1839
Tenpô 10 (天保十年)
Timeline of 1839
- 1839/4 Former shogun Tokugawa Ienari and his entourage move back in to the rebuilt Nishi-no-maru at Edo castle.
- 1839/5-12 Bansha no goku - Efforts are made to suppress Rangaku (Dutch/Western learning). A number of rangaku scholars, including Takano Chôei and Watanabe Kazan, are arrested and imprisoned.
- 1839/12 Reconstruction is completed at Edo castle, following the destruction of the Nishi-no-maru the previous year.
Other Events of 1839
- Jirokichi and six other castaways are rescued by an American ship after six months at sea and brought to Honolulu. Though perhaps not the first Japanese to ever travel to Hawaii, this represents the earliest documented instance of which historians today are aware.
- Louis Daguerre invents the daguerrotype in Paris.
- Sir John Frederick William Herschel coins the word "photography."
- Mizuno Tadakuni issues an order banning the sale of "Ryukyu goods" (by agents of Satsuma han, reselling both Ryukyuan and Chinese goods obtained from Ryukyu) in Nagasaki for ten years. This, in response to declining Chinese trade activity at Nagasaki, and a desire to impel Chinese merchants, illegally trading at Satsuma, to return to Nagasaki.
- Shieikan dôjô is established in Ichigaya, Edo, by Kondô Shûsuke.
Births and Deaths
- 1839/5/5 Echigo Saburô, member of the Shinsengumi, is born (d. 1892).
- 1839/11/9 Kanô Washio, Shinsengumi corporal, is born (d. 1902).
- Aridôshi Kango, member of the Shinsengumi, is born (d. 1869).
- Iesato Tsuguo, member of the Rôshigumi, is born (d. 1863).
- Kamishiro Jinnosuke, member of the Rôshigumi, is born.
- Nagakura Shinpachi, Shinsengumi captain, is born (d. 1915).
- Painter Nantenbô is born (d. 1925).
- Takasugi Shinsaku, leader of the Kiheitai, is born (d. 1867).
- Takechi Zuizan, Tosa Loyalist, is born (d. 1867).
- Artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi is born (d. 1892).
- Yasutomi Saisuke, Shinsengumi investigator, is born.
| Previous Year 1838 |
1839 | Following Year 1840 |