1859

Ansei 6 (安政六年)

Timeline of 1859

• Ansei 5/12/1 (4 Jan) Tokugawa Iemochi official accession ceremony is held.
  • Noh is performed in celebration of a shogun's accession for the last time.
• 1859 April James Hepburn sets sail from New York.
• 1859/4/24 (May 26) Rutherford Alcock and his translator Kumano no Denkichi arrive in Edo harbor.
• 1859/5 Rutherford Alcock takes up his post as the first British diplomatic representative in Japan.
• 1859/6 Yokohama, Nagasaki, and Hakodate are opened as treaty ports.
• 1859/6/7 Treaty of Amity is signed between the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Ryûkyû.
• 1859/7/6 Philipp von Siebold returns to Japan.
• 1859 October James Hepburn arrives in Japan and settles in Kanagawa.

Other Events of 1859

• Ansei Purge
• Buke Shohatto is re-promulgated for the last time.
• Darwin's Origin of the Species is published.
• The honmaru of Edo castle is destroyed by fire. Kanô Hôgai is among those commissioned to produce new paintings for the restored structure.
• The French take Saigon and three provinces of Cochinchina.
• Makishi-Onga Incident
• Manabe Akikatsu resigns his post as rôjû for a second time and goes into retirement.
• Western records of silk production include Japan for the first time. At this time, Italy's production is recorded as being five times that of Japan, and China's production ten times that of Japan.

Births and Deaths

• 1859/1/29 Ichikawa Ebizô V, kabuki actor, dies (b. 1791).
• 1859/9/14 Umeda Unpin, Confucian scholar, dies (b. 1815).
• Rai Mikisaburô, Confucian scholar, is executed (b. 1825).
• Ogata Gekkô, artist, is born (d. 1920).
• Hashimoto Sanai is executed (b. 1834)
• Tsubouchi Shôyô is born (d. 1935).
• Yoshida Shôin is executed (b. 1830).
• Yuan Shikai is born (d. 1916).

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1859

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