1894

Meiji 27 (明治二十七年)

Timeline of 1894

• 1894/3/9 Extensive formal ceremonies and celebrations are held for the 25th wedding anniversary of the Meiji Emperor and his Empress.
• 1894/10 Shiga Shigetaka publishes his Nihon fûkei ron ("The Landscape of Japan").

Sino-Japanese War

• 1894/7 Battle of Seonghwan
• 1894/8/1 Japan officially declares war on China.
• 1894/9 Emperor Meiji takes up temporary residence at Hiroshima.
• 1894/9/15 Japanese First Army (17,000 troops) attacks Pingyang.
• 1894/9/16 Japanese seize and occupy Pingyang. Chinese retreat across the Yalu River.
• 1894/9/17 Battle of the Yalu River - first naval battle in history between steamship fleets.
• 1894/11/6-21 Battle of Lushunkou (Port Arthur)

Other Events of 1894

• Baseball is introduced to Okinawa by a group of Okinawa Middle School students who learned the game at the Third Kyoto High School while on a field trip.
• The California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894 is held in San Francisco; the Hagiwara Tea Garden is built for the occasion.
• The Meiji government issues Japan's first commemorative postage stamps, in honor of the 25th Imperial wedding anniversary.
• Government contracts for Japanese immigration to Hawaii end; immigrant laborers now come under the control of private corporations.
• The first Japanese Buddhist temple in Hawaii is established, on the Big Island.
• Kodama Kihachi, head of Dept of Education in Okinawa prefecture, removes English from the subjects taught in middle schools, declaring that Okinawan students who do not even speak proper Japanese should not be spending time learning English.
• The Nan'yôkan, the first Western-style wooden building in Okinawa, is completed.
• Construction is completed on the Nara National Museum.
• Saigô Tsugumichi is named Admiral.
• The "Somayama dispute" develops over whether somayama (communal forestland), in Okinawa prefecture, should be public land or private.
• A treaty is concluded between Japan and the United Kingdom, ending extraterritoriality for British subjects in Japan.
• The decision in the legal case Wong Kim Ark v. United States upholds the constitutional rights of citizenship of those born in the United States, regardless of their race.

Births and Deaths

• Hamada Shôji is born (d. 1978).
• Hori Tatsunosuke dies (b. 1823).
• Women's rights activist Katô (Ishimoto) Shizue is born (d. 2001).
• Kim Ok-gyun is killed.
• Ranald MacDonald dies (b. 1824).
• Peking opera star Mei Lanfang is born (d. 1961).
• Painter Takahashi Yuichi dies (b. 1828).
• Taketsuru Masataka, founder of Nikka Whisky, is born (d. 1979).

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