1860

Ansei 7 (安政七年) / Man'en 1 (万延元年)

Timeline of 1860

First Japanese Embassy to the United States

• 1860/1/18 (Feb 9) The members of the first embassy to the US, 170 Japanese and some number of American escorts, depart Edo for Yokohama.
• 1860/1/19 (Feb 10) The embassy departs from Yokohama for San Francisco.
• 1860/? (Spring) The USS Powhatan stops at Hawaii for supplies. Members of the embassy visit with King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma at the royal palace (Hale Ali'i). The latter request a Treaty of Friendship between Hawaii and Japan; this is eventually signed in 1867.
• 1860/int.3/4 (May 24) President Buchanan holds a formal banquet for the ambassadors at the White House.
• 1860/4/23 (Jun 16) The embassy arrives at Pier I in New York aboard the steamer Alida. They participate in a procession leading up Broadway to Union Square and then back down to the Metropolitan Hotel, where they stay for the duration of their time in New York. A concert is held for them at the hotel that evening.
• 1860/4/25 (Jun 18) The ambassadors receive various distinguished guests, and visit a nearby photo studio. Mayor Wood of New York holds a formal reception for the ambassadors at City Hall; Governor Morgan is also in attendance.
• 1860/5/1 (Jun 19) Due to rain, formal activities for the day are suspended.
• 1860/5/2 (Jun 20) The ambassadors receive a committee from the Chamber of Commerce while other members of the embassy go shopping, to concerts, and travel to sites in Brooklyn such as the Navy Yards and Greenwood Cemetery.
• 1860/5/3 (Jun 21) The ambassadors are received by Frederick Law Olmsted in the newly opened Central Park, and a Japanese tree is transplanted in their honor. Later in the day, members of the embassy attend a garden party at the estate of New York Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett, in Washington Heights.
• 1860/5/4 (Jun 22) Members of the embassy go shopping, and also visit various sites in the city, including Trinity Church, prisons, schools, Barnum's Museum, the Customs House, and printing presses.
• 1860/5/7 (Jun 25) Friends of Townsend Harris visit the ambassadors at the Metropolitan Hotel. A ball is held at the hotel in the evening.
• 1860/5/8 (Jun 26) The ambassadors pay a visit to Jane Perry, widow of Commodore Matthew Perry.
• 1860/5/9 (Jun 27) Members of the embassy visit various sites in the city, including harbor fortifications and a rubber factory.
• 1860/5/10 (Jun 28) Captains DuPont, Lee, and Porter are each presented with a sword blade by the embassy in recognition of their "unceasing kind services."
• 1860/5/12 (Jun 30) The embassy boards the USS Niagara and prepare for their journey back to Japan.
• 1860/5/13 (Jul 1) The USS Niagara departs New York, sailing east across the Atlantic.
• 1860/9 or 10 (Nov) The USS Niagara arrives in Edo after stops in Angola, Batavia, and Hong Kong.

Other Events of 1860

• The Second Opium War ends.
  • British forces raid the Yuanmingyuan, looting many Chinese treasures, and also retaking cannon and other objects given to the Qianlong Emperor as gifts from King George III in 1793.
• France signs a treaty with China which includes clauses permitting Frenchmen to travel freely in China, and to own land in the Chinese interior.
• Makishi Chôchû, Onga Chôkô, Oroku Ryôchû, and others involved in the Makishi-Onga Incident of 1859, are tried and convicted in Ryûkyû.
• An arsonist burns down the Yoshiwara.
• Yamaguchi Naoki is appointed tsukaiban, and later in the year promoted to metsuke.

Births and Deaths

• 1860/1/7 (Jan 29) Kumano no Denkichi, translator, is killed.
• 1860/3/3 Sakuradamongai Incident - Ii Naosuke is killed (b. 1815).
• George Bigot is born (d. 1927).
• Anna Hartshorne is born (d. 1957).
• Tokugawa Nariaki dies (b. 1800).

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