1898

Meiji 31 (明治三十一年)

Timeline of 1898

• 1898/1/20 Gensuifu codes
• 1898/1/22 Total solar eclipse.
• 1898/2/10 Tomioka silk mill laborers strike.
• 1898/2/24 Nippon Railway laborers strike.
• 1898/4/25 Nishi-Rosen Agreement
• 1898/6/11 The Guangxu Emperor launches the Hundred Days' Reform in China.
• 1898/6/30 Okuma Shigenobu ministry.
• 1898/7/7 President William McKinley signs the Newlands Resolution by which the United States annexes the Hawaiian Islands.
• 1898/8/1 Toyoda Sakichi gets patent for his weaving machine.
• 1898/9/21 A coup in China returns the Empress Dowager Cixi to power. The Guangxu Emperor is confined in seclusion, Kang Youwei flees into exile, and a number of his associates are gathered up and executed, becoming the "Six Martyrs." The government turns dramatically from radical reformist to conservative reactionist attitudes & policies.
• 1898/10/15 Nihon Kaiga Kyôkai (Japan Painting Association) becomes the Nihon Bijutsu-in (Japan Art Institute).
• 1898/10/31 Okuma ministry resigns.
• 1898/11/5 Yamagata Aritomo assumes office as Prime Minister for the second time.
• 1898/12 The Treaty of Paris grants the US control of Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico; Cuba gains independence.
• 1898/12/18 Saigô Takamori statue in Ueno unveiling ceremony.

Other Events of 1898

• Civil code is promulgated, making the traditional ie (household) system into a formal, legal reality, and further developing the koseki system of household registration introduced in 1872.
• Leap years are established in Japan.
• Twenty-fifth anniversary of the Methodist Episcopal Mission in Japan.
• Merriman Harris is awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Fourth Class.
• Military conscription is implemented in Okinawa prefecture.
• Russia secures lease to Port Arthur on the Liaodong Peninsula, providing it a warm-water port in the East.
• Saigô Tsugumichi becomes fleet admiral.
• Ceremonies and celebrations are held for the thirty-year anniversary of Tokyo becoming the Imperial capital. Performances and processions included recreations of Edo period displays, as well as more modern nationalistic and military displays.

Births and Deaths

• 1898/3/21 Painter Nakamura Daizaburô is born (d. 1947).
• Edoardo Chiossone dies (b. 1833).
• Prince Gong dies (b. 1833).
• Shin hanga artist Ito Shinsui is born (d. 1972).
• Kasamatsu Shirô is born (d. 1991).
• John Manjirô dies (d. 1827).
• Mori Yoshitoshi is born (d. 1992).
• The Taewongun dies (b. 1821).
• Yamakawa Hiroshi dies (b. 1845).

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1898

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