Abstract: From the End of Edo Period to the Early Meiji Period, there were active theoretical discussions in the Japanese government and civil society on electoral politics. With the gradual deepening of theoretical discussion, in the realm of political thought, the meaning of election has gradually changed from official selection and recommendation to parliamentary election. Accompanied by theoretical discussion, the central and local governments at all levels have also tried out some election measures and electoral system investigation in the frequent system adjustment. The Gisei-kan, The kogisho, The shugiin, The Sain and The Genroin all had the nature of institutions that discuss politics, and there was a certain inheritance relationship between them. The selection of the constituent members of those institutions and the institutional investigation carried out by them are all aimed at enlarging the scope of political participants and promoting talents. It can be seen as a conservative electoral political practice by the central government. At the same time, accompanied by the local system reform, especially driven by the freedom and civil rights movement, the government carried out relatively open electoral political practice at the local level. The practice of election of members of the local assembly had accumulated experience in the design of the election system when the assembly was later established, and cultivated talents for political discussion. In the discussions and practices of early election politics, we can see not only the mixture and collision of western political ideas and traditional political culture, but also the interweaving and entanglement of different political trends, political demands, and political explorations. The complex political reality of the early Meiji era is revealed.

Key words: Japan, electoral politics, institutions that discuss politics, local assembly, the prefectural assembly