Bunkyû 2 (文久二年)
Timeline of 1862
- 1862/1/15 Sakashitamongai Incident - Rôjû Andô Nobumasa is attacked outside the Sakashita Gate of Edo Castle by six ronin of Mito han.
- 1862/3 Kabuki play "Aoto Zôshi Hana no Nishiki-e" premieres at the Ichimura-za in Edo.
- 1862/3 Philipp Franz von Siebold leaves Japan for the final time.
- 1862/4/23 Teradaya Incident - meeting of pro-Imperial rebels is broken up as a fight breaks out at the Teradaya in Fushimi, near Kyoto.
- 1862/5 Central repository of han books is moved to Kanda and renamed as repository of Western books. Photography archives are established in Yokohama and Shimooka-renjô.
- 1862/8/21 Namamugi Incident - An Englishman is killed in Yokohama by a number of samurai of Satsuma han.
- 1862/int.8 Matsudaira Katamori is named Kyoto Shugo Shoku.
- 1862/9 Tsushima han and Chôshû enter into an alliance.
- 1862/10 Gustave Duchesne de Bellecourt, French minister in Edo, sends a warship to Ryûkyû to inquire whether the kingdom would still recognize the 1855 Treaty of Amity signed between the two countries, despite recent tensions and the change in Satsuma han leadership. Ryûkyû officials say they will.
- 1862/11 An Imperial court council decides to "expel the barbarians" (Westerners).
- 1862/11 The Yoshiwara burns down.
- 1862/12 The British Legation is attacked and burned.
- 1862/12 Sô Yoshiyori, daimyô of Tsushima, steps down and is succeeded by his son, Sô Yoshiakira.
Other Events of 1862
- The Gakumonjo bugyôsho, or Magistrate's Office of Educational Institutions, is established.
- A measles epidemic strikes the Ryûkyû Islands and Amami Islands.
- Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi marries Princess Kazu-no-Miya (see Kôbu Gattai).
- The Rôshigumi is formed.
- Sakamoto Ryôma flees Tosa, joins up with pro-sonnô jôi rebel groups in Edo; seeks to assassinate Katsu Kaishû, ends up becoming one of Katsu's disciples instead.
- James Hepburn moves to Yokohama and opens a dispensary for the sick, also begins to preach Christianity.
- The shogunate relaxes sankin kôtai obligations, and there is an exodus of samurai from the city.
- Japan's first diplomatic mission to England is dispatched, under Takenouchi Yasunori. While in London, the mission visits the 1862 World's Fair (Great London Exposition), the Japan pavilion at which was organized by Rutherford Alcock without any official bakufu involvement.
- Satsuma han begins pressuring the shogunate to allow free trade with the West, in Ryûkyû.
- Satsuma receives permission from the shogunate to begin producing Ryûkyû tsûhô (coins).
- Silkworm disease ravages French and Italian silk industries, creating huge demand for Japanese silk.
- Charles Wirgman's Japan Punch is first issued.
Births and Deaths
- 1862/8/24 Sasu Iori is killed.
- Painter Gôda Kiyoshi is born (d. 1938).
- Makishi Chôchû dies off the coast of Iheyajima, while on his way to Satsuma han.
- Novelist Mori Ôgai is born (d. 1922).
- Nitobe Inazô, author of Bushido: the Soul of Japan, is born (d. 1933).
- Yoshida Tôyô, Tosa han minister, is killed by members of the Tosa Loyalist Party (b. 1816).
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