1874

Meiji 7 (明治七年)

Timeline of 1874

• 1874/1/17 Itagaki Taisuke, Soejima Taneomi, Gotô Shôjirô, Etô Shinpei, Yuri Kimimasa, and a group of others submit a Petition for the Establishment of a Popularly Elected Assembly to the Meiji government.
• 1874/2 Saga Rebellion - Etô Shinpei leads a shizoku (former samurai) rebellion against the new Meiji government.
• 1874/2/6 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.
• 1874/7/12 At the suggestion of Minister of the Interior Ôkubo Toshimichi, Ryûkyû han comes under the control of the newly established Ministry of the Interior, and no longer under that of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• 1874/9/14 Negotiations between China and Japan, to resolve the Taiwan/Ryûkyû situation, begin, mediated by British diplomat Sir Thomas Wade.
• 1874/10/31 Japan and China conclude 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 of 500,000 taels to Japan.
• 1874/11 Okinawan tribute mission is dispatched to China, consisting of 180 persons and led by Kunjan peechin.
• 1874/12 The Meiji government orders Ryûkyû to send its high officials to Tokyo.

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.
• Osaka and Kobe are connected by rail.
• 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.
• A series of Imperial portraits by Italian oil painter Giuseppe Ugolini are the first art objects to be officially & voluntarily acquired by the Imperial Household.

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.
• Winston Churchill is born (d.1965).
• Yi Cheok (Emperor Sunjong of Korea) is born (d. 1926).

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