Edo Period Timeline
1605
Tokugawa Ieyasu retires as shôgun in favor of his son Hidetada.
1609
1611
Tokugawa Ieyasu meets with Toyotomi Hideyori at Nijô Castle in Kyôto.
1613
1614
February 1 The Tokugawa Bakufu officially orders the expulsion of all missionaries from Japan.
November The Osaka Winter Campaign begins.
1615
January 19 A cease-fire is called at Osaka Castle.
May 28 The Osaka Summer Campaign begins.
June 3 The Toyotomi army is defeated in the Battle of Tennôji; Hideyori commits suicide.
1616
June 1 Tokugawa Ieyasu dies.
1623
1624
The bakufu expells the Spanish.
1632
1635
The sankin - kotai (alternate attendance) system is established, announced in an amendment to the Buke shohatto. A futher amendment stipulates that no ships over 500 koku burden may be built.
1637
December 11 The Shimabara Rebellion begins.
1638
April 12 The Shimabara Rebellion is crushed.
1639
August 4 Portuguese trade is terminated, making the sakoku (closed country) policy all but complete.
1641
The Dutch presence at Hirado ends - the Dutch move their operations to Deshima (Hizen).
1643
The buying and selling of land is prohibited.
1651
1680
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1646-1709) becomes shôgun.
1685
A final attempt by the Portuguese to re-establish relations with Japan results in failure.
1701 - 1702
The Incident of the 47 Ronin occurs.
1709
Tokugawa Ienobu (1622-1712) becomes shôgun.
1713
Tokugawa Ietsugu (1709-16) becomes shôgun.
1716
1722
The hyôjôsho (supreme court) is established in Edo Castle.
1725
Arai Hakuseki (b.1657), a noted historian, dies.
1728
Noted Confucian scholar Ogyû Sorai (b.1666) dies.
1738
84,000 peasants protest heavy taxation in Iwaki province.
1745
Tokugawa Ieshige (1711-61) becomes shôgun.
1754
168,000 peasants protest heavy taxation on Kyushu.
1760
Tokugawa Ieharu (1737-86) becomes shôgun.
1782 - 1787
The Temmei famine kills as many as 1.5 million.
1787
Tokugawa Ienari (1773-1841) becomes shôgun.
1825
The Bakufu orders that all foreign ships nearing the coast be fired upon.
1827
Saigo Takamori is born.
1837
1838
Yamagata Aritomo, the future prime minister of Japan, is born.
1842
The edict of 1825 is relaxed.
1844
'Battle of the Tonegawa' - rival outlaw gangs clash in Shimosa.
1849
Noted woodblock artist Katsushika Hokusai dies.
1853
Tokugawa Iesada (1824-58) becomes shôgun.
1854
US Commodore Mathew Perry's 'black ships' arrive in Tokyo Bay.
1858
July 29 The Bakufu signs a commercial treaty with the American government.
1860
March 24 Ii Naosuke is assassinated outside Edo Castle.
1862
Tokugawa Yoshinobu is appointed shogunal regent.
1863
June 25 Chôshû forces shell foreign ships in the Shimonoseki Straits.
August British ships bombard Kagoshima following the murder of diplomat C. L. Richardson.
Anegakoji Kintomo, an anti-Bakufu noble, is assassinated.
1864
September An allied naval group (including British, Dutch, French, and American ships) attacks and defeats the Chôshû daimyo.
1866
June Bakufu forces launch an abortive campaign to eliminate the Chôshû power bloc.
August Tokugawa Iemochi dies.
1867
January 10 Tokugawa Yoshinobu is appointed shôgun.
June 25 The port of Hyogo is opened to foreign ships.
September Hara Ichinoshin, one of Tokugawa Yoshinobu's closest confidents, is assassinated.
November Tokugawa Yoshinobu restores authority to the Imperial house. The Edo Period officially ends.
1868
The Meiji Restoration
January 27-29 Tokugawa loyalists are defeated by Imperialists near Osaka at the Battle of Fushimi.
April The Gokajo no Goseimon (Charter Oath) is drawn up in the name of Emperor Meiji.
May 3 Edo Castle is surrendered to imperial forces and Tokugawa Yoshinobu is placed under house arrest.
June An Imperial constitution is drawn up; the Imperial capital is moved to Edo - which is renamed Tokyo.
July 4 The Tokugawa forces at Ueno are destroyed.
1869
Enomoto Takeaki, a Bakufu loyalist, finally surrenders in Hokkaido.
1871
The wearing of swords is declared optional and all remaining daimyo domains are abolished in August; the old provinces are replaced by prefectures.
1872
Conscription is reinstated.
1876
The wearing of swords becomes illegal.
1877
February The Satsuma Rebellion, led by Saigo Takamori, begins.
November The Satsuma Rebellion is crushed at the Battle of Shiroyama.