modernization of Japan after the Meiji Restoration, the new Meiji government sent Kawaji Toshiyoshi on a tour of Europe in 1872 to study various law enforcement systems. He returned impressed with the structure and techniques of the police forces of France's Third Republic and of Prussia as models for the new Japanese police system. With the establishment of the Home Ministry in 1873, his recommendations were implemented, and civilian police powers were centralized at the national level, although implementation was delegated to the prefectural level.

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