Japanese era name

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The Japanese era calendar scheme is a common calendar scheme used in Japan, which identifies a year by the combination of the Japanese era name (年号, nengō, lit. year name) and the year number within the era. For example, the year 2006 is Heisei 18, and 2007 is Heisei 19.

Like similar systems in East Asia, the era name system was originally derived from Chinese Imperial practice, although the Japanese system is independent of the Chinese and Korean calendar systems. Unlike other similar systems, the Japanese era name is still in use. Government offices usually require era names and years for official papers.

Sometimes an era name is expressed with the first letter of the romanized name. For example, S55 means Shōwa 55. At 64 years, Shōwa is the longest era to date.

Contents

[edit] Overview

The system on which the Japanese nengō are based originated in China in 140 BC, and was adopted by Japan in 645 AD during the reign of Emperor Kōtoku (孝徳天皇). The first nengōera was Taika (大化), celebrating the political and organizational changes which were to flow from the great Taika reform (大化改新). Although the regular practice of proclaiming successive nengō was interrupted in the late seventh century, it was re-adopted in 701 during the reign of Emperor Mommu (697-707). Since that Taihō era (701-704), era names have been used continuously up through the present day.[1]

[edit] Historical nengō

Prior to the Meiji period, era names were decided by court officials and were subjected to frequent change. A new nengō was usually proclaimed within a year or two after the ascendance of the new emperor. Besides the changes in emperor's reign, a new nengō was designated at two points in each sexagenary cycle (the first and the fifty-eighth year), because these years were considered to be auspicious according to the Chinese astrological principles. Era names were also renewed due to other felicitous events or natural disasters.

Era names indicate the various reasons for their adoption. For instance, the nengō Wado (和銅), during the Nara period was declared due to the discovery of copper deposits in Japan. Since the Heian period, Confucian thoughts and ideas have been reflected in era names, such as Daidō (大同), Kōnin (弘仁) and Tenchō (天長). Nengō are normally written with two kanji, except during the Nara period when four Kanji names were sometimes adopted to follow the Chinese trend. Tenpyō Kanpō (天平感宝), Tenpyō Shōhō (天平勝宝), Tenpyō Hōji (天平宝字) and Tenpyō Jingo (天平神護) are among the famous nengō names in four characters. In Japan, there currently exist a total number of 247 era names since Taika until the present Heisei. Despite such large number of era names, only seventy-two kanji were used. Out of the seventy-two kanji, thirty of them were used only once, while the rest were repeatedly used in different combinations to create new era names.

[edit] Nengō in Modern Japan

Since the ascension of the Meiji Emperor in 1867, it has been the practice to change era names only upon imperial succession. This practice became the law in 1979. Upon his death, an emperor is thereafter referred to with the name of the era marked by his reign. (For example, the 124th Emperor, Hirohito (裕仁), is posthumously known as the Shōwa Emperor.)

In modern practice, the first year of a reign (元年 gannen) starts immediately upon the emperor's ascension to the throne, but always ends on December 31. Subsequent years follow the Gregorian calendar. Meiji (明治), the nengō declared in 1868, continued until the death of the Meiji Emperor in 1912. His son's reign, the Taishō era, lasted until December 25, 1926 when the Taishō Emperor died and Shōwa (昭和) era was proclaimed. The first year of the Shōwa era thus consisted only of the last few days of December 1926. After the death of the Shōwa emperor in 1989, the reign of the present emperor began and the Heisei (平成) era began. 1989 is known as both "Shōwa 64" and "Heisei Gannen (平成元年)", although technically Shōwa 64 ended on January 7 with Hirohito's death.

Note that it is protocol in Japan that the reigning emperor is almost always referred to as Tennō Heika (天皇陛下, His Majesty the Emperor). Less frequently, the more informal Kinjō Tennō (今上天皇, current emperor) is used. The use of the emperor's given name is extremely rare in Japanese even today. To call the current emperor by the current era name Heisei, even in English, would be a faux pas, as it is and will be his posthumous name. These conventions are the source of great confusion not only in other languages, but also for the Japanese themselves.

[edit] Conversion table from nengō to Gregorian calendar years

To convert a Japanese year to a Western year, find the first year of the nengō (=era name, see list below). When found, subtract 1, and add the number of the Japanese year. For example, the 23rd year of the Showa Era (Showa 23) would be 1948:

ILLUSTRATION: 1926 − 1 = 1925 ..., and then 1925 + 23 = 1948 ... or Showa 23.

Southern Court

Northern Court

Reunification

[edit] In table

640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659
大化 Taika
1 – 6		 白雉 Hakuchi
1 – 5
660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679
 
 
 
680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699
朱鳥
Shuchō
1
700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719
大宝
Taihō or Daihō
1 – 4		 慶雲 Keiun
1 – 5		 和銅 Wadō
1 – 8		 霊亀 Reiki
1 – 3

[edit] Unofficial nengō system (私年号)

Besides the official nengō system, one encounters in pre-modern works the use of private or unofficial nengō system, known as shinengō (私年号). Little is known about the origin of shinengō. However, scholars have pointed out that the shinengō Hakuho (白鳳) was used during the period from 673 to 686, when no official nengō was designated. Another shinengō Hoko (法興) is said to have been in use during the reign of Emperor Suiko (推古天皇), by the Prince Shotoku (聖徳太子) and his followers. While nengō represented the authority of the emperor, shinengō provided an alternative during the eras of fragmented government, such as the Northern and Southern court.

Retaining the nengō system’s way to count years forward from the start, gannen of a new era, it has been proposed to introduce a “Jōmon Era” count to facilitate archeological dating:

Period Gregorian years Jōmon Era
Jōmon Gannen 10000 BC 1 JE
Incipient Jōmon 10000 –7500 BC 1– 2500 JE
Initial Jōmon 7500 – 4000 BC 2501 – 6000 JE
Early Jōmon 4000 – 3000 BC 6001 – 7000 JE
Middle Jōmon 3000 – 2000 BC 7001 – 8000 JE
Late Jōmon 2000 – 1000 BC 8001 – 9000 JE
Final Jōmon 1000 – 300 BC 9001 – 9700 JE
Japan Imperial power founded 660 BC 9341 JE
Yayoi period 251 BC – 250 AD 9750 –10250 JE

The Jōmon count has won no official acknowledgment and so far is only used in academia. Note that JE coincides with another proposed calendar reform, the Holocene Era. The current year is transformed by simply placing a 1 before the year in both systems (ie: 12007).

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Brown, Delmer. (1979). Gukanshō, p.32.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] See also

External Timeline
A graphical timeline is available here:

[edit] External links

Japanese resources:

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