Nengo

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Nengō ( Japanese 年号 from Chinese  年號  /  年号 , Pinyin niánhào  - "year title") or Gengō ( 元 号 , literally: "original [year] title") denotes "annual currency" or " era name " in Japanese . In a broader sense, it refers to the calendar scheme common in Japan, which has its origin in China. Several years are grouped together with the same name or with the same "motto". Following the example of China, such era names were once widespread throughout East Asia (including Vietnam ), but today Japan is the only country besides the Republic of China (Taiwan) where this system is still in use. Although the western calendar is also known in Japan, the nengō system is binding for authorities .

The current nengō has been Reiwa ("Beautiful Harmony") since May 1, 2019 . For a complete listing of all Nengo see List of Nengo .

History of the Nengō system

The Japanese era names are based on the Chinese and were introduced in 645 AD under Kōtoku - Tennō . The first era name was Taika ( 大化 , "great change") and was due to the political reforms ( Taika reform ) that radically changed the political scene at the time. However, the systematic use of the nengō did not come about until the year 701. From then on, the era names were decided by imperial court officials up to the Meiji period and were subject to irregular changes. The change in arrows was generally based on the following causes:

  • A new Tennō takes office . However, in premodern times, the accession of a new Tennō to the throne was not automatically followed by a change of the era name. It was often several years before a new motto was proclaimed.
  • Remembering a particularly happy event.
  • Accidents, e.g. B. Natural disasters hoped to end by changing the currency.
  • Particularly auspicious years of the traditional 60-year cycle (which, in addition to the nengō, represented the usual calendar system), namely the 1st, 5th and 58th year of the cycle ( 三 革 , sankaku ).

The era names often refer directly or indirectly to the respective occasion or the historical background. For example, the Wadō era ( 和 銅 , "Japan copper") was proclaimed in 708 after copper was discovered in Japan. Since the Heian period , Confucian ideas have been reflected in the era names, such as Daidō ( 大同 , "great equality"; 806-810) or Kōnin ( 弘仁 , "wide justice;" 810-824). Usually the nengō consist of two Kanji characters. Only in the Nara period was it based on the Chinese era names at that time and at times four characters were used (see list of Nengō ). In Japan there are exactly 248 nengō from Taika to Reiwa . Nevertheless, you only need 72 Kanji for their representation, of which thirty were only used once, while the rest were always recombined.

The length of an era can be very different and ranges from one year (e.g. Genji March 27, 1864 to May 1, 1865) to the longest Shōwa period to date (December 25, 1926 to January 7, 1989) of around 62 Years. The system is accordingly confusing and is supplemented in practice by periodic calendar systems, namely the already mentioned 60-year cycle (before 1872) or the western calendar (after 1872). In official documents and historical writings, however, it is still the predominant system for indicating the year.

conversion

Basically, a year of the traditional era system can be translated into a corresponding year of western counting using tables. However, the beginning of an era is usually not identical to the beginning of the year, so that the beginning and the end of the same year can be assigned to two different era names according to western census. In addition, the days and months up to the end of 1872 were counted according to the Chinese calendar , which means that the 12th month of a Japanese year before 1872 mostly corresponds to the 1st month of the following year according to western counting. If the conversion is inaccurate, this can lead to incorrect translations of historical data, especially for the months around the New Year.

The date of birth of the famous general and "unifier" Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616) is, for example, according to traditional counting:

26th day of the 12th month Tembun 11 (天文11 年 12 月 26 日 )

According to western counting, this corresponds to January 31, 1543. Nevertheless, Ieyasu's lifetime is often given as “1542–1616” because “Tenbun 11” corresponds to the year 1542 in simple conversion tables.

Nengō in modern Japan

Since Tennō Mutsuhito (Meiji), an era name has only been proclaimed at the accession to the throne. This custom was enshrined in law in 1979. After his death, the Japanese Tennō is called by his era name. Today begins the first year of an era ( gannen 元年 ) with the day of the accession to the throne of the Tennō and ends on December 31st . Only the following years begin on January 1st. The first year of the reign of Tennō Shōwa lasted z. B. only a few days at the end of 1926.

Nengō as the name of Tennō

Although the era names are now identical to the “emperor's name” of the ruling Tennō, they are considered “ posthumous titles ” and are not used in Japan to name the Tennō itself. Names like Meiji-Tennō are to be understood as Tennō of the Meiji era. Neither is a Tennō referred to by his birth name. Instead, etiquette calls for him to be called Tennō Heika ( 天皇 陛下 , "His Majesty the Emperor"). The unofficial title Kinjō Tennō ( 今 上 天皇 , "current emperor") is also in use. Often not only outsiders, but also the Japanese themselves have problems naming the emperor.

Private nengō

In addition to today's official nengō, there were also unofficial names of individual periods in premodern times, which are summarized under the term shinengō ( 私 年号 , "private nengō "). They mostly come from later sources and are therefore historically dubious, or they were launched by protest movements against the official era names without asserting themselves. Archaeological area names are sometimes referred to as shinengō , but basically have nothing to do with the traditional nengō system.

Conversion aids

  • Tables: Tsuchihashi, PY (土橋 八千 太) SJ; Japanese Chronological Tables from 601 to 1872 [邦 暦 西 暦 対 照 表]; T. 1952 (Sophia Uni) [The dates are converted into the Julian calendar until 1583, then into the Gregorian calendar.]
  • Dettmer, Hans. A .; List of reigns and era designations: One revision; Oriens Extremus 28, 2 (1981), pp. 232–249 [When converting with conventional sources and tables, it is essential to use them as a control, especially for dates that are around the Japanese New Year.]

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ This introduction to the Japanese chronology ( Memento of the original on 25 December 2008 at the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Matthias Schemm @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.uni-tuebingen.de
  2. ^ Pinto dos Santos, José Miguel; Ieyasu (1542-1616) versus Ieyasu (1543-1616). Calendrical Conversion Tables for the 16th and 17th Centuries; Bulletin of Portuguese-Japanese Studies, December 2003, año / vol. 5; ISSN  0874-8438 ; Pp. 9-26