1904 in Japan

Events in the year 1904 in Japan. It corresponds to Meiji 37 (明治37年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

 * Emperor: Emperor Meiji
 * Prime Minister: Katsura Tarō

Governors

 * Aichi Prefecture: Masaaki Nomura
 * Akita Prefecture: Ichiro Tsubaki then Oka Kishichiro Itami
 * Aomori Prefecture: Ichiji Yamanouchi then Katsutaro Inuzuka then Shotaro Nishizawa
 * Ehime Prefecture: Tai Neijro then Makoto Sugai then Kensuke Ando
 * Fukui Prefecture: Suke Sakamoto
 * Fukushima Prefecture: Arita Yoshisuke
 * Gifu Prefecture: Kawaji Toshikyo
 * Gunma Prefecture: Yoshimi Teru
 * Hiroshima Prefecture: Tokuhisa Tsunenori then Yamada Shunzō
 * Ibaraki Prefecture: Teru Terahara
 * Iwate Prefecture: Ganri Hojo then Sokkichi Oshikawa
 * Kagawa Prefecture: Motohiro Onoda
 * Kochi Prefecture: Munakata Tadashi
 * Kumamoto Prefecture: Egi Kazuyuki
 * Kyoto Prefecture: Baron Shoichi Omori
 * Mie Prefecture: Kamon Furusha then Lord Arimitsu Hideyoshi
 * Miyagi Prefecture: Terumi Tanabe
 * Miyazaki Prefecture: Toda Tsunetaro
 * Nagano Prefecture: Seki Kiyohide
 * Niigata Prefecture: Hiroshi Abe
 * Oita Prefecture: Marques Okubo Toshi Takeshi then Shuichi Kinoshita then Ogura Hisashi
 * Okinawa Prefecture: Shigeru Narahara
 * Saga Prefecture: Seki Kiyohide
 * Saitama Prefecture: Count Jissho Oogimachi then Marquis Okubo Toshi Takeshi
 * Shiga Prefecture: Sada Suzuki
 * Shiname Prefecture: Ihara Ko then Matsunaga Takeyoshi
 * Tochigi Prefecture: Kubota Kiyochika
 * Tokushima Prefecture: Saburo Iwao
 * Tokyo: Baron Sangay Takatomi
 * Toyama Prefecture: Rika Ryusuke
 * Yamagata Prefecture: Tanaka Takamichi
 * Yamanashi Prefecture: Takeda Chiyosaburo

Events

 * February 8–9 – Battle of Port Arthur: A surprise Japanese naval attack on Port Arthur (Lüshun) in Manchuria starts the Russo-Japanese War.
 * February 9 – Battle of Chemulpo Bay
 * February 23 – Japan–Korea Treaty of 1904
 * April 30–May 1 – Battle of Yalu River (1904)
 * May 25–26 – Battle of Nanshan
 * June 14–15 – Battle of Te-li-Ssu
 * July 10 – Battle of Motien Pass
 * July 24–25 – Battle of Tashihchiao
 * July 31 – Battle of Hsimucheng
 * August 10 – Battle of the Yellow Sea
 * August 14 – Battle off Ulsan
 * August 20 – Battle of Korsakov
 * August 22 – Japan–Korea Agreement of August 1904
 * August 24–September 4 – Battle of Liaoyang
 * October 5–17 – Battle of Shaho
 * Unknown date – Hirano Rubber Manufacturing, as predecessor of Toyo Tire was founded.

Births

 * February 9 – Kikuko Kawakami, author (d. 1985)
 * May 27 – Chūhei Nambu, track and field athlete (d. 1997)
 * June 1 – Ineko Sata, communist and feminist author of proletarian literature (d. 1998)
 * July 18 – Fuji Yahiro, screenwriter (d. 1986)
 * July 25 – Katsuji Matsumoto, illustrator (d. 1986)
 * August 7 – Taro Takemi, physician and 11th President of the Japan Medical Association (d. 1983)
 * August 16 – Minoru Genda, military aviator and politician (d. 1989)
 * September 1 – Aya Kōda, essayist and novelist (d. 1990)
 * October 11 – Ken'ichi Enomoto, comedian and singer (d. 1970)
 * November 18 – Masao Koga, composer (d. 1978)
 * November 22 – Fumio Niwa, novelist (d. 2005)
 * December 28 – Tatsuo Hori, writer, poet and translator (d. 1953)

Deaths

 * January 1 – Konoe Atsumaro, politician and journalist (b. 1863)
 * January 9 – Ii Naonori, former daimyō, son of Ii Naosuke (b. 1848)
 * February 6 – Utagawa Yoshiiku, artist (b. 1833)
 * March 27 – Takeo Hirose, navy career officer (b. 1868)
 * August 12 – Kawamura Sumiyoshi, admiral (b. 1836)
 * August 31 – Tachibana Shūta, soldier (b. 1865)
 * September 26 – Koizumi Yakumo, writer (b. 1850)