Democratic Party (民主党, Minshutō) was a right-wing political party in Japan. It was founded in spring 1947 by merging the Progressive Party (Shinpo-tō) of Inukai Takeru with a faction of Liberal Party led by Hitoshi Ashida and obtained 124 seats in 1947 elections. The party had held seven seats in Tetsu Katayama's government in 1947-1948. For some months in 1948, party's leader Ashida was Prime minister.
In March 1948, part of DP members led by Kijūrō Shidehara joined the Liberal Party. In 1949 elections, the DP got 69 seats. The party was finally merged with People's Cooperative Party (Kokumin Kyodoto) to form People's Democratic Party (Kokumin Minshuto) in April 1950.