Tenji (period)

The years of Emperor Tenji's reign or the "Tenji" ( _ja. 天智) period should not be misunderstood as a Japanese era name (年号, "nengō", lit. year name). The nengō system which was introduced in reign of Emperor Kōtoku was abandoned at the end of his reign, and the era name was not updated for a quite some time. ::"For further discussion, see ."

During the years after Emperor Kōtoku, the reigning sovereigns was initially Saimei"-tennō" (斉明天皇) and then Tenji"-tennō" (天智天皇). [Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). "Annales des empereurs du Japon," pp. 30-52.] The first year of Emperor Tenji's rule (天智天皇元年; 655) could be arguably abbreviated as "the first year of Tenji" (天智元年; 655)), but this is nowhere understood as a true nengō. The reigns of Japanese emperors and empresses are not nengō, nor were the two considered to be the same until Meiji came on the scene.

References to the emperors who ruled during this period are properly written as, for example, :*"the 3rd year of Tenji" (天智天皇３年), and :*not "Tenji 3" (天智３年).Nengō were abolished during the interregnum years between Hakuchi and Shuchō, and again between Shuchō and Taihō.

:*The commonly accepted pre-Tahiō nengō are::*Taika: 645.6.19–650.2.15:*Hakuchi: 650.2.15–654.10.?:**GAP/interregnum:*Shuchō: 686.7.20–686.9.?:**GAP/interregnum:*Taihō: 701.3.21–704.5.10

Non"-nengō" period

* "1st year of Tenji's reign" (天智天皇元年; 655): A new period is marked by the beginning of the reign of Emperor Tenji, but the end of the previous nengō Hakuchi 6 (654) does not imply the commencement of a new nengō in the succeeding reigns.

Events of the Tenji period

* "1st year of Tenji's reign" (662): Empress Saimei dies; and her nephew delays receiving the succession (‘‘senso’’). Only years later does Emperor Tenji formally accede to the throne (‘‘sokui’’). [Varley, H. Paul. (1980). "Jinnō Shōtōki," p. 44. [A distinct act of "senso" is unrecognized prior to Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except Jitō, Yōzei, Go-Toba, and Fushimi have "senso" and "sokui" in the same year until the reign of Go-Murakami.] ]

* "6th year of Tenji's reign" (667): Six years after the death of Empress Saimei, her mausoleum was reconstructed. Naka no Ōe"-shinnō" had not yet been proclaimed as Emperor Tenji, which meant that he had not yet begun to create an official court around himself. In this year, he did at last establish his court at Ōtsu-no-Miya in the Ōmi Province, where his enthronement was belatedly scheduled for the springtime of the following year. [Titsingh, p. 54; Brown, p. 268.]
* "7th year of Tenji's reign" (668): Emperor Tenji is formally enthroned. [Titsingh, p. 54; Brown, p. 268.]

References

Notes

Further reading

* Brown, Delmer and Ichiro Ishida, eds. (1979). "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
* Titsingh, Isaac. (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 Chitafusa, 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 0-231-04940-4

External links

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