1874

Meiji 7 (明治七年)

Timeline of 1874

• 1874/2 Saga Rebellion - Shizoku (former samurai) rebellion against the new Meiji government.
• 1874/2 The Meiji government decides to send a punitive expedition to Taiwan.
• 1874/5-6 Saigô Tsugumichi leads the Taiwan Expedition of 1874.
  • 1874/5/2 The first Japanese ships land on Taiwan.
  • 1874/5/22 Battle of Stone Gate (Sekimon)
  • 1874/late May Saigô himself arrives in Taiwan.
  • 1874/6 Fighting ends.
• 1874/10 Japan and China sign a treaty, in which China recognizes the Ryuykuans as Japanese subjects and admits less than complete sovereign control over some southern regions of Taiwan; China also agrees to pay an indemnity to Japan.

Other Events of 1874

• Akashi castle is demolished.
• Dragon robes are granted to the Kingdom of Ryûkyû by China for the final time.
• Author and educator William Griffis returns to the United States.
• Hagi castle is torn down.
• Merriman Harris is appointed American Vice-Consul in Japan.
• Kabuki actor Kawarazaki Sanshô takes the name Ichikawa Danjûrô IX.
• Kagoshima castle is demolished.
• Artist Kobayashi Kiyochika returns to Tokyo.
• Morioka castle is demolished.
• Obama castle is torn down.
• Ryûkyû han comes under the control of the Home Ministry, Satsuma han having been abolished.
• Woodblock prints depicting the events of the Taiwan Expedition are the first shinbun nishiki-e, or "news prints".
• Tatebayashi castle is destroyed.
• Tsuyama castle is torn down.
• Ueda castle is demolished.
• The Yomiuri Shinbun is founded.
• A series of prints designed by Yoshitoshi and depicting various events in the lives of various Tokugawa shoguns is released, the first print series to legally depict contemporary events & to depict and identify shoguns by name.

Births and Deaths

• 1874/12/18 Saitô Ichidakusai dies.
• Date Yoshikuni, former daimyô of Sendai han, dies.
• Hirama Jûsuke of the Rôshigumi dies.
• Nihonga painter Hishida Shunsô is born (d. 1911).
• Torii Yôzô dies.

Previous Year 1873

1874

Following Year 1875