1871

Meiji 4 (明治四年)

Timeline of 1871

• 1870/12 or 1871/1 (Feb 1871) Mori Arinori arrives in DC as chargé d'affaires for Japan in the US.
• 1871/1/9 Hirosawa Saneomi is assassinated.
• 1871/1/24 Postal service between Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka.
• 1871/2/15 New coins were minted.
• 1871/3 Date Kuninao and his retainers start migrating to Hokkaido.
• 1871/3/7 Sotoyama Mitsusuke is arrested.
• 1871/3/8 Ikki against Haibutsu kishaku in Kikuma han.
• 1871/4 A Poorhouse opens in Osaka.
• 1871/4/4 Family Registration Law
• 1871/4/18 Horse riding is allowed among commoners.
• 1871/5/10 The New Currency Act.
• 1871/5/14 The government promulgates a decree establishing a new shrine ranking system, abolishing hereditary priesthood, and stating that Shinto shrines are non-religious sites of reverence for the State.
• 1871/8/29 Abolition of the han
• 1871/11 Emperor Meiji is photographed for the first time, during an imperial visit to the Yokosuka Naval Yard.
• 1871/11/17 Daijôsai accession ceremonies are held for the Meiji Emperor in Tokyo.

Other Events of 1871

• The government bans a variety of Ainu customs, including tattoos, and the burning of one's house after the death of an occupant (a family member). Efforts to impress Standard Japanese are expanded into the Ainu communities.
• The brothels of Fukagawa and Shin-Shimabara are forced to move into the Yoshiwara.
• A branch office of the Foreign Ministry is established in Okinawa.
• Theodore Duret and Henri Cernuschi travel to Japan and China.
• Edo castle is officially renamed the Imperial Palace.
• The hinin, eta, and other outcast classes are officially abolished, as all commoners/peasants are made heimin.
• The special status of honjin is abolished.
• The Iwakura Mission departs Japan for the United States.
• The First Kyoto Exposition is held at the shoin complex of Nishi Honganji. It is the first "modern" exposition (hakurankai) to be held in Japan.
• Maebashi castle is torn down.
• Algernon Mitford's Tales of Old Japan, the first commercial publication of an English translation of Japanese literature, is published.
• Naegi castle is torn down.
• Nakamura Masanao publishes a Japanese translation of Samuel Smiles' Self-Help under the title Saigoku risshihen.
• Police force formed.
• The shogunate school Shôhei-kô is closed.
• Sino-Japanese commercial treaty is signed, in which both countries agree to respect the territorial integrity of the other.
• The wearing of swords by samurai is declared optional.
• Taiwan Incident of 1871 - a tribute ship from the Miyako Islands bound home from Okinawa is shipwrecked in Taiwan. Fifty-four Ryukyuans are killed by Taiwanese aborigines.
• Treaty of Commerce and Friendship is signed between Japan and the Kingdom of Hawaii.
• Five US warships move against Korea, seeking reparations for an American ship destroyed by the Korean Court in 1866, but are ultimately driven off by Korean forces.

Births and Deaths

• Kunikida Doppo is born (d. 1908).
• Moriyama Einosuke dies (b. 1820).
• Kokugaku scholar Okuni Takamasa dies (b. 1792).

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