1877
Meiji 10 (明治十年)
Timeline of 1877
- 1877/1/24-7/30 The Meiji Emperor travels to Kyoto and Nara to pay respects at the mausolea of Emperors Kômei and Jimmu.
- 1877/3 Kôchi ueekata and several other Ryukyuan officials who snuck out of Ryûkyû the previous December arrive in Fuzhou.
- 1877/5 Edward Sylvester Morse departs the US for Japan.
- 1877/12 He Ruzhang arrives in Tokyo to serve as the new Resident Diplomatic Minister from China.
Satsuma Rebellion
- 1877/2/20 Saigô Takamori is declared a rebel by the Meiji government.
- 1877/2/22 Saigô's army of roughly 42,000 attempts to oust the Imperial garrison at Kumamoto castle.
- 1877/3 Saigô's siege of Kumamoto castle is lifted.
- The rebels retreat to Kagoshima and are in the end eventually defeated by Imperial forces, who have superior numbers and equipment, if not superior military ability.
Other Events of 1877
- Ainu lands are made the property of the State.
- Felice Beato sells his photography business in Japan to the Austrian photographer Baron Raimund von Stillfried-Ratenicz and his German partner Hermann Andersen.
- Josiah Conder arrives in Japan, and starts the architecture division of the Kôbu gakkô (Imperial College of Engineering).
- The Hokkaido Development Commission Provisional Sapporo Museum is established.
- The First Domestic Industrial Exposition (Naikoku Kangyô Hakurankai) is held.
- Nomura Fumio's Marumaru Chinbun is first issued.
- Kôno Bairei becomes head of the Shijô school upon the death of his master Shiokawa Bunrin.
- Kumamoto castle is destroyed.
- Kyoto and Kobe are connected by rail.
- Edward Sylvester Morse is invited to organize the Dept of Zoology at the new Tokyo Imperial University.
- Edward Sylvester Morse introduces Darwin's theories on natural selection and "the origin of species" to Japan.
- Muslim rebellions in northwest China, ongoing since 1862, are finally quelled.
- An official Qing Chinese embassy is established in Tokyo.
- Tanba Kameyama castle is torn down.
- Tokugawa Iesato leaves for England, for study.
- Tokyo Imperial University is established, with four faculties: a Faculty of Law, one of Medicine, one of Literature, and one of Physical Sciences.
- Tottori castle is demolished.
Births and Deaths
- 1877/9/30 Former governor of Kagoshima prefecture Ôyama Tsunayoshi is executed.
- Enomoto Takeaki dies.
- Kazu-no-Miya dies.
- Kido Takayoshi dies.
- Saigô Takamori dies.
- Shijô school head Shiokawa Bunrin dies (b. 1808).
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