1872

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).
• 1872/9/23-27 Foreign Minister Soejima Taneomi meets with Charles DeLong, US Diplomatic Minister resident in Japan, and with Charles LeGendre, legal and policy advisor to the Meiji government, and is advised that since the Chinese do not exert effective (de facto) control over certain sections of Taiwan - those dominated by aborigines - the territory is essentially terra nullius, and if Japan were to occupy the territory, under Western/modern international law, it could be rightfully Japan's.
• 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

• The first official photo portraits of Emperor Meiji are taken by Uchida Kuichi (72 shots in the first session).
• Fukuchiyama castle is destroyed.
• Geisha spectacles including Miyako odori and Kamogawa odori are first performed.
• The Hokkaido Land Regulation Ordinance incorporates Hokkaido, formerly known as Ezo, more fully into Japanese territory.
• Karatsu castle is destroyed.
• Yanagihara Sakimitsu, a Japanese official in Shanghai, reports back to Japan about the Taiwan Incident of 1871, in which 54 Ryuykuans were killed by Taiwanese aborigines.
• Ryukyuan survivors of the Taiwan incident are returned to Ryukyu via Fuzhou. King Shô Tai sends his official thanks to the Chinese emperor and authorities for rescuing and returning his subjects.
• The Kingdom of Ryûkyû is released from its vassal status under Kagoshima prefecture (formerly Satsuma han), and comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then under the Ministry of the Interior.
• Kôki calendar system, counting years from the mythical ascension of Emperor Jimmu in 660 BCE, is established.
• The koseki (family register) system is established.
• Kururi castle is destroyed.
• Frenchman Charles LeGendre is hired as an advisor by the Japanese government.
• Maria Luz Incident - a Peruvian ship carrying Chinese coolies calls at Yokohama, leading to a diplomatic incident when the coolies declare they are being mistreated and request aid from Japanese authorities.
• Matsudaira Katamori ends his self-imposed confinement entered following the Boshin War.
• The Morita-za kabuki theater is moved from Saruwaka-chô to Shintomi-chô, and rebuilt as a larger structure. This was the first time a theatre opened or operated outside of Saruwaka-chô since the 1842 edict restricting the theatres to that district.
• Nationwide system of elementary schools is established.
• Nishio castle is torn down.
• Odawara castle is torn down.
• The Prostitute Emancipation Act is issued; burakumin and certain types of bonded laborers and servants are also granted a certain degree of freedom, liberties, and rights.
• Railroad connecting Tokyo to Yokohama is completed.
• Saigô Tanomo, confined since the end of the battle of Hakodate, is released.
• Takatô castle is destroyed.
• Yamaoka Tesshû becomes a chamberlain to Emperor Meiji.
• Yanagawa castle burns down.

Births and Deaths

• Higuchi Ichiyô is born (d. 1896)
• Nagaoka Kenkichi dies.
• Shimazaki Tôson is born (d. 1943).
• Rôshigumi member Shimizu Goroichi dies.
• Yamauchi Toyoshige, lord of Tosa han, dies.
• Yamanouchi Toyosuke dies (b. 1794).

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