1872 in Japan
Incumbents
=Governors=
- Aichi Prefecture: Iseki Ushitora (starting April 2)
- Akita Prefecture: Shima Yoshitake (January 29-July 29), Sugio Magoshichiro (starting July 29)
- Aomori Prefecture: J. Hishida
- Fukui Prefecture: Kotobuki Murata
- Fukushima Prefecture:
- until January 20: Tomoharu Kiyooka
- January 20-June 2: Miyahara
- starting June 2: Taihe Yasujo
- Gifu Prefecture: Joren Hasegawa
- Gunma Prefecture: Sada Aoyama
- Hiroshima Prefecture: Date Muneoki
- Ibaraki Prefecture:
- until July 10: Yamaguchi
- August 8-August 13: Motsuke Nomura
- starting August 25: Toru Watanabe
- Iwate Prefecture: Korekiyo Shima
- Kagawa Prefecture:
- until October 17: Mohei Hayashi
- October 17-November 28: Kan'ichi Nakamura
- starting November 28: Mohei Hayashi
- Kochi Prefecture: Yuzo Hayashi (until November 26), Iwasaki Nagatake (starting November 26)
- Kyoto Prefecture: Hase Nobuatsu
- Miyagi Prefecture: Ryo Shioya (starting January 8)
- Nagano Prefecture: Tachiki Kenzen
- Niigata Prefecture: Hirimatsu (starting November 20)
- Oita Prefecture: Kei Morishita
- Osaka Prefecture: Yotsutsuji Nishi
- Saga Prefecture:
- until July 12: Sadao Koga
- July 12-December 22: Tesshu Yamaoka
- starting December 22: Taku Shigeru
- Saitama Prefecture: Morihide Nomura
- Shiname Prefecture:
- until March 30: Masami Terada
- March 30-September 27: Tanenori Ikeda
- starting September 27: Kamiyama Ren
- Tochigi Prefecture: Miki Nabeshima
- Tokyo: Yuri Kousei (until September 7), Tadahiro Okubo (starting September 7)
- Toyama Prefecture: Miyoshi Zhou Liang
- Yamagata Prefecture: ......
Events
- date unknown
- Tokyo National Museum is founded.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC&pg=PA671&dq= "Museums"] in Japan Encyclopedia, pp. 671-673.
- The Imperial Library is established.{{cite web|url=http://www.ndl.go.jp/en/aboutus/outline_2.html |title=History |publisher=National Diet Library |access-date=9 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210214121/http://www.ndl.go.jp/en/aboutus/outline_2.html |archive-date=10 February 2012 }}
- Tomioka silk mill, Japan's first modern model silk reeling factory, is established by the government.
- The Ryukyu Domain is created when the emperor changes the title of Shō Tai, the Ryukyu Kingdom's monarch (Ryūkyū-koku-ō), to that of a domain head (Ryūkyū-han-ō). The former Ryukyu Kingdom thus becomes a han.Lin, Man-houng. [http://www.japanfocus.org/-Man_houng-Lin/2258 "The Ryukyus and Taiwan in the East Asian Seas: A Longue Durée Perspective,"] Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. October 27, 2006, translated and abridged from Academia Sinica Weekly, No. 1084. 24 August 2006.
Births
- January 22 – Katai Tayama, novelist (d. 1930)
- March 25 – Tōson Shimazaki, writer (d. 1943)
- May 2 – Ichiyō Higuchi, writer (d. 1896)
Deaths
- February 10 - Prince Kitashirakawa Satonari, founder of a collateral branch of the Japanese imperial family (born 1850)
- March 28 - Nambu Nobuyuki, 9th and final daimyō of Hachinohe Domain (born 1814)