1870

Meiji 3 (明治三年)

Timeline of 1870

• 1870/1/5 The Meiji government outlaws tooth blackening (haguro) and the courtier custom of painted eyebrows.
• 1870/3/3 Construction is begun on a railroad linking Tokyo and Yokohama.
• 1870/7 Japan and Hawaii agree to a Hawaiian-Japanese Treaty of Amity & Commerce.
• 1870/8/11 Atsu-hime moves to Ushigome-toyama from the Kii Tokugawa mansion in Akasaka.
• 1870/12 or 1871/1 (Feb 1871) Mori Arinori arrives in DC as chargé d'affaires for Japan in the US.

Other Events of 1870

• Commoners are permitted to officially take on surnames; hereditary determination & other restrictions on occupation and residence are abolished.
• Foreign wives and children are permitted to take up residence in the treaty ports.
• The Kabunakama are dissolved.
• The kabuki play Keian Taiheiki, based on the events of the 1651 Keian Uprising, debuts.
• Kusakabe Tarô (Rutgers) and Niijima Jo (Amherst) become the first Japanese to graduate from US colleges.
• Many of the buildings at Marugame castle are destroyed by the Meiji government.
• William Griffis is invited by Matsudaira Shungaku to come teach physical science in Japan. He establishes a school on the American model in Fukui prefecture and remains there for a year.

Births and Deaths

• 1870/4/4 Anthropologist Torii Ryûzô is born (d. 1953).
• Nishida Kitarô is born (d. 1945).
• Ôishi Kuwajirô of the Shinsengumi is executed (b. 1838).

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1870

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