armed forces and entitled him to declare war, make peace, and conclude treaties. However, the constitution also guarded against the arbitrary exercise of power by circumscribing imperial prerogatives; one clause, for instance, specified that "Imperial Ordinances are to be laid before the Imperial Diet at its next session" and further declared that no ordinances could "in any way alter any of the existing laws."" As these quotes show, the constitution did give the emperor enormous power and while there were safeguards written in to prevent abuse of these powers, the Emperor still had a large amount of leeway to do what he wanted. Aside from the military and political power given to the emperor by the Meiji constitution he also had a large amount of religious power, as he was the head priest of the Shinto religion, a religion spread by the State and worshipped by 99% of the population. As this quote, from the book "Japan; a Modern History" written by James L. McClain in 2002, illustrates, " As the Meiji reg
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