Portal:Japan/Anniversaries/April/April 21

April 21:

Events
 * 1591 - Sen no Rikyū commits ritual suicide under orders by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. (Traditional Japanese Date: Twenty-eighth Day of the Second Month of the Nineteenth Year of Tenshō)
 * 1612 - Tokugawa Ieyasu issues a proclamation banning Christianity in the territories under his direct control. (Traditional Japanese Date: Twenty-first Day of the Fifth Month of the Seventeenth Year of Keichō)
 * 1701 - Leader of the Ako clan, Asano Naganori attempts to kill Kira Yoshinaka in the Hall of Pines at Edo Castle, triggering a series of events known as the tale of the Forty-seven Rōnin. Asano committed ritual suicide the next day under orders by the Shōgun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. (Traditional Japanese Date: Fourteenth Day of the Third Month of the Fourteenth Year of Genroku)
 * 1927 - Fifteen banks close due to the Shōwa financial crisis.
 * 1934 - The statue of the faithful dog Hachikō is completed in front of Shibuya Station.
 * 1951 - Temporary permits are issued to 16 commercial broadcasters.
 * 1978 - The Japan-USSR Fisheries Agreement is signed.

Births
 * 1958 - Yoshito Usui (d. 2009), illustrator
 * 1974 - Katsuyuki Konishi, voice actor
 * 1980 - Hiro Shimono, voice actor
 * 1981 - Nao Oikawa, actress and television personality