1868

Keiô 4 (慶応四年)/ Meiji 1 (明治元年) (change on 1868/9/8)

Timeline of 1868

• Keiô 3/12/9 (3 Jan) Tokugawa Yoshinobu officially steps down as Shogun, and the Imperial Court declares the Restoration of the Monarchy.(Ôsei Fukko)
• 1868/1
  • 1 The government is organized into seven Divisions (ka), with the Division of Rites at the top of the hierarchy.
  • 1/3 The Battle of Toba-Fushimi.
  • 1/6 Tokugawa Yoshinobu returns to Edo.
• 1868/2
  • 2 The Divisions of the government are replaced with eight Offices (kyoku), with the Office of Rites at the top of the hierarchy.
  • 2/15 Sakai Incident
  • 2/23 Shogitai occupys Kanei-ji temple.
• 1868/3
  • 3/13 The Saigo Takamori-Katsu Kaishu talk.
  • 3/14 The Charter Oath is promulgated.
  • 3/28 The new government orders Shinbutsu Bunri.
• 1868/4
• The new government bans woodblock prints depicting recent skirmishes and battles with a pro-shogunate bias.
  • 4/11 Edo castle surrenders.
  • 4/25 120 Japanese migrate to Hawaii.
• 1868/int.4
  • int.4 The Offices of the government are dissolved and replaced with Ministries, of which the Ministry of Rites (Jingikan) is supreme.
  • int.4/17 About 4000 Christians arrested in Nagasaki.
  • int.4/27 The Meiji government releases Seitaisho
• 1868/5
  • 5/3 Ouetsu Reppan Domei
  • 5/15 The Battle of Ueno
  • 5/19 The Battle of Nagaoka
• 1868/7/17 Edo is renamed to Tokyo.
• 1868/8
  • 8 The Battle of Aizu
  • 8/27 Coronation of Emperor Meiji
• 1868/9/22 Aizu surrenders.
• 1968/10/25 Enomoto Takeaki occupies Goryokaku.

Other Events of 1868

• Photographer Felice Beato publishes his Photographic Views of Japan.
• Currency exchange is undertaken in Ryûkyû; each copper mon is replaced with 32 iron mon, causing a sudden and dramatic rise in prices.
• The end of the shogunate brings with it a massive exodus from Edo; the city's population does not recover to 1868 levels until around 1890.
• One hundred forty-eight Japanese arrive in Hawaii under contracts as sugar plantation workers. Arriving in the first year (gannen) of the Meiji period, they come to be known as gannenmono.
• The terms han and bakufu are used in an official context for the first time.
• Nagaoka castle is torn down.
• Shirakawa castle is burnt down in battle.
• The Tsukiji Hotel, the first official guesthouse for foreigners constructed by the Meiji government, is completed.

Births and Deaths

• 4/25 Kondo Isami is executed.
• 10/10 Funakoshi Gichin, founder of Shotokan Karate, is born (d. 1957).
• 12/16 Ryukyuan painter Higa Seisei is born (d. 1939).
• Silk baron Hara Sankei is born (d. 1939).
• Iwai Tatsumi, 4th Chief of Home Affairs (Taiwan), is born (d. 1908).
• Foreign Affairs Magistrate Kawaji Toshiakira commits suicide, following the shogunate in its fall.
• Kawarasaki Gonnosuke IV dies (b. 1814).
• Kenshitsu, Queen of King Shô Tai of Ryûkyû, dies.
• Nihonga artist Tanaka Raishô is born (d. 1940).
• Painter Yokoyama Taikan is born (d. 1958).

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1868

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