1869

Meiji 2 (明治二年)

Timeline of 1869

• Meiji 1/12/28 (Feb 9 1869) Ichijô Haruko formally enters the Imperial Court as primary imperial consort (nyôgo) to the Meiji Emperor.
• 1869/1
  • 1/5 Assassination of Yokoi Shonan
  • 1/20 Satsuma, Choshu, Tosa, Higo petition to return of domain lands to the state.
• 1869/2
  • 2/5 The government encourages to set elementary schools to all regions.
  • 2/8 The newspaper regulations ban criticism against the government.
• 1869/2-3 (April) Charles de Long becomes US minister to Japan.
• 1869/2-3 (April) The Dajôkan (Grand Council of State) is officially relocated from Kyoto to Tokyo.
• 1869/2/29-3/28 The Meiji Emperor makes his second grand Imperial Progress from Kyoto to Tokyo, accompanied by an entourage of 3,500 men.
• 1869/3/13 The Dajôkan declares the unity of government and rites (saisei icchi).
• 1869/3/28 The Meiji Emperor takes up residence in Edo castle, which has already been renamed the Imperial Palace (kôkyo).
• 1869/5/18 Enomoto Takeaki surrenders. (End of the Boshin War)
• 1869/6
  • 6 Peerage reforms create a new noble hierarchy, including the creation of the kazoku aristocracy.
  • 6 The Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony in El Dorado County, California, is established. It is the only site outside Japan to be settled by samurai.
  • 6/17 The return of domain lands to the state. (Hanseki Hokan)
  • 6/24 Russia sends troops to Karafuto.
  • 6/29 The government builds a new shrine for soldiers who died in the Boshin War. (Later called Yasukuni Shrine)
• 1869/8 Ezo is renamed Hokkaidô and is incorporated into the territory of the Meiji state.
• 1869/8/3 Farmers riot in Takasaki.
• 1869/9/4 Omura Masujiro assaulted by a former Choshu samurai.
• 1869/10/12 Farmers riot in Toyama.
• 1869/12
  • 12 - Ueno Keisuke and Miwa Hochi arrive in Hawaii to address the Gannenmono issue.
  • 12/14 Farmers riots in Ogaki, Owari.
  • 12/25 The first telegraphic communication lines between Tokyo and Yokohama.

Other Events of 1869

• The first brass band in Japan is formed in Satsuma domain.
• The Hokkaido Development Office is established.
• The ports of Niigata and Osaka are opened as treaty ports.
• Tokushima castle is torn down.
• Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria, is the first British royal to visit Japan.
• The Suez Canal opens.
• Y. Tsuchida becomes the first to manufacture cigarettes in Japan, but they do not catch on.

Births and Deaths

• 5/11 Hijikata Toshizo dies in Hakodate.
• 11/5 Omura Masujiro dies.
• The Kikoe-ôgimi, great-grandmother to King Shô Tai of Ryûkyû, dies.
• Kuhara Fusanosuke, politician and founder of Hitachi, is born (d. 1965).
• Painter Okakura Shûsui is born (d. 1950).
• Utagawa Hiroshige II dies (b. 1829).
• Bunraku puppeteer Yoshida Bungorô is born (d. 1962).

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1869

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