1640

Kan'ei 17 (寛永十七年)

Other Events

• Shogunal post of Shûmon kaiyaku is created to oversee and enforce the bans on Christianity. Ô-metsuke Inoue Masashige is the first appointed to the post.
• 57 of approximately 70 Portuguese sailors who sailed from Macao to Japan bearing gifts in an attempt to regain Portuguese trading and missionary rights in Japan are executed.
• Ayutthaya dispatches an envoy to request the resumption of trade and relations with Japan. The ship succumbs to typhoon or inclement weather and never makes it to Japan.
• Shimabara pleasure district in Kyoto is established.
• Ban on onna-kabuki is reissued.
• The shogunate forbids the Yoshiwara to operate at night.
• Shogunate begins using nengô (Japanese era names) in correspondence with China, indicating a lessened acknowledgment of Chinese authority or centrality.

Previous Year 1639

1640

Following Year 1641