Fonds/Series
Cabinet Secretariat
Hierarchy
- Title
- Cabinet Secretariat
- Level of Description
- fonds
- Administrative / Biographical History
- In December 1885 (Meiji 18), the Cabinet System was established, superseding the conventional Dajokan System, and all the official duties performed so far by the Dajokan (Grand Council of State) were to be succeeded by the Cabinet for the time being. Following the enactment of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan (also known as the Meiji Constitution), organizations within the Cabinet were restructured and the Cabinet Secretariat, the Pension Bureau, the Archives Bureau, the Statistics Bureau, the National Gazette Bureau, and the Accounting Bureau were established as divisions within the Cabinet under the Cabinet Personnel Edict (1890 Edict No. 114). Concerning the Chief Cabinet Secretariat, it was provided that "the Chief Secretariat shall be appointed by the Prime Minister, and shall manage classified documents, conduct general affairs of the Cabinet, and carry out the appointment and dismissal of the following:" (The Chief Cabinet Secretariat and the Cabinet Secretariat as the predecessors of the above were set up for the first time on March 10, 1879 under No. 14 Grand Council Notification (Dajokan Tatsu). After undergoing a number of changes, it was superseded by the Cabinet Department and Personnel Edict (1924 Edict No. 307) and the Cabinet Secretariat was established for the first time under this governmental system. When the new Constitution was put into effect in 1947, the Cabinet Law was enacted (1947 Law No. 5), under which the Cabinet Secretariat as the subsidiary organ of the Cabinet was stipulated to be in charge of "the arrangement of the agenda of Cabinet Meetings and other general affairs of the Cabinet." In 1949, the Establishment Law of the Prime Minister's Office (1949 Law No. 127) was enacted, which provided that the official duties of the Cabinet Secretariat be performed by the Secretatriat of the Prime Minister's Office, thereby substantially integrating the Cabinet Secretariat and the Prime Minister's Secretariat. With the organizational reform of the Cabinet Secretariat and the Prime Minister's Office that took place in 1957, the Cabinet Counselors' Office, the Cabinet Councilors' Office and the Cabinet Research Office were set up under the Cabinet Secretariat and they were to be in charge of official duties of the Cabinet Secretariat. In May 1973, the Cabinet Public Relations Office was set up. In July 1986, the Cabinet Secretariat was restructured into the Cabinet Secretariat Counselors' Office, the Cabinet Councilors' Office on Internal Affairs, the Cabinet Councilors' Office on External Affairs, the Cabinet Security Affairs Office, the Cabinet Public Relations Office, and the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office. In January 2001, due to restructuring in the central bureaucracy, the Cabinet Affairs Office, the Assistant Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, the Cabinet Public Relations Office, and the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office were established.
- Related Material
- Transferred Records from the Cabinet/Prime Minister's Office
- Publication Note
- Cabinet Secretariat ed., "70 Years' History of Cabinet System," Ministry of Finance Printing Bureau, 1955|br|100 Years' History of Cabinet System Compilation Committee, "100 Years' History of Cabinet System," Cabinet Secretariat, 1985
https://www.digital.archives.go.jp/fonds/en/4503885
[Fonds/Series] "Cabinet Secretariat", National Archives of Japan Digital Archive, https://www.digital.archives.go.jp/fonds/en/4503885（accessed 2026-04-11）
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