Genkyū

Genkyū (元久) was a Japanese era name (年号, nengō, "year name") after Kennin and before Ken'ei. This period spanned the years from February 1204 through April 1206.^[1] The reigning emperor was Tsuchimikado-tennō (土御門天皇).^[2]

Change of era

1204 Genkyū gannen (元久元年): The new era name was created to mark an event or a number of events. The previous era ended and a new one commenced in Kennin 4, on the 20th day of the 2nd month of 1204.^[3]

Events of the Genkyū era

1204 (Genkyū 1, 10th month): Minamoto no Sanetomo ordered Hōjō Masanori, Hōjō Tomomichi and Hatakeyama Shigeyasu to travel to Heian-kyō. These three were charged with escorting the daughter of dainagon Fujiwara-no Noboukiyo to Kamakura where she would marry Sanetomo.^[4]
1204 (Genkyū 1, 12th month): Two of Sanetomo's emissaries returned to Kanto with his bride-to-be; but Shigeyasu remained in Heian-kyo where he died.^[4]
1205 (Genkyū 2, 3rd month): Kyoto and the provinces of the Kinai were devastated by a terrible storm; and at the time, the disaster was deemed to have been caused by the Buddhist priest Eisai after he brought the Zen school of Buddhism to the capital. Eisai was chased out of Kyoto, but in time, he was permitted to return.^[4]

References

^ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Genkyū" in Japan encyclopedia, p. 239; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File.
^ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, pp. 221–227; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, p. 340; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki, pp. 220–221.
^ Brown, p. 340.
^ a b c Titsingh, p. 227.

Sources

Brown, Delmer and Ichiro Ishida. (1979). The Future and the Past: a translation and study of the 'Gukanshō', an interpretative history of Japan written in 1219. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0; OCLC 5145872
Kitagawa, Hiroshi and Bruce T. Tsuchida, eds. (1975). The Tale of the Heike. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. ISBN 9784130870245; ISBN 9784130870238; ISBN 9780860081883; ISBN 9780860081890; OCLC 193064639
Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Ōdai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691
Varley, H. Paul. (1980). A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231049405; OCLC 6042764

External links

National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar" -- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection