pt. I. The political situation before the Sino-Japanese War. 1. Some problems of transcendentalism. Inoue Kaoru and the plan to form the Jichito. Tani Tateki and the Japan Club. Tsuzuki Keiroku and bureaucratic transcendentalism. 2. 'Enrich the Nation and Strengthen the Armed Forces' and 'Lighten the People's Burdens' as issues in the early Diet sessions. Expansionist policies. The tax reduction argument and its contradictions. From tax reduction to expansionist policies: the Jiyuto. From expansionist policies to hard-line anti-foreignism: the Kokumin Kyokai. From retrenchment policies to a hard-line anti-foreign position: the Kaishinto -- pt. II. Political conflict after the Sino-Japanese War. 3. Post-war reconstruction and the reactions of various political forces. 4. The formation of the Yamagata faction. The Second Ito Cabinet and the Yamagata faction. The Second Matsukata Cabinet and the Yamagata faction. 5. The question of increasing the land tax. The Second Matsukata Cabinet and the land tax increase question. The establishment of the Third Ito Cabinet. The Third Ito Cabinet and the land tax increase question. 6. The collapse of the party Cabinet. External causes: forces in the bureaucracy and the House of Peers. Internal factors: the internal contradictions of the Kenseito. The financial policy of the Kenseito Cabinet. The Kenseito split. 7. Concluding the land tax increase bill. The political emergence of commercial and industrial interests, and the land tax question. The Increase in the land tax and land assessment revision. The Kenseito. The Kenseihonto -- App. 1: Sessions of the Imperial Diet in the 1890s -- App. 2: Prime Ministers and their Cabinets in the 1890s -- App. 3: General election results for the House of Representatives in the 1890s -- App. 4: Political divisions in the House of Peers in the 1890s -- App. 5: Notes on various groups -- App. 6: Notes on personalities.