Meiji 5 (明治五年)

Timeline of 1872

  • Meiji 4/12 (January 1872) Narahara Shigeru and Ijichi Sadaka lead an Imperial mission to Shuri, to discuss various matters relating to Ryukyuan obligations to Satsuma han, and policies Tokyo wishes to implement in the Ryukyus.
  • 1872/1 Ijichi Sadaka meets with the Ryukyuan regent to discuss administrative policy in the islands, under the new Meiji government.
  • 1872/3/10 The Tokyo National Museum opens.
  • 1872/4 Deputy Finance Minister Inoue Kaoru suggests ending Ryûkyû's tributary relations with China and incorporating Ryûkyû into Japan. The Minister of the Left opposes this suggestion, arguing that Ryûkyû should remain subordinate and not be made a han or otherwise counted as naichi, and further that since the Ryukyuans are ethnically not Japanese, the Ryukyuan king and royal family should not be made kazoku (Japanese aristocracy).
  • 1872/5 Officials from Tokyo meet with Ryukyuan officials to discuss economic matters, including the end of the minting of Okinawan coinage (which had been minted in Satsuma up until that point).
  • 1872/10/14 Representatives of the Kingdom of Ryûkyû, led by Giwan Chôho, are informed in Tokyo of the annexation by Japan of the kingdom as Ryûkyû han. The envoys return to Okinawa and inform King Shô Tai of this development.

Other Events of 1872

Births and Deaths

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