1871

Meiji 4 (明治四年)

Timeline of 1871

• 1871/1/9 Hirosawa Saneomi is assassinated.
• 1871/1/24 Postal service between Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka.
• 1871/2/15 New coins were minted.
• 1871/3 Date Kuninao and his retainers start migrating to Hokkaido.
• 1871/3/7 Sotoyama Mitsusuke is arrested.
• 1871/3/8 Ikki against Haibutsu kishaku in Kikuma han.
• 1871/4 A Poorhouse opens in Osaka.
• 1871/4/4 Family Registration Law
• 1871/4/18 Horse riding is allowed among commoners.
• 1871/5/10 The New Currency Act.
• 1871/5/14 The government promulgates a decree establishing a new shrine ranking system, abolishing hereditary priesthood, and stating that Shinto shrines are non-religious sites of reverence for the State.
• 1871/8/29 Abolition of the han
• 1871/11 Emperor Meiji is photographed for the first time, during an imperial visit to the Yokosuka Naval Yard.

Other Events of 1871

• The government bans the Ainu custom of burning one's house after the death of an occupant (a family member).
• The brothels of Fukagawa and Shin-Shimabara are forced to move into the Yoshiwara.
• A branch office of the Foreign Ministry is established in Okinawa.
• The hinin, eta, and other outcast classes are officially abolished.
• The Iwakura Mission departs Japan for the United States.
• The First Kyoto Exposition is held at the shoin complex of Nishi Honganji. It is the first "modern" exposition (hakurankai) to be held in Japan.
• Maebashi castle is torn down.
• Naegi castle is torn down.
• Police force formed.
• The shogunate school Shôhei-kô is closed.
• Sino-Japanese commercial treaty is signed, in which both countries agree to respect the territorial integrity of the other.
• Taiwan Incident of 1871 - a tribute ship from the Miyako Islands bound home from Okinawa is shipwrecked in Taiwan. Fifty-four Ryukyuans are killed by Taiwanese aborigines.

Births and Deaths

• Kunikida Doppo is born (d. 1908).
• Moriyama Einosuke dies (b. 1820).

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1871

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