CHRONOLOGY OF THE JAPANESE EMPERORS SINCE THE MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY K}mei (Osahito) Birth and death: 1831–1867 Reign: 1846–1867 Father: Emperor Ninkō Mother: Ōgimachi Naoko (concubine) Wife: Kujō Asako (Empress Dowager Eishō) Important events during his reign: 1853: Commodore Matthew Perry and his ‘Black Ships’ arrive at Uraga 1854: Kanagawa treaty is signed, Japan starts to open its gates 1858: Commercial treaty with the U.S. and other western powers is signed 1860: Ii Naosuke, chief minister of the shogun, is assassinated 1863: British warships bombard Kagoshima 1864: Western warships bombard Shimonoseki 1866: Chōshū-Satsuma alliance is formed Meiji (Mutsuhito) Birth and death: 1852–1912 Reign: 1867–1912 Father: Emperor Kōmei Mother: Nakayama Yoshiko (concubine) Wife: Ichijō Haruko (Empress Dowager Shōken) Important events during his reign: 1868: Restoration of imperial rule (Meiji Restoration) is declared 1869: The capital is moved to Tokyo (Edo) 1872: Compulsory education is decreed 1873: Military draft is established 1877: The Satsuma rebellion is suppressed 1885: The cabinet system is adopted 336 chronology of the japanese emperors 1889: The Meiji Constitution is promulgated 1890: The First Diet convenes; Imperial Rescript on Education is proclaimed 1894–5: The First Sino-Japanese War 1902: The Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed 1904–5: The Russo-Japanese War 1911: Anarchists are executed for plotting to murder the emperor Taish} (Yoshihito) Birth and death: 1879–1926 Reign: 1912–1926 Father: Emperor Meiji Mother: Yanagihara Naruko (concubine) Wife: Kujō Sadako (Empress Teimei) Important events during his reign: 1914: Japan joins the First World War on the side of the allies 1915: The Twenty-One Demands are submitted to China 1918: Rice riots erupt; Japan joins the Siberian Intervention 1919: The Paris Peace Conference is convened, Japan is one of the Big Five 1921: Crown Prince Hirohito tours Europe; he is appointed regent for his ailing father; Prime Minister Hara is assassinated 1923: The Great Kantō earthquake destroys Tokyo and Yokohama 1925: Universal male suffrage and the Peace Preservation Law are enacted Sh}wa (Hirohito) Birth and death: 1901–1989 Regent: 1921–1926 Reign: 1926–1989 Father: Emperor Taishō Mother: Kujō Sadako (empress) Wife: Kuni Nagako (Empress Kōjun) Important events during his reign: 1928: Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin is assassinated by the Japanese.