Ken'ei

Ken'ei (建永) was a Japanese era name (年号, nengō, lit. "year name") after Genkyū and before Jōgen. This period spanned the years from April 1206 through October 1207.^[1] The reigning emperor was Tsuchimikado-tennō (土御門天皇).^[2]

Change of era

1206 Ken'ei gannen (建永元年): 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 Genkyū 3, on the 27th day of the 4th month of 1206.^[3]

Events of the Ken'ei era

1206 (Ken'ei 1, 2nd month): Shōgun Minamoto no Sanetomo's standing at court was raised to the 2nd rank of the 4th class.^[4]
1206 (Ken'ei 1, 7th day of the 3rd month): The emperor planned to pay a visit to the sesshō Kujō Yoshitsune, but in the night before this visit, an unknown assassin was introduced secretly into Yoshitune's house, and he was stabbed by a spear pushed up from below the floor. No one was able to discover the perpetrator. Yoshitsune was then aged 38 years. The sadaijin Konoe Iezane succeeded Yoshitsune as sesshō; and the dainagon Fujiwara no Tadatsune became sadaijin.^[5]
1206 (Ken'ei 1, 12th month): Konoe Iezane ceases to function as sesshō (regent); and instead, he becomes kampaku (chancellor).^[6]

Notes

^ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Ken'ei" in Japan encyclopedia, p. 508; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File Archived 2012-05-24 at archive.today.
^ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, pp. 221-229; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, p. 340; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki, pp. 220-221.
^ Brown, p. 340.
^ Titsingh, p. 227.
^ Titsingh, pp. 228-229; Brown, pp. 339-341.
^ Titsingh, p. 229.

References

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 Odai 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