 After the Meiji Restoration, samurai from Satsuma-han controlled the Imperial Japanese government and they adopted "Kimigayo" as the national anthem of Japan.From this time until the Japanese defeat in World War II, "Kimigayo" was understood to mean the long reign of the emperor.With the adoption of the Constitution of Japan in 1947, the emperor became no longer a sovereign who ruled by divine right, but a human who is a symbol of the state and of the unity of the people.