Kōbun (period)

The years of Emperor Kōbun's reign or the "Kōbun" ( _ja. 弘文) 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), then Tenji"-tennō" (天智天皇), and then Kōbun"-tennō" (弘文天皇). [Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). "Annales des empereurs du Japon," pp. 30-56; Varley, H. Paul, (1980). "Jinnō Shōtōki," pp. 135-136; Brown, Delmer. (1979). "Gukanshō," p. 269. [Pre-Meiji historians did not count Emperor Tenji's eldest son, Ōtomo (posthumously called Emperor Kōbun after 1870), in the traditional order of succession. The "Nihongi", the "Renchū shō", the "Gukanshō", and the "Jinnō Shōtōki" do not list Kōbun as sovereign between the reigns of Emperor Tenji and Emperor Temmu. However, with the contemporary acceptance of this son of Emperor Tenji as himself being emperor comes the notion of a concurrent era and nengō.] ]

The first year of Emperor Kōbun's rule (弘文天皇元年; 672) could be arguably abbreviated as "the first year of Kōbun" (弘文元年; 672)), 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 Kōbun" (弘文天皇３年), and :*not "Kōbun 3" (弘文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 Kōbun's reign" (弘文天皇元年; 672): A new period is marked by the beginning of the reign of Emperor Kōbun, but the end of the previous nengō Hakuchi 6 (654) does not imply the commencement of a new nengō in the succeeding reigns. This posthoumus name was created retroactively in 1870, but Meji scholars did not determine retroactively that a new nengō should have commenced with the beginning of Emperor Kōbun's accession to the throne. [Brown, p. 268 n39.]

Events of the Kōbun period

* "1st year of Kōbun's reign" (672): Emperor Tenji dies; and his son, Prince Ō-ama (later to become Emperor Temmu), declines to receive the succession (‘‘senso’’). Shortly thereafter, his older brother, Ō-tomo (posthumously known as Emperor Kōbun after 1870), formally accedes 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.] ]

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]