1785

Tenmei 5 (天明五年)

Other Events of 1785

• The Comprehensive National Code, or Daejeon tongpyeon, is completed in Korea.
• Hayashi Shihei produces the Sangoku Tsûran Zusetsu, described by one scholar as "the first attempt to define Japan's position in relation to its neighbors, Korea, the Kingdom of Ryûkyû, and the Ainu." The map represents Japan as a single unit, all in one color, with Ryukyuan, Ainu, and Korean territories in different colors, as foreign countries.
• Hendrik Casper Romberg is succeeded as opperhoofd of the Dutch East India Company base at Dejima.
• Satsuma han sends aid to relieve Ryûkyû, which had been suffering from famine since the previous year; the famine abates.
• The shogunate dispatches a mission to Ezo to investigate the defenses, trade activities, and commercial potential of Matsumae han, and to assess the Russian presence and the potential threat posed by it. This mission represents an important expansion of shogunate awareness of, or familiarity with, circumstances in Ezo.
• Tanuma Okitsugu establishes clearinghouses in Hakodate, Edo, Osaka, and Shimonoseki to handle the collection of marine products to be exported at Nagasaki, pushing private merchants out of the industry.

Births and Deaths

• 1785/6/29 Takami Senseki is born (d. 1858).
• Chou Huang, Chinese ambassador to Ryukyu, dies.
• Hosokawa Shigetaka, lord of Kumamoto han, dies.
• Satake Yoshiatsu, daimyô of Akita han, dies (b. 1748).
• Tôdô Takatoyo dies (b. 1717).

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