Hōei

nihongo|Hōei|宝永 was a nihongo|Japanese era name|年号,|"nengō",|lit. "year name" after "Genroku" and before "Shōtoku." This period spanned the years from 1704 through 1711. The reigning emperors were nihongo|Higashiyama"-tennō"|東山天皇 and nihongo|Nakamikado"-tennō"|中御門天皇. [Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). [http://books.google.com/books?id=Cg8oAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage&dq=editions:OCLC63259938#PRA1-PA415,M1 "Annales des empereurs du japon," pp. 415] -416.]

Change of era

* 1704 nihongo|"Hōei gannen"|宝永元年|: In reaction to the Great Genroku Earthquake in "Genroku" 16, the era name was changed to "Hōei" (meaning "Prosperous Eternity"). The previous era ended and the new one commenced in "Genroku" 17, on the 13th day of the 3rd month.

Events of the "Hōei" era

* November 11, 1707 ("Hōei 4, 14th day of the 10th month"): Great Hōei Earthquake. The city of Osaka suffers tremendously because of a very violent earthquake. [Titsingh, [http://books.google.com/books?id=Cg8oAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage&dq=editions:OCLC63259938#PRA1-PA415,M1 p. 415.] ]

* December 16, 1707 ("Hōei 4, 23nd day of the 11th month"): An eruption of Mt. Fuji; the cinders and ash fell like rain in Izu, Kai, Sagami, and Musashi. [ [http://sk01.ed.shizuoka.ac.jp/koyama/public_html/Fuji/fujid/1707.html Shikuoka University page;] "see" Japanese Wikipedia.]

* 1708 ("Hōei 5"): The shogunate introduces new copper coins into circulation; and each coin is marked with the "Hōei" nengō name {"Hōei Tsubo").Titsingh, [http://books.google.com/books?id=Cg8oAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage&dq=editions:OCLC63259938#PRA1-PA416,M1 p. 416.] ]
* April 28, 1708 ("Hōei 5, 8th day of the 3rd month"): There was a great fire in Heian-kyō. [see above] ]
* 1708 ("Hōei 5, 8th month"): Italian missionary Giovanni Sidotti landed in Yakushima, where he was promptly is arrested.
* February 19, 1709 ("Hōei 6, 10th day of the 1st month"): The wife of Shogun Tsunayoshi killed him with a knife, and then she stabbed herself in the heart. Tsunayoshi's homosexual interests were aroused by the son of the "daimyo" of Kai; and his plans to adopt this Tokugawa youth as his successor were known by a few inside Edo castle. The shogun's wife, who was also a daughter of the emperor, foresaw that this choice of a successor would be very poorly received by many; and she feared that it might result in a disastrous civil war. The shogun's wife did everything she could to dissuade Tsunayoshi from continuing with such potentially divisive and dangerous plans; and when it became clear that her persuasive arguments were in vain, she resolutely sacrificed herself for the good of the country -- she killed her husband and then killed herself. [see above] ]
* 1709 ("Hōei 6, 4th month"): Minamoto no Ienobu, Tsunayoshi's nephew, becomes the 6th shogun of the Edo bakufu. [see above] ]
* August 7, 1709 ("Hōei 6, 2nd day of the 7th month"): The Emperor abdicates. [see above] ]
* January 16, 1710 ("Hōei 6, 17th day of the 12th month"): Higashiyama dies. [see above] ]
* July 7, 1710 – March 22, 1711 ("Hōei 7, 11th day of the 6th month – Shōtoku 1, 4th day of the 2nd month"): Ryukyuan mission to Edo, the largest delegation -- 168 people -- in the Edo Period. [National Archives of Japan: [http://jpimg.digital.archives.go.jp/kouseisai/category/emaki/ryukyutyuzan_e.html "Ryūkyū Chuzano ryoshisha tojogyoretsu," scroll illustrating procession of Ryūkyū emissary to Edo, 1710 ("Hōei 7")] ]

References

* Screech, Timon. (2006). "Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779-1822." London: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0-700-71720-X
* Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652] , "Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=18oNAAAAIAAJ&dq=nipon+o+dai+itsi+ran Annales des empereurs du Japon] , tr. par M. Isaac Titsingh avec l'aide de plusieurs interprètes attachés au comptoir hollandais de Nangasaki; ouvrage re., complété et cor. sur l'original japonais-chinois, accompagné de notes et précédé d'un Aperçu d'histoire mythologique du Japon, par M. J. Klaproth." Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.

ee also

* Hōei eruption of Mount Fuji
* Historic eruptions of Mount Fuji

External links

* National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar" [http://www.ndl.go.jp/koyomi/e/ -- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection]

Hōei	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
Gregorian	1704	1705	1706	1707	1708	1709	1710	1711

Preceded by: "Genroku"

Era or "nengō": Hōei"'

Succeeded by: "Shōtoku"