1854

Kaei 7 (嘉永七年) / Ansei 1 (安政元年)

Timeline of 1854

Kaei 6/12/22-26 (Jan 20-24) Perry's fourth visit to Ryûkyû. Commodore Perry enters Shuri castle for the second time, as a mere show of authority, but is not granted an audience with any royals.
1854/1/4-5 (Feb 1-2) Perry departs Ryûkyû for Edo.
1854/1/11-24 (Feb 8-21) A Russian fleet under Yevfimy Vasilyevich Putyatin makes port in Naha.
1854/1/16 (Feb 13) Perry's fleet arrives in mainland Japan.
1854/3/3 (March 31) The Convention of Kanagawa is concluded.
1854/4/5 The USS Saratoga makes port in Honolulu on its way back to the US from Japan.
1854/5/17 (June 12) Board Incident - American sailor William Board assaults an old woman in Naha and is killed by a mob of locals.
1854/6/2 (June 26) Perry and his fleet depart Shimoda for the final time.
1854/6/7 (July 1) Perry arrives in Ryûkyû for the fifth time.
1854/6/17 (July 11) The Treaty of Amity between the Ryûkyû Kingdom and the United States is signed by Commodore Perry and the Ryukyuan Sessei Ôzato Chôkyô at Naha.
1854/6/23 (July 17) Perry and his fleet depart Ryûkyû for Hong Kong, taking Bernard Bettelheim with them.
1854/11/9 An earthquake and tsunami hit the Nankaidô region.

In response to the arrival of the Black Ships and of Putyatin, the bakufu calls for all bells in the country to be melted down and refashioned into cannon and rifles - with the exception of bells at head temples (honzan), those used for timekeeping, and those of great age and fame.
The Buke shohatto are re-promulgated.
Ichikawa Ebizô V leads a troupe on a kabuki tour in Kamigata (Kansai).
Reconstuction of Matsumae castle, begun in 1849, is completed.
Construction on the tenshu of Matsuyama castle (Iyo), begun in 1820, is completed.
Expeditionary forces of the Russia-America Company occupy Sakhalin Island; the action, and subsequent Russian claims to the island, are justified by Yevfimy Vasilyevich Putyatin based on the concepts of terra nullius and 'prior occupation.'
Sakamoto Ryôma completes training in Chiba and returns to Tosa han.

Kaei 6/12/26 (Jan 24) Eli Crosby, 2nd assistant engineer on the USS Susquehanna, dies and is later buried in the Tomari International Cemetery.
1854/9/28 (Nov 18) John Miller, Captain Aft G on the USS Vincennes, dies in the Ryukyus and is later buried in Tomari.
1854/10/1 (Nov 20) John Williams of the USS Vincennes dies in the Ryukyus and is later buried in Tomari.
American sailor William Board is killed in Naha, and is buried in Tomari.
Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII commits suicide while on tour in Osaka (b. 1823).
Shinsengumi member Ichimura Tetsunosuke is born.
Architect Katayama Tôkuma is born (d. 1917).
Yamanouchi Toyoatsu, daimyô of Tosa han, dies (b. 1825).

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