1657

Meireki 3 (明暦三年)

Timeline of 1657

• 1657/1/18-1/20 Great Meireki Fire ravages Edo, destroying over 60% of the city and killing over 100,000 people.
• 1657/2/23 Bakufu send Kuni Metsuke to Kantô region.
• 1657/2/29 Kaikô-in is established to bury the victims of Meireki fire.
• 1657/5 The Shin-Yoshiwara which began to be built further upriver the previous year, is completed and opened, replacing the Yoshiwara pleasure district destroyed in the fire.
• 1657/7/18 Hatamoto Mizuno Jûrozaemon kills Banzuiin Chôbei.

Other Events

• Aytthaya dispatches an envoy for the final time to request the resumption of trade and relations with Japan. The request is refused.
• Tokugawa Mitsukuni begins writing Dai Nihon Shi (The Great History of Japan).
• Reconstruction completed on Nishio castle in Mikawa province.
• The Chinese put into place qianjie policies, removing residents from the coasts further inland, and suspending nearly all coastal activity.
• Shogunal regulations on sake brewing put into place.

Births and Deaths

• Meireki 2/12/1 Itakura Shigemune, Kyoto Shoshidai, dies (b. 1586).
• 1657/1/23 Hayashi Razan, shogunal advisor, dies (b. 1583).
• 1657/2/10 Arai Hakuseki, shogunal advisor, is born (d. 1725).
• 1657/2/22 Sanada Yukimichi, daimyô of Matsushiro han, is born (d. 1727).
• 1657/3/6 Yamazaki Haruyori, daimyô of Marugame han, dies (b. 1650).
• 1657/3/20 Matsudaira Yorimichi, daimyô of Hitachishishido han, is born (d. 1721).
• 1657/3/24 Nabeshima Katsushige, daimyô of Saga han, dies (b. 1580).
• 1657/3/30 Toda Ujisada, daimyô of Ôgaki han, is born (d. 1733).
• 1657/4/16 Niwa Ujisada, daimyô of Iwamura han, dies (b. 1615).
• 1657/6/2 Matsunaga Shakugo, Confucian scholar, dies (b. 1592).
• 1657/7/27 Akimoto Tomitomo, daimyô of Yamura han, dies (b. 1610).
• 1657/8/15 Sakai Tadayasu, daimyô of Matsuyama han, is born (d. 1736).
• 1657/9/6 Seki Nagaharu, daimyô of Miimi han and Miyagawa han, is born (d. 1738).
• 1657/9/28 Suwa Tadatsune, daimyô of Suwa han, dies (b. 1595).
• 1657/10/27 Itô Sukehisa, daimyô of Obi han, dies (b. 1609).
• Imai Jikan, kokugaku scholar, is born (d. 1723).
• Ôtawara Norikiyo, daimyô of Ôtawara han, is born (d. 1694).
• Katô Yasutsune, daimyô of Ôzu han, is born (d. 1715).
• Kuki Takanori, daimyô of Sanda han, is born (d. 1686).

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1657

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