1639

Kan'ei 16 (寛永十六年)

Timeline of 1639

• 1639/4 - Shimazu clan retainers Itô Niemon Sukemasa, Hirata Munehiro, and Karimata Noriyasu arrive at Kagoshima, returning from a mission to the Ryûkyû Kingdom to announce that Shimazu Mitsuhisa has become lord of Satsuma han, and to request the Ryukyuan king's formal letter of reply, and oath of loyalty.
• 1639/7/5 (August 4) The final of the maritime restrictions are put into place. The construction of ocean-going vessels is banned, and all Westerners are banned from Japan, including people of mixed-race; the only exceptions are adult male employees of the Dutch East India Company, who are permitted to remain in the country but are restricted to Hirado. Roughly 32 people of mixed Dutch or British & Japanese blood leave for Batavia, along with eight or so full-blooded Japanese or Europeans.
• 1639/8/9 Hosokawa Tadatoshi of Kokura han, along with the lords of four other major domains, are assigned duties of coastal defense.
• 1639/8 The Honmaru Palace at Edo castle burns down. (It is rebuilt in the 4th month of the following year.)

Other Events of 1639

• Hongan-ji school is established in Kyoto; these grounds are today Ryûkoku University.
• Reconstruction efforts are completed on Matsumae castle, which was destroyed two years previous.
• Maeda Toshitsune retires as daimyô of Kaga han, and is succeeded by his son Maeda Mitsumasa.
• The Qing dynasty formally recognizes (invests) the consort and heir of King Injo of Korea.
• Russian forces moving overland across Siberia reach the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
• Eleven managers of bathhouses and other Yoshiwara operations are crucified outside the Great Gate of the district for illegal activities committed outside the quarter.

Births and Deaths

• Kuroda Tadamasa dies (b. 1612).
• Ôkubo Tadataka dies (b. 1560).
• Ôtomo Yoshinobu dies.
• Taira Shigesuke, author of Bushidô Shôshinshû, is born (d. 1730).
• Uesugi Tsunakatsu, daimyô of Yonezawa, is born (d. 1664).

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