Kempo (era)

was a Japanese era name (年号, "nengō", lit. year name) after "Kenryaku" and before "Jōkyū." This period spanned the years from 1213 through 1219. The reigning emperor was Juntoku"-tennō" (順徳天皇). [Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). "Annales des empereurs du Japon," pp. 230-238; Brown, Delmer "et al." (1979). "Gukanshō," pp. 341-343; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). "Jinnō Shōtōki." pp. 221-223.]

Change of era

* "Kempo gannen" (建保元年; 1213): The new era name was created because the previous era ended and a new one commenced in "Kenryaku" 3, on the 6th day of the 12th month of 1213. [Brown, p. 341.]

Events of the "Kempo" era

* "Kempo 1", on the 1st day of the 1st month (1213): There was an earthquake at Kamakura. [Titsingh, p. 231.]
* "Kempo 1", in the 11th month (1213): Fujiwara no Teika, also known as Fujiwara no Sadeie offered a collection of 8th century poems to Shogun Sanetomo. These poems were collectively known as the Man'yōshū.Titsingh, p. 233.]
* "Kempo 2", in the 2nd month (1214): Shogun Sanetomo, having drunk too much sake, was feeling somewhat uncomfortable; and the Buddhist priest Eisai, who was the grand priest of the Jufuku-ji temple-complex, presented the shogun with an excellent tea, which restored his good health. [see above] ]
* "Kempo 2", in the 3rd month (1214): The emperor went to Kasuga. [see above] ]
* "Kempo 2", in the 4th month (1214): A group of militant priests living on Mt. Hiei set fire to the central temple structure at Enryaku-ji. The damage was repaired at the expense of Shogun Sanetomo. [see above] ]
* "Kempo 3", in the 1st month (1215): Hōjō Tokimasa died at age 78 in the mountains of Izu province. [see above] ]
* "Kempo 3", in the 6th month (1215): The well-known priest Eisai died at age 75; his remains were interred at the temple of Kennin-ji which he had founded in Kyoto. [see above] ]
* "Kempo 3", in the 8th-9th months (1215): There were many, serial earthquakes in the Kamakura area. [see above] ]
* "Kempo 5", in the 8th-9th months (1217): The emperor visited the Shrines at Hirano and at Ōharano near Kyoto. [Titsingh, p. 254.]

References

* Brown, Delmer and Ichiro Ishida, eds. (1979). [ Jien, c. 1220] , "Gukanshō; "The Future and the Past: a translation and study of the 'Gukanshō,' an interpretive history of Japan written in 1219" translated from the Japanese and edited by Delmer M. Brown & Ichirō Ishida." Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03460-0
* Kitagawa, Hiroshi and Bruce T. Tsuchida, eds. (1975). "The Tale of the Heike." Tokyo. University of Tokyo Press. ISBN 0-86008-128-1
* Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652] , "Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, 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. [http://books.google.com/books?id=18oNAAAAIAAJ&dq=nipon+o+dai+itsi+ran --"Two digitized examples of this rare book have now been made available online: (1) from the library of the University of Michigan, digitized January 30, 2007; and (2) from the library of Stanford University, digitized June 23, 2006." Click here to read the original text in French.]
* Varley, H. Paul , ed. (1980). [ Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359] , "Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H. Paul Varley)." New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231-04940-4

External links

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