1884

Meiji 17 (明治十七年)

Timeline of 1884

• 1884/4/17 Groundbreaking is held for the reconstruction of the Tokyo Imperial Palace, destroyed in an 1873 fire. (Work is completed 1888.)
• 1884/7 Christian Japan Conference is held.
• 1884/Winter (into 1885) - A mission led by Inoue Kaoru, and accompanied by Durham Stevens, travels to Korea to address attacks on Japanese nationals, including Takezoe Shinichirô, Japanese ambassador to Korea.

Other Events of 1884

• Felice Beato departs Japan for Burma.
• Ernest Fenollosa forms the Kangakai (Art Appreciation Society).
• An agreement is drafted for Japanese immigration to Hawaii.
• The first Japanese consulate in Hawaii is established.
• The Jiyûtô ("Freedom Party") is dissolved.
• Koga Tatsuhirô settles in the Senkaku Islands, and petitions Okinawa prefecture to have the islands officially declared Japanese territory on account of being previously uninhabited and unclaimed. His petition is not addressed for ten years.
• A number of Japanese fishermen are killed at Lae atoll in the Marshall Islands. A Japanese official mission led by Suzuki Keikun and Gotô Taketarô travels there to exact a formal apology from the local chiefs, and claims the islands for Japan; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately disavows any claim to the islands.
• A law is passed introducing the concept of National Treasures (Kokuhô), under which objects of particular historical and cultural importance could be designated as prohibited to export, and protected in other ways. The first object to be designated a National Treasure was a 7th century statue of Miroku held at Kôryû-ji in Kyoto.
• Nijô castle is transferred to the Imperial Household's control and becomes a detached Imperial Palace.
• A regular steamship line linking Okinawa and Osaka via Kagoshima is established.
• Durham Stevens is appointed to Tokyo, for service in the Foreign Office.
• Takamatsu castle (Sanuki) is demolished.
• Takamine Jôkichi is among those representing Japan at the New Orleans World's Fair. There he meets his future wife, and befriends Lafcadio Hearn.
• Tamagusuku Yasutarô invents swimming goggles, called miikagan in Okinawan, using wood from the tree heliotrope (monpa no ki) for the frames.
• Xinjiang is incorporated as a province of the Qing Empire.
• Yayoi pottery is found in Tokyo.

Births and Deaths

• 1884/11/28 Manabe Akikatsu dies (b. 1804).
• Satake Yoshitaka, former daimyô of Kubota han, dies (b. 1825).
• Tôjô Hideki is born (d. 1948).

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1884

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